THURSDAY THOUGHTS: Celebrations

I left work today to find a black stretch limo waiting for me.

Hubby planned a special evening to celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary. Inside the limo Hubby, kids and my niece, Erin were waiting. It was the nicest limo I have ever seen. There was an awesome star-lit ceiling and lights around the bar area. The lights faded into all shades of the rainbow, and a small strobe light accompanied the music on the radio. The seats were plush leather, and large enough to fit 8-10 people.

We dropped Erin and the kids back at our house before heading out to dinner. Hubby wouldn't tell me where we were going, only that it was a restaurant we'd never been to before. It turned out to be a Brazilian restaurant called Samba. Inside the color pallete was a rich red with stone and steel accents. The menu began with a large "salad" bar (not sure what else to call it?) with all different kinds of cheeses, potato salads, olives, veggies including asparagus, grilled broccoli and zucchini, fresh green beans, cucumbers, lettuce, curried chicken salad (YUM!), pickled artichokes, rolls, garlic mashed potatoes, something that resembled Texas caviar and more. You could make as many trips as you wanted, and then we had a large wooden hourglass shaped thing that sat on the table. One end was green and the other red. When the green side was up there was a multitude of gauchos that would come to your table to serve you. Our selections included flank steak, Asian flavored tenderloin, a marinated duck, Cuban pork tenderloin (delish), a sausage (didn't try), lamb, barbequed chicken, a couple of others I'm forgetting right now and cinnamon grilled pineapple (OMG). The gauchos would keep coming to your table as long as the "green" was up. Needless to say it was easy to overeat and it was all delicious. It felt like all of these amazing flavor explosions in my mouth with each thing I tried. I had a mango Mojito to drink and Hubby had a rum and ginger-beer concoction called Dark & Stormy (not his favorite), but the Mojito rocked.

NOTE TO SELF: Stock up on some Mojito supplies...they are soooo good!

Afterward we had chocolate mousse and a custard with caramel sauce and berries. We were stuffed even before the dessert arrived but what would a proper celebration be without dessert, I ask?

The limo returned and we drove around town some before heading back home. I had these fantasies about doing some naughty things in the back of that limo, but I had to pee really bad, and Hubby was super stuffed so we were lame old farts who held hands and talked and ended up picking up our kids and Erin for the last part of our time in the limo.

Now that we've had some time to let our food settle and the kids are in bed we're off to do a little Whirlpool action with some wine--well at least I am. The night's not over yet.