My birthday: Pago and Cake

So then I had a family dinner with Clint and Max at Pago.  I started with a salad that is no longer on the menu, so I can't tell you all what's in it.  But it was pretty tasty.  There were apples and baby lettuce and I think pistachios and some type of candied something or another sprinkled on top.

For my entree I had the Steak-Frites which was described as "C.A.B. bavette steak, Yukon Gold fries, nasturtium & pernod bearnaise."  I had thought it would arrive with a picturesque nasturtium decorating it, but I suppose it was blended up in the sauce. The steak was very tender and delicious, but rather salty.  The fries were good too, but even more salty.  And that arugula salad?  Well, I wouldn't have ordered a salad plate first if I had known the entree came with a salad.  But it's a good thing I did because this salad was inedible because it was SALTED.  Heavily salted.  What an injustice to the regal arugula which I adore.

Clint got the Pago burger which he thought was very good, but he was disturbed about paying so much for a burger.  IT was a very gourmet burger though, and it came with truffle fries which again were amazing, but so overly salted we could't even finish them.  I think these were the worst offender with the salt.   Honestly, I was blown away that a fine dining establishment would destroy their food by over salting it.  Maybe I should have complained.  At any rate, I won't be going back.

After the restaurant we headed home to have some cake and ice cream with friends.   It was a lovely birthday, which was actually well documented this year.

Anniversary

The traditional gift for the fourth anniversary is silk, so I determined that I would get Clint a silk pillowcase since he is obsessed with finding the cool side of the pillow.   A silk pillowcase should feel cool, right?  Well, it turns out that silk pillowcases are rather difficult to obtain, and the saleswoman at Bed Bath and Beyond convinced me that they aren't all that great anyway and would probably catch on his stubble.  So, I purchased a cooling pillow.  

As I was coming in from the store, Clint just happened to be walking up the stairs towards the door at the exact same moment.  I tried to dash off and turn the corner to hide my gift, but ended up tripping and executing a superman lunge onto the stairs.  My knee hurt so bad afterwards...

Anyway, I also got some flowers with my mom from Costco.  They reminded me of my wedding flowers--and I knew Clint wouldn't get flowers because I once commented that I don't like his florist's arrangements.  Instead of getting a new florist, he went on strike.

We also went out to dinner to Faustina which we discovered last year at the Dine O Round.

Stuffed beef tenderloin medallions

Fried goat cheese

The most amazing lasagna ever

Baby Shower Bombay

I was fortunate enough to also have a baby shower with the wives of "the crew"--Clints' group of friends that I married into so to speak.  The lovely Erika and Lindsay (who only just had a babies themselves) hosted along with Ameri.  Basically we stuffed ourselves with delicious Indian food and talked.  Mmm.  Peshwari naan....mango lassi....sigh.  I submit to you that Bombay House cannot be beat for the best Indian food around.  I am lucky to have such great women in my life.

Dine O' Round, Melting Pot, Faustina

So I'm really behind in blogging...I guess I should catch up over the break.  But of course, this may be an excuse not to grade the research papers.  Hmm.  Anyway, let me tell you about the Dine O' Round!  Every fall some Salt Lake restaurants participate in the Dine O' Round and offer deals.  This year Clint and I decided to try The Melting Pot.  It's one of those places that it seems like everyone has been to, and we never had.

The bottom line?  Their deal for the Dine O'Round wasn't really a deal at all and didn't include dessert (which seems sort of important at a fondue place) so we didn't use it.  However, I really did enjoy the food.

We had the Wisconsin Cheese Trio fondue which I thought was pretty good, but Clint didn't like.  I was sort of worried about the whole wine part--does cooking wine really "cook out" when it was dumped into a fondue pot right in front of you?  Next time we probably won't get a cheese fondue.  We did have salads--all I remember it that they were small.  For the main course we used the basic cooking style, seasoned court bouillon.  It was perfectly good--I feel the other styles are probably a waste. I liked the teri sirloin, the shrimp, and the pot stickers.  I did not like the duck, the citrus pork, or really the chicken.  They also give you veggies which were all great and here's the best part-- a zillion sauces to try!

Clint knows I love sauce.

We also had a yummy dessert, The Flaming Turtle.  How could I resist? Turtles are my favorite candy after all.  It was quite tasty, and it's fun to watch them light it on fire.

Of course, I also had to scope out the bathroom.  Well, I did have to go, but I like checking things out in general.  If I'm going to go to a fancy restaurant, I feel that I like aborsbing every last drop of ambience.  Here is a picture of the hip sinks. (Yeah, I'm a dork.  Also I have a thing about bathrooms.  I still haven't forgotten the bathroom of my soul on Isla Mujeres in Mexico. I should post photos of that--I wasn't blogging yet at that time.)

We also had a Dine O' Round lunch on a rainy day at a place called Faustina.  Sigh.  I love trying new restaurants.  I suppose this might be substantially more difficult in just a few weeks when I have a BABY.  Anyway, it appears I neglected to take photos at this place, but I will tell you that it has a modern vibe with purple tile, weird black treeish sculptures, and new age music. Everything on their lunch menu is 12 bucks including a yummy strawberry cake for dessert.  Not too shabby for a fancy hip restaurant downtown. (However, there were lots of "upgrades" for more money.) I got a sandwich that was a special--I think it was a chicken parmesan type sandwich with pesto and marinara.  It was awesome.  However, I was sadly disappointed by the salad that came with it--it was over dressed with some poppy seed dressing that I didn't like.  Who wants a mushy over dressed salad?  Anyway, I think Clint got the chipotle cheeseburger which was also quite tasty.  And like I said, both came with a delicious strawberry cake for dessert.  I think next time I'd try the lasagna.  Mmm.  I'm making myself hungry here.

