Sawatdee

Jon and I are last minute people. We also like to save things to use them later. These two things combined are not good when it comes to using our Groupons.

We've had a Groupon to Sawatdee Thai Restaurant for a while and have kept putting it off for a different night. Well this Groupon expires at the end of the month (which is today). And Jon, who's always looking for the best deal, said we could only use it on a Wednesday because they have a Wednesday Date Night deal. So for dinner yeserday we went to Sawatdee.

I'm pretty excited about this restaurant because I really like Thai food. Jon, on the other hand, has a very small palate and so it was difficult to find a meal that he would like. He ended up just getting fried rice, which he thought was really good.

After we ate we were able to go see a good friend of ours who is visiting this week! It was so good to see her and catch up on life.

June Double Date Night

Tonight was our monthly double date with my brother and his wife. We have this running list of restaurants that we want to try out and every time we get together we try a new one. Lately we’ve kinda made it a goal to get through all the Parasole Dinning list of restaurants. It will take us a few months to get through this list. (plus we keep finding other restaurants that we want to try and adding them to our list.) Basically, we are set for monthly date nights for awhile.

Manny's Steakhouse
Mozza Mia 
Chino Latino
Salut Bar Americain (tried this one last month. They have a great patio area and delicious fries/sauce)Muffuletta (an Old favorite)
Pittsburgh Blue Steakhouse
Good Earth (my go-to restaurant when I go out with my girl-friends)

Burger Jones
Il Gatto
Uptown Cafeteria

Tonight we went to Burger Jones. the place has a pretty good size patio and we were able to sit outside and enjoy the nice weather.

The food was good - the burgers were nothing to brag about but they have the best sweet potato fries I've ever had. Also their onion rings were really good and huge!

After we ate we decided to go for a walk around Lake Calhoun. But right before we walk we decided to stop and rest a bit on some chairs.

Walking around the lake was a perfect way to walk off some of that greasy goodness we just consumed. Plus we had to take advantage of the beautiful night.

Birthday Week - Day 8

Yes, Birthday weeks consist of 8 days.

Jon didn't buy me any more presents for today but what he did do was get rid of an old couch we had been unsuccessfully trying to sell on Craig's list.

On Sunday afternoons we usually try to make the time to visit Jon's family. Well this week, since it's my birthday, Jon's family came to us. We also invited my family over to have one big party! We made food and just hung out and played with all the babies.

For the meal I made "walking" tacos (or tacos in a bag). They are super easy. All you have to do is make taco toppings (beef, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, cheese, etc) and take a small Doritos bag, break all the chips and put every topping you want in the bag. Shake them up and enjoy! They are perfect for parties because there are less dishes to do.

But if you are not skilled in eating out of a bag, they can get a little messy.

For dessert I made two pies with all the strawberries we picked last week. One Strawberry and one Strawberry Rhubarb.

Everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to me and since we didn't have any candles, Jon came up with a make-shift candle.

They even made me try and blow it out!

Overall it was a great finale to a fun week. And according to Jon, I have to wait another 25 years before I get another week-long celebration of my birth. (But I'm hoping he'll forget he said that and do it again next year)

Birthday Week - Day 7

Jon really enjoys finding great deals and he found a good deal on a hotel in downtown Minneapolis. For $69 we got $20 at the hotel restaurant, an upgraded suit, free parking, and free breakfast. So for birthday week day 7 we stayed the night there.

We let loose a little and had some fun jumping around.

We invited some good friends to come over and hang out with us. And we ended spending the night playing board games. It was so much fun!

They introduced us Blokus. Which I think might be my new favorite game.

The scores for the night were as follows:
Me: Won Blokus
Jon: Won Settlers of Catan (he finally beat me for the first time in about a year, it was a big moment for him)
The Girls: Won Partini
The Guys: Won Cranium WOW

My final birthday present was a big one and very sparkly. Jon is VERY good at getting me jewelry. Check it out.

Birthday Week - Day 6

For those of you who know me, you will know that I like to figure things out... put all the pieces together to figure out what's going on. (That's how I knew Jon asked my dad for permission to marry me) Since then Jon has gotten better about keeping things secret so he can surprise me. But I still like to figure things out, he gives me clues instead. Every hour today, Jon gave me a clue so that I could try and figure out where he was taking me to dinner tonight. (PS I wasn't allowed to Google these to figure it out)

Italian Restaurant
In Minneapolis but not downtown
James Beard (I had to Google this one cause I didn't know who he was)
Anagram: alas bar rags
Loop (Still don't know what this is)

Took me awhile and help from a co-worker to figure it out but this is for Bar La Grassa!

Apparently the place was booked so we weren't able to get reservations until 9pm but that's ok cause it's Friday!

When they brought us our water they also gave us a little bowl of pickled beans... they we interesting but had a lot of good flavors.

For starters we got two different types of bruchetta: Ricotta and Roasted Tomato and Gorrgonzola Picante with Pereronata. They were both awesome! The bread was perfect and they we packed full of good stuff on top.

