Another Year, Another Birthday

Last Sunday, Luke celebrated his 26th birthday. He didn't want a big shindig (he never does) so we decided to go out for drinks and appetizers in the evening and pick up a movie.

The day started off well. Every week at church, we end up singing the Birthday Song for everybody celebrating birthdays during that week. We spent the afternoon grocery shopping and at Lowe's checking out Christmas tools for Luke.

As soon as we got home, we grabbed ID so we could race over to Canada to pick up Luke's cake. We felt a little silly going across just to pick up cake, but on the other hand, it was McCain's Deep 'n' Delicious Double Chocolate Cake. MMmmmmm.......so tasty! On the way back, the Customs guy didn't even ask for ID (yes, CL, I have a new favourite customs officer!)...he just kept eying the cake in the back seat. :)

So Luke had heard from somebody at work that Slopes has the best bacon-wrapped sea scallops (come on, say it like a pirate or it doesn't count) around. We got there at 6:30. We decided to sit in the dining room instead of the lounge. It was gigantic! And empty. (Could that have been our first clue?) We at least got to sit right beside the fire and since we were the only people in there, the service was attentive to say the least. Luke got a beer sampler, and even to a novice taster such as myself, the only difference between them all was colour. He was NOT impressed. Even the root beer that I got was terrible. There could've only been 2 ounces in that glass and at least one of them was water. Yuck.

Then came the appetizers. Luke ordered the sea scallops (no, no! like a pirate!), and we also got nachos and crab cakes. Well I broke my sea rule and tried a scallop. I got two tiny bites before I realized it smelled like....well I won't say what it smelled like. I did break my crustacean rule and ate a crab cake - perhaps the only redeeming item on the table. And the nachos? Oi. One entire jar of olives and jalapenos later, they were so soggy, I was sure they'd been left outside in the snow all day, they just threw them in the oven for five minutes to try to dry them off. They were awful! The funniest part of this whole deal is that on the way out, Luke grabbed a comment card and sitting right beside them? The chef's own business cards!

Then home for the movie. We rented A Prairie Home Companion. We had such high hopes for that movie. We persevered and watched it till the end, but even by then, we still hadn't found a plot. It was a confusing, Lindsay Lohan-filled mess. I can't remember the last time I've checked my watch that many times during a movie.

Luke's highlight was however, his birthday present: a carve-your-own Dala horse kit from Sweden, complete with Swedish carving knife and Swedish bandaid! We'll post a picture once he's got one finished.

For now, no drooling over the cake!