My Birthday

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of celebrating another 30-something birthday. Birthdays are best when you get to spread them out. I celebrated first with my family the weekend before my birthday. Every year I ask for only one thing (to eat that is!). It's my mom's Italian Cream Cake which is what I'm hovering over below.

On my actual birthday Korey surprised me by taking me to Fearing's, the restaurant I've been mentioning ever so much. It was located in the Ritz Carlton in Dallas. I don't think I've ever been in a Ritz Carlton, but first things first, I made sure to check out the bathroom!
See all the little rolled-up white hand towels?

These flower arrangements are in the front lobby.

A waitress offered to take our pics for us. I have some where I held the camera out but our facial expressions aren't good!


Here's a recap of our time there... I will say that he and I both agreed that we felt like we were in another world at this restaurant where people are speaking a language you don't know and people are expecting you to understand what's going on. At one point they served us something in a shot glass. We didn't order it. We didn't hear what exactly it was so we kept looking around the room to see what other people were doing with it. We finally figured out we were supposed to drink it. At one point I mentioned to the waiter that I had read an article in Texas Monthly magazine about the restaurant so that's what brought us here. His reply, "Well that's more than I've read about it." Umm...aren't you a waiter at this classy joint? When Korey and I were trying to decide what to eat we read through the menu trying to find words we recognized. When I came across the word "filet" my eyes lit up. Yet it said pan-seared filet and lobster. So I just assumed it meant fish and seafood. I don't do seafood so I passed on that. Korey decided to order it not really knowing what the filet mean either. Did it mean filet 'o fish or filet mignon? Korey ordered it and then the waiter asked him how he wanted it cooked. Ummm...don't you want fish to be well-done? When he walked away Korey and I looked at each other and realized that we didn't know what it meant so I asked the waiter over. I laid my dumb card on the table. "Sir, did that mean filet of fish or filet mignon?" I smiled. He looked at me and replied, "Filet mignon." I smiled again. "Can I change my order?" So Korey and I ended up completely changing our order and I think they had to hustle it out to the kitchen. Who knows what the waiter thought of us!
The filet mignon was the most tender piece of meat I've ever eaten. Absolutely divine. I let Korey eat my lobster. I did take a bite though. When it came time for dessert the waiter asked us if we'd like some coffee. Sure, we thought. Why not? The dessert menu didn't have any kind of coffee or specialty coffee drinks on it so we assumed it was free. Yeah right! When the bill came and we realized it wasn't we started to hurriedly drink down this large pot of coffee they had given us. But wait...the dessert! I'm a chocolate girl but tonight I didn't want to stay in my box. So we chose a dessert plate that consisted of butterscotch custard, apple fritters, and pecan toffee ice cream. Let me just say that our serving of the ice cream was the size of a Tablespoon and we fought over the whole thing. I was trying to draw a line in it. I wonder if it's bad manners to fight with spoons in a nice restaurant. Thanks Korey for such an awesome time!
And finally I celebrated my bday a few days later with my friends from the Grub Club. The Grub Club members originate from a co-ed Bible study that met in my home back when I lived in Dallas. After a year or so members of the group moved away to different areas of the metroplex so our study disbanded but I decided it would be fun to get together with just the girls every once in awhile. The premise was that you had to host us in your home and you had to cook! The goal was once a month. And I wanted to do it because since we were single we really didn't have anyone to cook for so it made good use of the casserole recipes we had that served more than 1. Soon the guys found out what we were doing and didn't want to be left out. As GC has evolved we have added members due to marriages and engagements. To become an offical member you have to cook so your skills can be proven. Even the guys in the group have stepped up to the challenge. Can anyone say Chad's awesome peach cobbler - yum! One of our members moved off to Colorado this past year but she was in town for a wedding just in time for my bday so we all got together. Here's a pic of me blowing out a cake made by fellow GC'er Melissa. I think it's called Raspberry Cream Cake.



Thanks to everyone for helping me celebrate my birthday!!