For the meal we kinda spilt 3 things; Gnocchi with Cauliflower and Orange, Papperardelle with Veal Ragu, and Silk Hankerchiefs with Basil Pesto.

For dessert we got Salty Caramel Crespelle. It was perfect! Salty and sweet with caramel and vanilla ice cream. Yay!

Birthday Week - Day 5

Yesterday my gift from Jon was a Groupon to The Body Shop that expires this weekend. So I got off work early and went on a little shopping spree at the MOA.

Tonight I didn't want to go out to eat again so instead we rented a red box movie, made a pizza and curled up on the couch.
PS The best frozen pizza ever is Home Run Inn Signature Pizza. So you should try it if you haven't had it yet. I added a some fresh garlic scapes from our CSA on this pizza... makes it garlicky but that keeps the vampires away. Hehe

Jon's gift for me today was two one-hour long massages which I am pretty excited about because I've never gotten to go get a massage before!

Birthday Week – Day 4

Today is my actual birthday! This morning I woke up and found that Jon had cleaned the house after I went to bed! And he left a really sweet card out for me. Then when I got in the car to go to work he had another note for me and got the ipod all ready to play a song he picked out for me to listen to. It was a great start to the day!

Normally on my brithday Jon drives me to work but this year it just wasn't going to work out so instead he sent me flowers at work! I didn't get them till the last half hour I was there but I can't wait to enjoy them all day tomorrow and Friday!

For my birthday dinner, Jon took me to Forepaugh’s Restaurant. This restaurant is located in an old Victorian house near downtown St Paul. I LOVE Victorian houses,  so I think that this restaurant is pretty much the coolest thing ever.

For the starter we got Poutine
 

Jon got Nate's City Slicker BBQ Beef

I got the Pan-Seared Walleye

This is the biggest wine glass I've ever used

Two Desserts! One was on the house and chocolate... I didn't touch that one.

After dinner we went to DQ because for my birthday they gave me a Buy One Get One Blizzard coupon for today only. Plus I like to have DQ a least once a week and I hadn’t had it this week yet.

Me and my tropical blizzard. Yum!

Birthday Week - Day 3

This morning as I was standing looking out the window eating my breakfast, I noticed that the lawn was cut funny. Jon said he was going to mow last night but there was just a squiggly line cut through our yard. So I went and opened the back door to check it out and realized that the line was probably on purpose because it was in the shape of a big heart! How cute is that?! Jon is definitely going all out with this birthday week stuff.

When I got home from work, Jon had a flowering plant and a Caribou Smoothie ready for me.

After work Jon took me to the Red Stag Supper Club. They have a Tuesday night date night special, where they have two meals, dessert and a bottle of wine for $32. It's a pretty good deal and Jon doesn't drink at all so I get the whole bottle to myself... which makes the night that much better. Also the dessert for tonight was a chocolate coffee cake and be both don't like chocolate or coffee so they were nice enough to substitute it for peach cobbler which was delicious!

Birthday Week - Day 2

Today is day two of my birthday week and I had to go to work. But after work Jon and I had fun!

The plan for tonight was to go shopping (for me) and then head to Bennigan's for unlimited chicken fingers.
While driving there we saw this guy... he has a tire around his waste.

Jon was a really good sport while shopping. We went to JoAnn Fabrics where he helped me pick out fabric for some baby blankets I'm going to make. And he took me shopping for cloths, where he sat and gave his opinion on all the outfits I tried on. I was very proud him - he was actually fun to shop with and that's not normal.

He also gave me my second birthday present which was TWO Cast Iron Pots! Apparently there was a great deal on them and he couldn't pass it up so he got two instead of one.

Birthday Week - Day 1

My birthday is on a Wednesday this year and since Wednesday is in the middle of the week, Jon has decided to make my birthday a week-long event! (I'm pretty excited about that)

Day #1 was yesterday, which was also Father’s Day so we didn’t do much in celebration of my birth but Jon did give me my first present.

About a month ago my battery died in my car key so I had to actually use the key to unlock the door (tragic right?) Well the battery was out in my spare key too and I couldn’t figure out how to change the battery to get it working. Jon fixed both keys and they both work now!

No idea how he did it but I think it’s great that he fixed them for me!

Father's Day #2

Our second Father's Day was spent with my family. We woke up early and met my Dad, Brother, Sister-in-law, her Mom and Nephews and headed down to Harmony Valley Farm. Today was Strawberry Day at the farm! They had a potluck, tour and strawberry picking! It was a long drive down to the farm but we had a ton of fun and ate strawberries till we were bursting!

Getting ready for the tractor tour ride

My Dad and I

I think I ate more strawberries than I actually took home

My dad's face is priceless

Jon picking strawberries

Jon having his first experience of eating a freshly picked strawberry. He described is as "super delicious" and "the best he's ever had"

Strawberry juice face!

All the strawberries we took home