Weekend Recap Valentine's Weekend

Friday:

 

M and I went to a restaurant for our romantic Valentine’s dinner that neither of us had ever been to before.  We went to North Coast in Wayzata.  It’s located on the northern part of Lake Minnetonka in Wayzata Bay right on the water.  Our reservations were at 7:30 pm and since it is on the other side of the cities from where we live, we headed out a little early to venture on our 27 mile journey during Friday rush hour traffic.  I do not know that side of the cities at all and I don’t even think I had ever even been in Wayzata before.  It’s a good thing we left early because we got lost.  I forgot my GPS at home but I did print out a map with directions from Google Maps.  The directions were not very clear once you got into Wayzata.  That said, we didn’t make a turn we were supposed to and ended up on a windy, twisty-turny, curvy road that went through the lake.  And the houses on this road!  Granted it was dark, but these were the biggest houses I’d seen in MN.  There’s plenty of mansions on the Minneapolis chain of lakes but these seemed even bigger.  We finally arrived at the restaurant about 10 minutes early.  I had made these reservations weeks ago and requested a booth.  Well, they didn’t have a booth for us when we got there and asked if a table by the windows would do.  We said yes but thought it was a little poor that despite making reservations and a having a specific request of a booth, they couldn’t accommodate that without us having to wait for a booth to open up.  We were sat at a nice table at the big window, which would have been perfect to see the water and landscape, had it been light out or if it was summer.  No one came to our table for about 5 minutes and then our server and her trainee came to greet us.  The trainee was a very nice guy but c’mon, training on Valentine’s weekend?   We weren’t quite ready for our drink order yet so they left us to look at the menu.  In the meantime, we realized we were sitting next to the table from hell.  There were 2 couples, of which 3 of the 4 were quiet.  The one lady was LOUD and apparently everything was funny because she kept laughing and laughing louder each time.  My back was turned towards the group, however M said that it looked like her husband was embarrassed at the fact of how loud she was.  They didn’t leave until shortly before we were done with our dinner.   The servers came back and took our drink order.  I ordered a Cherry Berrytini and M ordered a Butterscotch Truffletini, which was M’s first martini order ever, I think.  The drinks came and mine tasted like cherry cough syrup.  I gave it to M to drink and didn’t even taste his because I knew I would like it better than mine.   We ordered our food and it came pretty quickly.   I had the petite filet (6 oz) and it was a blood bath on a plate.  I normally order it medium well but because it was such a small piece of meat, I ordered it medium.  It was actually medium rare.  I still ate it even though I don’t prefer it that way and I don’t usually complain at restaurants.  (I wait until after the fact and bitch about it to all of you guys)  M’s steak was not quite the way he likes it either, but whatever.  The side dishes were a la carte and because M and I can never decide on a side dish together, which are often times bigger and feeds more than 1 person, we got two.  I got mashed potatoes and he got rosemary roasted red potatoes.  We finished our meal and while we did share both potatoes, there were more red potatoes left and I wanted to take them home.  (Hey, they were $8 and I like leftovers)  When the sniffling, snorting, snotty nosed, high school kid was cleaning off our table, he started to take away the potatoes and I told him that I would like a box for them.  He gave me a horrendous look, like, are you serious?  and actually snickered at me.  That pissed me off and made me feel embarrassed.  Maybe he didn’t have a cold, maybe he is just a stuck up little high school kid with a coke problem.  We finished off with mini crème brulee and something else that was supposed to be chocolate cake and as you can see below, it’s not cake.  The bill came and it was $120.  Would you have paid that much for this type of experience?  M and I go out to a fancy restaurant 1-2 times a year and pay this much but I cannot say I have experienced this before.  We have spent that much money at Kincaid’s numerous times but have never had a problem there and have always walked out satisfied and don’t mind doing so if everything is great.  I have a fairy tale mind so I am sure my expectations were high because it’s V-Day weekend and I wanted everything to be perfect but it was far from it.  We went home and because we were both so tired, just went to bed.

