A Special Evening

Jim, Clare, and Corinna offered to watch the troop... so that we could celebrate our 10 years of bliss:

When we were leaving, E was helping Corinna prep the carrots.  Clare had already made her "famous macaroni and cheese."  Yes, they have dubbed it HER famous mac and cheese dish!  And they LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

We headed over to California Cafe in downtown Los Gatos.  It was the place my sister had her wedding  rehearsal dinner - 10 years ago!  (They will celebrate their 10 in October).  I remember the meal being pretty tasty, so I picked it and made reservations on-line.  It was very easy!  They were very nice to us -- especially when they found out we were celebrating our 10 years!  It seemed that while we were seated and enjoying our evening, everyone from the restaurant came by to congratulate us!  What a nice place!

Our appetizers:

CRISPY JAMAICAN SPICED CALAMARI tatsoi, jicama, toasted cashews

WILD BOAR RIBS blackberry ancho chili barbeque sauce

I was so full from the appeitzers... I barely made a dent in my main dish!  (it was a GREAT lunch today!;))  But if you look past my dish -- see Vince's plate?  He wiped that baby clean!  I was VERY impressed!

Our meal:

Vince had:  PETITE NEW ZEALAND LAMB RACKS rosemary potato croquette, strawberry chutney, vincotto

I had:  GRILLED PORK TENDERLOIN sweet mango salsa, balsamic drizzle along with roasted fingerlings and grilled asparagus

Although we were expected home for dessert with the family, we were given a complementary dessert to "cleanse our palate," said our server.  It was a really nice gesture -- after the glasses of champagne they offered when we sat down!

Isn't it beautiful?  It's watermelon, mango, and lemon sherbert!  Our favorites were the watermelon and mango.  

Then we returned to Jim and Clare's... where she bake a lemon meringue pie!  It was just perfect!!!!  

Thank you so much Clare for a yummy dessert to end a perfect evening!

10 years!

Not the best photos -- but they were taken by lovely people (the first by Anita, my dear friend from UCLA and bridesmaid and the second by Carole, my awesome high schoolteacher, advisor, and dear friend). The professional photos are in an album in the shed!  Haha -- good thing I paid a lot of money for them!  Now they are collecting dust.

For dinner we made long grain wild rice, stir fried bok choy with garlic, and lamb loin chops!  Thanks to Matt, I marinated the chops in some minced garlic, fresh rosemary, grated lemon zest, salt, pepper, and olive oil before we went to Happy Hollow this morning to play with our friends.

He helped to cut the bok choy and then he washed them:

He always loves making the rice:

The chops were seared then put into the oven:

The final presentation: