Fancy Dinner and a Show

So as I mentioned in my last post, dinner was at Nine Thirty at the W hotel. They offered a couple's prix fixe menu with several courses to share. We went with Matt and Kristy and had a lovely time...

Course #1 was appetizers... an oyster on the half shell and caviar with salmon on a little quichey thing. Rick happily had the oyster while I had the caviar. mmmmm
Second course was soup and salad. The salad was incredible... a tomato salad made from the most flavorful tomatoes I had eaten in a LONG time... topped with spinach, roasted pistachios, goat cheese, and a lovely sauce/dressing.

The soup was a corn bisque that was smooth and velvety and amazing (no corn bits in it at all)... with some yummy shrimp in there too! Awesomeness.

After that it was time to cleanse our palates with a lovely lemon-rosemary sorbet. soooo tasty!

Then it was onto our main course. It took a loooong time for it to come out, so the waiter brought us each a glass of champagne for our troubles. Don't mind if I do... One dish was a chipotle rubbed grilled flat iron steak over wild mushroom polenta,
with honey braised carrots and asparagus and veal reduction sauce... incredible, savory!

The other was a basil marinated grilled sturgeon with horseradish roasted potatoes, balsamic glaze, spinach, and tomato. AMAZING!!!

And then it was dessert... vanilla bean panna cotta (kind of flan textured) with a raspberry sauce, organic raspberries on the side, and this little caramel crisp thing that was delightful.

The other dessert was this incredible chocolate cake thing... tiny and perfect, warm and souffle-like and perfectly creamy in the middle, surrounded by a butterscotch sauce and a salty peanut brittle to balance out the perfect sweetness. SIGH.

Absolutely incredible dinner and totally worth the cost. After dinner, Matt and Kristy drove us to the UCLA campus building (just a mile up the hill) where we saw Man of La Mancha. It was opening night and the star who played Don Quixote (and Cervantes) was none other than the dude who played Data on Star Trek... Brent Spiner! He was wonderful and played the role so very well. Our favorite moment was when he sang his "Impossible Dream" song for Dulcinea and the audience wouldn't stop clapping afterward. They couldn't go on to the next line because the clapping went on for so long! It was great. :)

Here (hopefully, if I was able to embed it correctly!) is another version of that scene, from the 57th Tony Awards. I daresay I felt that Brent Spiner played the role even more convincingly...

(if it didn't embed, here is the direct link to the video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZE4KGB6Wt4 )

Swanky in Los Angeles...

So this Valentine's Day we actually had a romantic getaway. Usually we spend Feb 14th eating pizza at Sam's club. Seriously. We just don't put much thought into the holiday. But this year we had an excuse to do something different! My aunt Tish got us tickets to see Man of La Mancha at a theater in Los Angeles for Feb 14th... so it was the perfect excuse to get out of town for a fun, romantic weekend! I booked our hotel on Priceline and got the Mondrian LA Hotel... a superfancy swanky modern hotel right on the west edge of Hollywood, just outside of Beverly Hills on Sunset Blvd. They upgraded us to a "one bedroom suite" and it was very very cool.

There was this random "hand" that was on a tray in the room...

Rick was having fun figuring out what the heck it was there for...

Butt scratcher? Yeah, that was probably it.

Violet also left little notes for us in our bags... they were necklaces for us to wear. Awww...

She is the sweetest :)

Here we are, lounging in our swanky room before going out to our dinner and show.

We got dinner reservations at Nine Thirty at the W Hotel and it was amazing... more, including photos, in the next blog entry! :)

LOVE night

So last month was a super busy month, have I mentioned that? Or did you notice cause I didn't blog AT ALL? Cause yeah. Busy. One of the (many) things we got to do was help coordinate a surprise for Carl... his brother flew into town with his girlfriend for Valentine's weekend... and I was the liaison for all things surprise. One of the things we did was plan a night on the town with dinner and a show... so thanks to the hookups from Dad we had dinner at Stack at the Mirage, followed by the Cirque show LOVE.

Rick and I standing outside of Stack waiting for the group...
Rick being super cool casino dude...

And then at the table. Carl's dad was also in town so we got to hang out with him, too!

Dinner at Stack was AMAZING. I am not kidding. I have never eaten so much incredible food. We had a round of appetizers and tried all the different ones available, and each of them was completely tasty and amazing. Then for the main course we had a bunch of different entrees and everyone shared everything, so we got to sample it all. We wanted to try dessert but we were all honestly so full from the meal we couldn't even attempt another bite.

