Today I celebrate 17 years of marriage to my best friend. Love you, honey!
We went to Ashley’s in the Capital Hotel last night to celebrate. I’d heard a lot about the chef and see his sous chef in the market regularly so know they use fresh, organic veggies.
The atmosphere is lovely. They have a gorgeous dining room, very cozy and elegant.
OK, I have to tell you I am that difficult guest…
almost like Sally in “When Harry Met Sally” (a movie that was out when Scott and I started dating!) One reason I love him so much is that he KNOWS all these little quirks and can order for me if I wanted him to! Another is that he can sing like Harry Connick Junior (who did the soundtrack to the movie.)
I’m allergic to apples, pears, grapes, carrots and celery.
I don’t eat mammals
I like my coffee fresh (half a cup) with cold milk (real milk, not fake junk or cream) and don’t want it heated, just cold milk please.
I only eat real butter on bread (and wherever else I can get it.) What the heck is margarine anyway?
So, with that in mind…
For the 1st course they brought us was a slice of celery with a dill coulis and a grape sliced in half. (They did bring me something else but it had RAISINS.)
I called the waiter over because I looked at my fish and noticed that one of the “sauces” on the plate was bacon drippings with fried BACON. Wouldn’t have been a major issue if we weren’t paying what we were or hadn’t mentioned the pork thing first. He apologized, but think he should have noticed that…
My coffee had HOT milk…
Now, the fish was alright. The pairings of pesto and candied peppers on the veggies was interesting and tasty. I think the candied peppers on a blackened fish would be fantastic.
Dessert was strange. Nothing chocolate on the menu!
It was fun to try it. And being with my gorgeous husband anywhere is fun!
Patience is a virtue (and not one of my strongest qualities- ask my family) but chocolate helps.
The rain is back. Thank goodness it didn’t rain yesterday while we were at Riverfest. Scott’s cousin, Chris, was playing with Nik and Sam and his family sat with us and watched him play. It was so cute to watch Liam- “That’s my daddy!” he said with a big smile. So cute!
I am so wishing I had rain barrels installed. I think we wouldn’t have had to pay for city water for at least six months if we’d had them. I feel like we are in Seattle or London.
So the kids had become obsessed with clips they saw on KidZui of the newer version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Not my favorite movie. Why would they remake the original? Much better music. I love Johnny Depp most of the time, but let’s be real- he was the absolute freakiest in this movie as Willy Wonka. Ick. So, we had to go get the dumb movie for them last night to pacify the obsession and I think it’s backfired. They LOVE it and have already watched it twice. Great. Thus enter the patience… So this rainy morning (more patience) I woke up to Jac asking for chocolate for breakfast. Chocolate pudding to be exact. I thought, well it does have eggs in it so it could be a breakfast food. We can’t do mixes here because of the food dyes (yes, almost ALL pudding mixes have yellow and/or red dyes.) But, this is an easy and inexpensive recipe (and tastes better too!)
I use the Gourmet’s Best Desserts cookbook’s recipe:
Chocolate Cornstarch Pudding
3/4 c sugar 1/4 c cornstarch 1/8 teaspoon salt 2 3/4 c milk (I use whole organic) 2 egg yolks, beaten lightly 3 ozs of chocolate chips 2 Tablespoons butter 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
In saucepan off the heat whisk together first three ingredients. Gradually beat in milk, egg yolks, and chocolate, mixing well. Put over moderate heat and bring to a boil (stirring constantly.) Boil one minute and add butter and vanilla. Pour into buttered ramekins or dishes. Cool and YUM!
