Happy Birthday to US!!!

This is our Birthday Song....

it doesn't last too long...

...HEY!:)

Noah and I are both another year older as I write this post! Our Birthday's are only a week apart, so it is always a crazy week of getting way to spoiled eating out for our birthday dinners and eating way too much birthday cake! By the time my birthday cake is gone, we are baking one for Noah, and then of course we must eat on that one for a week longer! :)

This year I was spoiled by Noah as he bought me a HUGE & YUMMY birthday cake...Raspberry Chocolate Ganache from Russel's Bakery!!! It was a delectable cake full of chocolate and raspberry yumminess!!! :) The cake was so rich even I could only eat a small piece...yes a small piece I know...sounds crazy for me, but it was that rich! Normally we just get a dessert at the restaraunt we dine at, but this year as I turned 28 I got my OWN cake! YAY! :) We also ate at a fun restaraunt called Zoot . The restaraunt is known for it's 3 and 5 course meals that are paired wtih wine. We decided to go all out for my birthday and get the 5 course meal, which started with mussels. I'm not a huge fan of seafood, but when they arrived, the broth smelled so good, I decided to try one....and I LOVED THEM! I guess turning 28 causes a more mature pallate! The rest of the meal was very tastey, and we went home for Birthday cake and 28 candles which although getting to be alot, I was still able to leave just one! It was a very nice day, and I enjoyed celebrating with my husband and Miss Abby!

On September 3, Noah turned the big 29 AND HOLDING! We were in MN for his friend Steve's wedding, so we celebrated upon our return home Labor Day. One of his gifts was a Cooking Class at Whole Foods called "101 Fish Cookery" which we LOVED!!

We learned how to cook (& yes I was the nerd with the camera in the class):

Lemon & Herb Poached Salmon

Mussels in White Wine Reduction
Trout Almondine (my Favorite!)

Scallops in a brown butter sauce
Let us just say, all recipes were DELICIOUS!!! We learned how to cook all 4 types of fish! The instructers would teach us one dish, we would then make the dish and eat it while they moved on to the next dish. We had a blast and would recommend this type of "date night" for anyone! You get to learn how to make a new dish AND eat it....WIN! WIN!

Things we learned from our class:

1. Fish Skin does taste like Bacon-TRY IT!


2. Adding White Wine to Butter makes a delicious sauce


3. If you add acid to a pan with meat, the meat will immediately stop cooking


4. Boiling Meat makes it TOUGH


5. Trout with skin on does not stick to a pan with Olive Oil


6. Scallops are Sticky so let them cook for about 4 min before touching


7. Having all your ingredients ready makes things run VERY Smoothly


8. Cooking Classes are FUN, FUN, FUN!!!

And of course I will not leave out the cake I made Noah for his birthday! It was a Coconut Cake that although looked fantastic, and took a lot of new cooking techniques for me to make...did not taste as good as I had hoped! The cake was a little dry which is what made it not the best, but it sure did look good! :) Noah liked it, so that was the main thing! It was filled with a custard filling and topped with buttercream frosting...very coconutty for the coconut KING!!

Unexpected Birthday Guests

Lastly, I wanted to share a little furry creature that decided to show up for Noah's Birthday in our garage!!!!! We Were on our way out to breakfast on Labor Day and I was talking as usual, but as I turned the corner in the garage, I just happened to look down only to see a HUGE Tarantula Walking Towards ME!! I screamed and I will admit, started crying because I was so grossed out and just shocked! Noah was able to get the Lovely Guest on a piece of cardboard and let it loose in the nature preserve behind our apartment. Needless to say he was nice to his birthday guest, but I'm now afraid to walk in the garage with the lights off to get to my car AND I'm always alert when I walk around that corner! I honestly never expected I would see one of those HUGE spiders in our garage, but lucky us! :)

Here is a photo of our beautiful guest:

Besides aging, and dealing with BIG SCARY SPIDERS, we are both doing well! We miss you all!

Invite Yourselves over for Fish, we'd love to try our new skills out for you! :)

Love,
Noah, Jill, Miss Abby