GAUCHO

For my 26th birthday, I had the nerve to ask my vegetarian husband to take me out to a nice steak dinner. Being the incredibly wonderful man that he is, he conceded, and made reservations at Gaucho, in our own Montclair.

Before I asked him to devote a night to watching me indulge in carnivorous behavior, I had made sure that there would at least be something for him to eat. And how he was pleasantly suprised! He had a sweet corn empanada with goat chesse, and the lobster and shrimp cevishes. Being non-Argentinians, we had to ask what most of the menu items were, but our waitress was very patient in explaining the dishes to us. I had the filet, with sweet potatoes! The filet was good, but I read somewhere that the grass fed beef is tougher than corn fed beef. It wasn't as good as the last steak I had, but I only get steak maybe twice a year, so maybe I had only dreamed how good the last one was.

Dinner was nicely paced, and the ambiance was relaxed but still fun. Dessert was EXCELLENT - we had the paqueques, a crepe filled with milky caramel with homemade whip cream! OH! They also offered me a piece of cheesecake for my birthday, and I'm not one to descriminate against cake. I'd give it an 7.75/10, plus .75 for the free cake - make it 8.5/10. (Free cake goes a long way in my book!)

European Vacation

There are many stories to tell from my 2 week European Vacation with my sister, Libby. However, I will let the pictures tell the story until I have the time a patience to either 1) label all of the pictures correctly and/or 2) write some of the aforementioned stories on this blog. And in the mean time, the 2 people that read my blog can ask me questions regarding my trip.

Pictures of Europe HERE.

What would Brad and I do on our first day back together after my 2 week departure to Europe? Go to a great jazz club in the city to listen to his classmate, Mark Lamanno play piano for a great singer - phoot, I can't remember or find her name anywhere. A delightfully un-pretentious jazz singer. Gasp! you say....Do they exist? Yes, and as soon as I find her name, I will post it for the joy of everyone reading. She has a nice light voice and doesn't try to outdo the other musicians. It was very enjoyable, mostly because of the company (Darren, Libby, Brad, Matt, Ozzy, and Mark), but also because of the 2 drink minimum!

But, harumph, it's back to the grindstone today. I cannot really complain, because my poor husband has papers upon papers due for his classes, which can be slightly more taxing than being a temp.

I will soon be posting my pictures from Europe...so check back!