Then it was off to see LOVE. This was my second time seeing it, and it was even more amazing than the first (I think because since I kind of knew what was going on I could focus on different things). Incredible... every single second.

The following morning (the 14th!), Rick and I headed to the airport for our romantic excursion in Los Angeles... I will blog all about it next!

Wizards, Magic, and Dwarves

Rick has been a nerd all his life. I know this about him, and I love him in spite of the nerdiness. He has played D&D since he was in junior high, and various levels of nerdy games since then... Magic: The Gathering, Blood Bowl, Warhammer, Necromunda, Mordheim, Everquest, World of Warcraft... the list goes on and on. I am not even going to mention the ones that are based on comic book characters like City of Heroes! HAHA. I don't mind it cause it keeps him out of trouble. And really, for the most part, he has over the years grown out of all of them... that is, until his friends started playing Magic again just a few months ago, which conveniently coincided with a lull in Rick's nerd game playing. It was perfect. So the nerdy friends (who are not, inherently, nerdy on the outside...lol) get together every Tuesday and play with their Magic cards. Tiff, Rick's brother's wife, calls it "Mor-Dor Night" cause they guys get all Middle Earth. hahahaa.

So, when a new expansion pack was coming out for the cards, Rick decided to host nerd night over here at our house. Everyone was going to come over and they were doing this certain kind of game playing (that the nerds reading this will undoubtedly recognize) where each person around the table gets a pack of cards. Everyone opens up their pack of cards at once and they all have a minute to choose the ONE card they want from the deck, then pass the rest of the cards to their left. This is repeated till everyone has their 20 cards. Then They open another pack and do the same thing, only this time passing to player right. This goes on for however long that takes, and then everyone spends 30 minutes organizing their decks and building their decks so they can play their games. Everyone got card protectors to put their cards in to keep them in good condition... everyone except Ryan who isn't into the nerdiness as some others. He was just shuffling cards like a normal deck and Rick's brother Bob nearly had a heart attack at the thought of the cards getting bent like that. HAHAAHA. Nerd.

Finally game play begins with each person playing everyone else in the room, with wins and losses recorded on the whiteboard. Winner gets 5 decks, runner up 3 decks, and 2 consolation prizes (DFL gets one deck and "good sport" gets one deck).

And it all looks something like this:

First the setup. Bob brought his computer so he could look up card stats (since everything was so brand new no one really knew what to expect from the cards)...

Rick laid out the decks along the table...

And then they passed out a few decks (4, I think) to each person.

They rolled their 20-sided die to start...

And then tore open Pack #1 and started checking out the cool cards, looking for Rares, Ultra Rares, Special Named Creatures, and the like. I don't even know if that's what they are all called, but there were a lot of "OOOOO!!!" that came from the opening of the new decks.

This particular group of nerds is special in that they have a built-in dwarf. I mean, honestly - it isn't the same without an actual, living, little person sitting across the table pretending to cast "Rain of Fire" on you. So Little Chris is there to add an air of authenticity. ;)

There are even a couple of token nerd chicks who play, and do quite well!
And there's Rick. Who hates when I take pictures of him.
And Ryan. Innocent Ryan who just loves the game but doesn't get all comic book store owner on his cards. The shuffling nearly put Bob into cardiac arrest.
See?? hahahaha. poor Bob. It's going to be okay.
So a good time was had by all. The game went on well into the night (I think from 6pm till around 2am by the time everyone left!)... and even though there were only a couple of winners, everyone came away with new cards and new stories of wizards, magic, and even fighting actual dwarves. :)

Family Party

Okay okay okay okay! Sorry about the absence from the blog. February has been jam-packed with goodness and fun, so much so that I haven't had a chance to even look at the photos I have taken... UNTIL NOW. So, you can look forward to a few new, fun blog posts that will hopefully entertain and enlighten you. HA.

Anyway! At the end of January we hosted a family party at our house, and it was all sorts of goodtimes. Not the least of which was when Bob arrived at the house in THE SAME SHIRT RICK WAS WEARING! HAHAHAHA. I had to get a photo of the matching brothers :)



Then the cousins hung out and played a little Magic. Or as I like to call it Nerd Game. And as Bob's wife Tiff calls it, Mor-Dor.

