Happy Birthday to My wonderful Husband

Since my husband took a day off for my birthday I did likewise for his, but just a few days later so schedule wise we would be able to go out and  do something special. I did have the kids each make him  a card and I did as well. For whatever reason, both Jack and Alex decided that Darth Vader would be an appropriate depiction of a birthday wish for their Daddy so they both designed a card with a picture of Darth Vader.

This first one is Jack’s creation and is really quite good I think. Jack even drew in the reflection of the eye the battle Luke Skywalker is having when they fight. He has really become quite the little artist and this is the second time I have seen him draw DV in this manner.

This one is Alex’s version of Darth Vader and he is really coming along. Normally he would just scribble, but you can make out a defined head and legs on his drawing.

I decided to go in a completely different direction and again used my Cricut along with my Gypsy to design a birthday card. Not bad for a card I hurriedly put together in about ten minutes.

We stayed in and had Andy’s parents over for dinner of Chinese takeout, which is always very good. Then a couple of days later his parents were nice enough to take Alex off our hands during the day before Jack got home from school and we were able to use a gift certificate to go downtown on the Lake front and eat at The Lake Park Bistro.

Our first impression we got from the menu was that this may be just another overpriced restaurant that we would probably never go to had it not been for the gift certificate. The menu items were all in French, though the descriptions were in English, and none of it sounded super appetizing.

Andy ordered (and I am copying this straight from the menu online):

Coquilles St. Jacques - Sauteed sea scallops with braised artichokes, preserved tomatoes and herbs.

Foie de Veau Poele - Strauss veal liver with Port wine glaze, pureed potatoes, French beans, and crisp bacon.

He also ordered a dessert which I could not find, but it was an almond chocolate cake filled with ganache and mint ice cream on the side in a hard chocolate shell cup.

I ordered the lunch three course meal which came with the following:

Potage aux Champignons - Creamy mushroom soup with Madeira wine, sauteed mushrooms and truffle oil.

Saumon Grille - Grilled Scottish salmon with a Nicoise olive tapenade, spinach, and olive oil potatoes.

Gateau au Chocolat - A flourless chocolate cake with fresh strawberries and raspberry sauce.

I must say that we were pleasantly surprised by the quality and flavor of the food that we ordered. If you have never had tapenade or mushroom soup, I would highly recommend it. I was very leery of it, but they were the best part of the whole meal.

Everything was beyond fantastic and I would certainly recommend this place to anyone who doesn’t mind spending a few more dollars for a good meal. In the picture above we were just on the other side of the doors separating the two rooms at the second table in from the windows. The view was fantastic. The food was fantastic. Our waitress was excellent. The amount of food was portioned just enough to where we were full but not completely stuffed and we finished everything on our plates without feeling like we overindulged. The place itself reminded me of the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego with all the old style elegance and white wood porch feel. I think it generally attracts an older crowd, but there were a variety of people there.

From there we went downtown to the Grand Avenue Mall which at some point must have been a very impressive place to shop, but stands mostly empty now or at least appears to be. Our destination was Borders Bookstore, which was unfortunately going out of business.

I got my money’s worth of books and we made it home with time to spare before Jack’s bus delivered him to our doorstep.

All in all it was a fantastic day. It is rare that my husband and I get to go on a date and as we really do not like to stay up late or be a part of the night life, this date was right up our alley. It has also made me realize that there are more things to do in Milwaukee than I realized.

So happy birthday to my wonderful husband and I hope we have many more days like this one because there is no one else I would rather spend time with then you.