Saturday:

Valentine’s Day! We woke up really early, considering that we went to bed earlier than we normally do than on a work night. M left to visit his friend and that’s when I started working. My goal: Make my own chocolate for M. I bought the materials at Joann’s a week earlier and I was nervous about doing this because I always have good intentions when it comes to some craft but I they don’t always turn out like I would like them to. The chocolate was a success! I made both dark and white chocolate, which is the red chocolate below. Not only did I think it looked good, it tasted good too. I wrapped a couple of gifts I got M and finished the book I started last week while I was waiting for him to come home. Here are my pictures below.

M came home and loved the chocolate. He ended up giving me a huge heart filled with chocolates and heart peanut butter cups so we have lots of chocolate around the house. We took a nap to prepare us for the rest of our night.

For the last 3 years, M and I have gone to the same place for Valentine’s Day. White Castle! If you don’t know, White Castle is M’s favorite food on earth. 3 years ago, I thought I would be the good girlfriend and make reservations at White Castle (yes, you have to make reservations and they fill up quickly!) and surprise him. He was surprised and LOVED it so we’ve been doing it every year now and will continue to do so in the future. We went to the Lexington/University White Castle because our first choice of location was already booked. Michael goes to this location on his lunch break from work sometimes and he has a favorite employee there. We were seated at 7:45 in a candlelit White Castle with people in dresses, suits and even a tuxedo. You have a server and they give you a menu and they bring out the food to you and they take your picture at the end of the night. I just looked and we’re not on their website yet but we’re on there from last year. Just look under Minneapolis and the Lake and 36^thStreet location and you’ll find us on the first page. (I think the casino bus in the background is a perfect touch, don’t you?) We gave our young high school server a $10 tip (on a $13 bill) and she was extremely excited and went right to her manager to show her. M’s favorite worker was behind the counter. He’s is a short African American guy who’s missing teeth, has a high voice and appears to be mentally challenged of some sort. He recognized M before he could even say hi and then he gave me his tiara he was wearing. I asked him if he was sure he didn’t want it but he said, “I’m over it already”. For $13, I enjoyed myself more than I did the night before. Valentine’s Day, or any day for that matter, has nothing to do with money.

Our heart shaped chicken ring!

After White Castle, we ventured to Famous Dave’s in Calhoun Square to meet Tanya and Chris and to see Big John Dickerson. While the band has been around for 40 years, Chris’s friend, Jamela has been in the band for 3 years. I’ve heard about her since early 2000’s from Chris, talked to her on the phone and even had her at my apartment in Uptown (but I wasn’t there) but we had never met. Finally I got to meet her and wow, does she have a great voice. If she were on American Idol, she would be going through to Hollywood in a heartbeat. The place was packed and the band was awesome. My honeybear even asked me to dance to Louis Armstrong’s, “Wonderful World”, which was perfect. It was a lot of fun to hang with Tanya and Chris as always. Did you know that Chris is my ex boyfriend? We met in January 1995 and were together for almost 5 years. He’s one of my best friends and it’s great to know that Tanya and Michael are ok with us being ex’s and it’s not awkward in the slightest. M and I are even in their wedding in October! Here’s lots of pictures from the night.

I love him!

Our $1.50 heart shaped brownie

Big John Dickerson

M and I with Jamela

Sunday:

I went out to eat with my sister for lunch, bummed around Fleet Farm waiting for a movie to start (bought a new book for me and some pecans for M) and then went to see He’s Just Not that Into You. Is Fleet Farm the weirdest store you have ever been to? I think they have everything there. If I wanted shampoo, a leather motorcycle vest, some bird seed, Spanish peanuts, a crock pot, a Christmas tree, farm equipment and a shotgun, I could purchase them under the roof of Fleet Farm. Back to the movie…my sister wasn’t too excited to see it at first but she really enjoyed it and so did I. There were many stars in this movie and one that I could have done without was Ben Affleck. Does anyone like that guy?

I know this was very long but I hope you enjoyed it and hope you had a great weekend!