Two for the show

It's hard to believe my little girl is two today.  Time sure does fly by.  Last night I asked her who's birthday it was tomorrow and she said "it's my birthday."  However, she really doesn't get what that means.

Regardless...happy birthday Ms. Nattie Lou Who!

My own 10 weird, cool, funny facts (in no order)

In response to being tagged by Carrie via Shannon, I now tag Shane (and Molly).

1. I never set the alarm on my alarm clock to a standard interval.  For example, I am far more likely to set the alarm to 8:02am then I am 8:00am.  Currently, my alarm is set to 5:26am.

2. Since entering high school, the only type of casual shoes I have ever owned are Adidas Samba Classics.  I have never purchased a pair of running shoes for casual wear.

 

3. I definitely have a specific order that I keep bills in my wallet (in the rare instance I have money in there).

4. Math has always come relatively easy to me.  I feel like I simplify it (usually to 10s, 100s, etc.) so it's possible to do it in my head quickly.  However, many people don't get my method (including Gina).  I will give you a couple of examples.  When adding 89+38, I will subtract 89 from 100 to get 11 and then subtract 11 from 38 to get 127.  When multiplying 22x13, I will multiply 22x10 to get 220 and then add 66 (22x3) to get 286.

5. Before I fall asleep (I sleep on my right side), I always place the bottom left corner of my pillow above my shoulder.

6. Even though I enjoy being left handed, I hope that my children are not.  While I like being different, it's more hassle then it is fun.  The only exception to this would be if the girls want to play softball.  I will likely try to steer them towards batting left handed if possible.  It's such an advantage.

7. I am a crust guy (especially on pizza).  In fact, the only times I notice myself eating the middle last are peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and (good) brownies/cookies.

8. I love wearing hats, though I am constantly annoyed by them.  It's a vicious cycle, let me tell you.

9. At one point years ago, I was planning to donate Nugget to the Minnesota Zoo.  However, their exhibit at the time only included Southeast Asian tortoises, not Mediterranean.  They would have taken her but she would have never been on display.  Nugget is a Horsfield's tortoise (also know as a Russian tortoise or Central Asian tortoise).

10. I can't tell you how much I love it when Natalie looks at someone else, points to me and says "that's my daddy."

Chef's Table Esclusivo

For Beth’s graduation earlier this month, Gina’s immediate family and their significant others spent an evening at Pazzaluna (a wonderful resturant in downtown ).

Rick and Jo arranged for us to sit at the chef’s table.

Every night, eight to ten people (in one party) are allowed to sit at this table.  The menu is created the morning of and all the courses are made from scratch.

 

We were fortunate enough to have the head chef Rino Baglio for our experience (Pazzaluna is Rick’s account so that definitely helped out our cause).  He had recently returned from after winning a prestige competition that had over 300 of the world’s top chefs competing in it.

I don’t have the words to describe how fantastic the meal was, so I will just share the night’s menu instead and let you use your imagination.  Add in good wine, bailey’s coffees and lemon shots at the end of the night and it was definitely a meal worth remembering.

 

ANTIPASTI

- Steam band baked potato dumpling topped with sautéed tomato, onion, garlic and tarragon, finished with parmesan cheese

- Potato goufrette basket, stuffed with the chef’s salmon mousse, topped with quail’s egg and eggplant

- A tower of celery and celery root with creamy dressing, topped with fresh crab meat

PRIMI PIATTI

House-made fusilli pasta in a creamy asparagus sauce with yellow and red cherry tomatoes

SECONDI PIATTI

- Combination of steamed halibut in a crostini breading with fresh herbs, topped with fried leek

- Porcini mushroom encrusted lamb loin, with a coffee and Barolo wine reduction

DOLCE

They brought out two platters of desserts, encompassing their entire collection.

* The halibut was flown in earlier in the morning from Alaska.

* My favorites were the salmon mousse, asparagus pasta and German chocolate cake.