Happy Father’s Day to all you Dads out there!! Here’s a shot of me with two of my favorite fathers- Dad and Grandpa:
And Brian joins the team this year:
*FRIDAY*
We celebrated our anniversary Friday night at Neighborhood Services, a relatively new restaurant near Inwood and Lovers. There’s been a lot of hype about this place and I was a little freaked out by the rumored three-hour waits, but we arrived around 6:45 and were seated immediately. By the time we left, the place was getting pretty packed so we must have timed it just right.
First, the restaurant was smaller than I pictured- but cozy in a kind of Pottery Barn-ish way. Lots of blond wood, cool stainless light fixtures and black and white photos. Oh, and the waiters wear these really kitsch prep-school cardigans.
We started with the Pan Roasted Blue Mussels:
The mussels themselves were delicious, but my favorite parts were the cured chorizo slices and the yummy broth at the bottom (with lots of crusty bread for dipping).
I ordered the Boston Bibb Salad:
My only complaint was the size. It was tiny- though you could tell that all the ingredients were fresh and high quality. The baby yellow tomatoes and Marcona almonds were delicious.
For my entree: Pot Roasted Short Rib with Toasted Gnocchi and Shiraz-Rosemary Jus.
I was between this and the scallops, but the waiter claimed that this was one of their signature items. It was great, but I’ve decided that I’m not a huge fan of short ribs. They always sound great, but the texture kind of turns me off… a little too spongy, if that makes sense. The gnocchi and sauce were amazing.
All in all a great meal. And they give you a mini box of Junior Mints with the bill. Very cute.
After dinner we decided to see The Proposal. It was actually a lot better than I expected- Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock were great together.
*SATURDAY*
The task of the day was cleaning out the office to start getting it ready to become the nursery. But first we needed nourishment, of course (do you see where this is going?) to to Barbec’s we went.
Garden Platter with Egg Beaters:
After breakfast we ran a couple of errands. By the time we got home it was 3:00, so we dragged ourselves into the office. Two hours later we had cleaned out a bookshelf- but a BIG bookshelf- and Brian had sorted through a bunch of clothes to get rid of. Note to self: Don’t spent two years cramming junk into a room, because one day you will have to clean out that room and it will be a massive pain in the ass.
And then I got the brilliant idea to make an IKEA trip. So off we went, all the way to Frisco. And you know what we ended up with???
Hot dogs.
Actually, two hot dogs and a cinnamon roll.
Ugh.
*SUNDAY*
We took two giant boxes of books to sell to Half Price Books. An hour and fifteen minutes later, we walked out $45 richer (not great, but at least the books are out of our hair) and headed to Northpark to meet my parents and brother at the movie. Did anyone else take their dad to see The Hangover this weekend? Yeah, probably not. But he loved it and I caught Gina cracking up, too.
For dinner we all met my grandparents at Picasso’s, a little pizza place near our house that has a ridiculously huge menu. But we always end up with pizza.
Brian and I started with the Pear and Gorgonzola Salad:
And then my mom and I shared a thin crust pizza with chicken, sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts.
It was a little heavy on the (burned) oregano. I’m actually not a huge fan of their pizza. Not enough sauce and the crust tastes like cardboard… but you can’t beat the selection and their salads are delicious.
They gave free desserts to all of the fathers in the group. The prettiest was the key lime pie:
Back to babysitting early tomorrow, so I need to get ready for bed. Hope you all had a great weekend!
-SURVEY-
What do you have entirely too much of in your house?
We have an ungodly number of books… textbooks, cookbooks, novels, law books. It’s kind of ridiculous. I think next on the list would have to be flip flops. I buy them constantly yet end up wearing the same pair of beat-up black Havaianas year after year.
(I just asked Brian this question… his response? “Dog hair.” Unfortunately, this is also true.)
What do I have too much of? Hmmm, right now it would probably be cereal and peanut butter! haha. I am known to have atleast 4 different kinds of nut butters and about 5 cereal boxes just for my “stash.”
We have entirely too many glasses (that we don’t use) – margarita glasses (never been used), stemless wine glasses, wine glasses with stems, martini glasses (not used), tea cups with saucers (never used), 25 coffe mugs (I use 1-2 per week), and these are all in our cabinets so it doesn’t include the entire box in storage full of my Mom’s coffee mugs and tea cups in her china pattern. Then we have high ball glasses, regular glasses, plastic cups, water jugs and finally – travel coffee mugs (which we usually use for water).
You know, we go to Paperbacks Plus at that weird intersection of LaVista and Skillman instead of Half Price. They pay more for the books and they give you store credit as part of it. So, when you go to buy something there, your store credit counts towards half the price. It works out great for us. They’ll buy your magazines, CDs, DVDs, VCR tapes, books, etc… We kind of use it as a place to get older movies because with your store credit you can get them for $3 or so, which is comparable to a video place but you own it. No late fee. Just sell it back to them when you’re done. It’s a cute little place. You should check it out.