They are all getting ready for the BIG GAME at our house the following week. Oh yes. You can only imagine the raucuous that followed! Wait till you see that post. @@

It was also good to have Abu over here! Mom and dad picked her up from her respite home and brought her by, and she really enjoyed sitting in the main room, watching the family have fun.

AND HAVE FUN WE DID... We introduced Papa to the world that is Rock Band.

Even Mama Lali got in on the fun!

And E-lan... precious, sweet E-lan. She can BELT it!

And of course, the super rockstars of the night gave me their best band pose...

Totes goodtimes at the Baldwin house. :)

The Awesomeness that is The Hair.

When I first met Rick, he had long hair. Long, frizzy, blond, crazy hair. He was such a cool guy... such a rebel. Riley heard that his dad used to have long hair and now Riley wants the same kind of hair. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That will *not* happen. Because we now know about such things as curl enhancing mousse and detangling spray to make crazy curly blond hair more manageable. I think it's time, though, to take a little trip down the path of memories that leads us to The Awesomeness that is The Hair. Shall we?


This first picture was when I was in college in San Diego and Rick and I spent a Saturday on Coronado. We were in this cool little park that had a merry-go-round. This is my favorite pic of Rick from when he had long hair. :)



Now this next one is dear to my heart. This is the first pic he sent to me, just after he met. This is his 10th grade school picture. I think he totally looked like Ricky Schroeder here. And, honestly, who doesn't love a good feathered mullet? ;)




And, ahhh yes. His Madrigals portrait. Junior Year, I believe. Check out the boots. And the facial hair. And of course, the flowing blonds tresses. I mean, honestly! How can you *not* fall in love with this handsome fella standing at the edge of a heart-shaped lake?

And... finally... the Piece de Resistance. The Awesomeness That is The Hair.

This, my friends, is Rick's SENIOR PICTURE. The ONE THAT WAS IMMORTALIZED IN THE SCHOOL YEARBOOK. Yes. That is right. Not only is the hair awesome, but HE WORE A HEADBAND. You gotta love a man who is so secure in his manhood he can wear a headband in his senior portrait. And a bolo tie.

I strive to take senior portraits as awesome as this.

Now I hope it is clear to all of you why I fell in love with Rick. I mean, scroll up for a second. Take a look once again. That is right. It was all about The Hair.

Another good kid.

The 6 year old is a super good kid. He loves his mama, loves Jesus, and America, too...
hm.

Anyway... he also loves to draw. This was a recent picture he did for school... the assignment was to draw something your family did together recently. Check out the cake with the "6" candle on it. HAHA.
Something else that this good kid has been doing is pretty awesome. He can read now. Not just words that he sounds out, but actual BOOKS. And he LOVES it. The TV can be on Spongebob in the next room, and he would rather read a book. Just a couple weeks ago, he read the entire Green Eggs and Ham book to me. I was so impressed!
Here, he is reading another one of his Clifford books...
I love that he is on my lap, READING. I love that he loves reading. I want him to be an avid reader like me. Violet would rather do anything than read, but not Riley. It makes me so very happy.
A new library opened up right down the street from us. It is AWESOME. We went there the other day and checked out a pile of books. Both kids have their own library cards and Violet was super impressed that she could check out FIFTY BOOKS AT THE SAME TIME. I told her that 4 is enough for now. Riley picked out three books for himself. (there is this cool self check out at the library, which the kids completely LOVE to use!) There's also a special computer area just for kids, along with an awesome selection of children's books on CD. I cannot wait to explore the library some more!

And, in closing, another piece of art that Riley did recently. This was a Portrait of a Family Member. :)
I totally love Luke's hair... and green shoes... and his awesome "grinden" skills. :)

The Three Kings

On January 6th, the 3 kings came to our house while the kids were sleeping. They were on their way to visit Baby Jesus and had made a quick stop at our house. The kids left out grass and water for the camels, and in the morning when the kids woke up the grass and water were GONE and the three kings had left the kids each a little present of thanks. This year they were especially generous... we got two new Wii remotes so we can now play 4 players on our Wii games. It was a very smart gift, because now we can all play together on the Wii as a family when we do Family Game Night. Our current Favorite Family Wii Game of Choice is Boom Blox:


Seriously it is super fun and challenging for EVERYONE. We have been loving it!

Do you have any unique family traditions like Three King's Day? I would love to hear them!