Happy Valentine's Day!

     I made a multi-course dinner for Valentine's Day last night. I seriously LOVE cooking! I'm sorry about the lack of pictures, but I decided it was better to enjoy the moment instead of snapping photos. Thanks to Adam's mom for hanging out with SB for several hours yesterday so I could cook! Thanks to my parents for letting her sleep over last night! Adam and I had an amazing Valentine's Day evening together. And the yumminess continued this morning too. Adam made me breakfast in bed: heart-shaped french toast and candied bacon. Mmm, mmm! Here's what was on the menu last night:

Brandi & Adam's Valentine's Day Dinner 2011

Appetizer

Roasted Shrimp Cocktail

First Course

Carrot and Cumin Soup

Main Course

New York Strip Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

Linguini with Saffron Butter Sauce

Roasted Asparagus

Dessert

Mystery Mocha Cake

Vanilla Ice Cream

Fresh Strawberries

Here's a picture of SB on her first Valentine's Day. I just couldn't post without a single picture. :)

Mid-Week Getaway

     Tuesday, Adam and I made a quick trip to Dallas for the Jack Johnson concert. Adam was only able to take a half day on Tuesday afternoon and another half day on Wednesday morning, so sadly there wasn't time for a side trip to IKEA. :( We did eat at a great little restaurant before the concert though. http://www.asianmint.com/themint.html I used one of my super discounted gift certificates ($25 GC for $2) from Restaurant.com and it was happy hour ($2 off appetizers) so we got to try a lot from the menu without spending a fortune. Yay! The Thai(ish) food was great and the decor was too!

All of this food does not belong to me! I had Pad Kee Mow and Adam had Red Curry.

Thai Tea and Summer Rolls

     The concert was at an outdoor venue so we naturally thought we'd be miserable in the Dallas heat. However, thankfully, our seats were under the biggest ceiling fans I've ever seen and a brief rainstorm came just at the right time. It was downright comfortable! We love Jack Johnson's music! In fact, his music was practically our soundtrack during our 2006 vacation in Kauai. It was also playing when Sara Beth was born. . . I had a ton of his songs on my MP3 player (as one of my relaxation techniques). He was even better in concert than I expected. I heard a couple of new songs that are bound to become favorites:

Jack Johnson and Paula Fuga- "Country Road"

Jack Johnson- "Little Girl"

And of course one of my all-time favorite songs, Banana Pancakes.

Before the concert

Celebrating 11 Years of Marraige. . . Tourists in Our Own Town

     On August 7th, Adam and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. After weeks of pondering what we should do, we settled on eating out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It felt like such a lame thing to do on your anniversary, but there were really no other options.  Well, our day of eating turned out to be a great idea! We felt like tourists in our own city. We ate at places that we normally don't get the chance to dine at and ended up having great conversation with people all over Shreveport.
     Our weekend officially began when my mom picked up Sara Beth on Friday night. My parents kept her overnight and all day Saturday so we could have some one-on-one time together. This was SB's first sleepover without us. . . or more like our first night without SB. She did fine. I, on the other hand, had tears flowing down my face after she left. It all turned out OK though. We thoroughly enjoyed our night of uninterrupted sleep and our lazy morning together. To start, Adam made some delicious coffee for us. We chatted for several hours. . . and most of it wasn't about SB.

     Next, we headed to Columbia Cafe for a late breakfast. Columbia is a great little restaurant right in our neighborhood. It's a house, a lot like ours, that they converted into a restaurant. They display local artists' work and cook with seasonal ingredients. It's a great little place with lots of local flavor! Adam had french toast and I had an omelet with spinach, tomatoes, and andouille sausage.

     After breakfast, we stopped by the Shreveport Farmer's Market and bought a huge bag of Ruston peaches. Adam had big plans for the peaches! He made some delicious gelato later that day.

    On our way home, we checked out what was left of a big sale at Ladies in Waiting. We didn't get there early enough for the really good stuff, but I did find a Peanut Shell sling for only $15. I can't wait to try it out next week! We asked about a B.O.B. running stroller while we were there (just checking prices since Sara Beth isn't ready for it yet), but they didn't carry the model we wanted. So, we headed next door to River City Cycling to check there. They didn't have it either, but we did run into the owner, Ian, and ended up talking to him for over an hour. It was nice to have time for adult conversation.

     For lunch, we headed over to Lilah's Deli and Bakery (a.k.a. Lila's Cakes and Chocolates). It's also close to our house and although this was our first time to go, I can imagine we'll be back for years to come. It's a little jewel tucked into a run down part of the Highland neighborhood with very tasty food. Adam had a Greek panini and I had the spicy chicken sandwich (spicy= Indian). We also sampled their cookies (oatmeal raisin and white chocolate macadamia nut. . . both pretty yummy) and a mint chocolate cupcake (just OK).

     Dinner was at Olive Street Bistro, another one of our favorite places. It's been a long time since we've eaten here, and we had forgotten how good it was. To start, the bread is a crispy, pizza-sized flat bread topped with Parmesan cheese and spices. You break it off with your hands and dip it in oil and vinegar. I could go there just to eat the bread. . . it's that good! Adam ordered Fettuccine Con l 'Agnello, which tasted like lamb stew with homemade pasta. I ordered Involtino Di Pollo Napolitano, which was rolled and cheese-stuffed chicken in a wine sauce. Both entrees were delicious! We didn't forget dessert (do we ever?). . . Cioccolatto Rustico. It was half way between chocolate mousse and cake topped with vanilla ice cream and raspberry puree, surrounded by a rum cream sauce. Oh My! It was good! Sorry the pictures are dark and grainy. It's a "romantic" (a.k.a. dark) restaurant.

     By this time, it's almost 10:00 and our anniversary is coming to an end. We headed over to my parents' house to pick up our sweet little girl. Sara Beth had a fun time at her Nana and Papaw's house! She was such a good girl! Thanks to them for keeping her for us so we could celebrate 11 years together.

     It really was a perfect day, all in all. Happy Anniversary to the most wonderful husband any girl could want! I love you, Adam David Hart!