Oh btw, I did go to the bathroom here as well--very weird bathrooms with a mix of ghetto and chic.

Anniversary

For our third anniversary we stayed a night at a resort up in Midway called Zermatt.

It was a fun Swiss-inspired place.  I was entertained by the border in our room (which unfortunately you can't see very well in this picture). . .

and by the cute details such as dancing bears on the lights in the hall ways.

During the afternoon I checked out the pools while Clint finished up writing a paper for a class he was taking.  Then come evening we decided to head to dinner at the Blue Boar Inn (after a long debate about it's possible merits versus the merits of Z's Steak and Chop Haus).  Clint was intrigued by the dry-aged steak at Z's but I was intrigued by hollandaise sauce at Blue Boar.

They started us out with a free little appetizer with some fancy name.  I can't remember the name of the course.  It was a little cheese tart.

Look at the pretty butter balls that came with our bread.

I got the Blue Boar Salad: "Mixed Greens, Tomato, Manchego Cheese, White Balsamic Vinaigrette." It was very fresh and delicious.  Our waitress was very friendly and helpful and told us all about how they use locally grown produce.

This was my entree: Filet Mignon with Crab Cake, Tarragon Hollandaise, and Yukon Gold Rounds.  I have to say, I was slightly disappointed.  I think that I thought I liked crab cake, but I really don't.  Also I didn't really like the tarragon hollandaise sauce either which is sad because I love hollandaise.  Maybe it was the tarragon.  The steak was very juicy and delicious though.

Clint's entree was called Grilled Pork Porterhouse: Berkshire Pork Chop, Sweet Potato Hash, and Dijon Herb Demi. It was good, but the hash was kinda weird.

For dessert we got a cheesecake and a creme brulee.  I think they gave us one dessert for free because it was our anniversary. :)

After dinner we headed over to the sister resort Homestead Resorts where they had a little campfire with cowboy stories and a lovely guitarist/singer.  It was a nice evening thing to do.  The next day we went over and looked at the crater--a geothermal pool in a sort of cavern that you can swim in.  We looked at it, but passed on swimming.  Instead we then climbed all the steps to get on top of it and enjoy the view from above.  Subsequently it was time for some food so we drove into Midway proper and got pizza at Cafe Galleria.  The pizza was good, but a bit intense--we got the "Roasted Mushroom" with San Marzano sauce, roasted mushrooms, fontina, gorgonzola, caramelized onions, rosemary, and pine nuts.  I wouldn't recommend it as a pseudo breakfast.  Anyway, as we were eating a clock chimed across the way and some silly Swiss wooden figures popped out of the building and spun around.  It was quite delightful.  I am currently rather enchanted with Midway--perhaps we'll be back next year. How could anyone not love an adorable Swiss-themed mountain town? Thanks for a great anniversary, Clint. :)

A Piano and a Pumpkin

On October 8th Clint and I went on a Fall leaves drive through Guardsman Pass.  Unfortunately, the peak of the leaves had already passed that high up (even though they had hardly started in the valley).  We had a lot of fun anyway.  We drove through Midway which I'm not even sure I've driven through despite the fact that it's right next to Heber.  I tried to take some pictures of the cute Swiss houses, but two two I took before my camera died didn't turn out.  In Heber we had dinner at the Tarahumara Restaurant which was very busy, but delicious. I got the fish tacos which had a fabulous sauce.  To those who have never been here--understand that the restaurant is split into two different sections.  The right side is a more traditional sit down restaurant and bar--but it was full when we got there.  The left side is more of a Cafe Rio style--you order at the front desk then wind to the back to find seats, and they bring your food out to you.  There is a salsa bar with probably 30 different salsa which are fun to try. Unfortunately, the drink machine is really far away and after you've been trying all those salsas, you might run out of water!  Also connected to the restaurant is a little bakery with pan dulces.  I almost bought a little baggie of pinole, a dry corn meal mixture that the Tarahumara eat on runs.

While speaking of restaurants, I also went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for the first time as a part of the SLC dine o' round (in Sept).  It was tasty and fun to go somewhere lavish that I wouldn't ordinarily go.

Probably my most significant October happening was that I bought a piano!  I become possessed with the idea one day after reflecting on time spent playing piano/flute duets with my mom and my sister singing along.  I found one listed for cheap on Craigslist, and after much dithering on my part was the owner of a piano later that same day.  I ended up acquiring it extremely cheaply because I discovered mouse droppings in it.  So I spend a long sweaty day after work taking it apart and vacuuming it out.  I also used a judicious amount of Lysol sanitizing spray. Much to Clint's chagrin, I enlisted his help after he got home from work as well.

Halloween this year wasn't terribly exciting.  I had wanted to see Phantom of the Opera at the Organ Loft the Friday before, but ended up attending the SLC track club banquet instead (which was cool, but not festive).  However, I did get invited to a pumpkin carving party the next week, so I had some Halloween festiveness.  On actual Halloween Clint and I ate some soup at the ward party, then came home and watched a movie.  It's difficult to enjoy Halloween because it always falls right near the end of the quarter.  Fortunately, Ron's new wife Allison helped me grade essays that weekend.  Whew!