birthday treats

Yesterday, I celebrated my birthday in a low key style with my roomie and CC. They took me out to a nice dinner, a little shopping, and then dessert to end the night. I even blew off homework for the night.

Round 1 - Dinner @ McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant. Of course, this birthday celebration started off with a drink for each of us. I had a Raspberry Cosmimosa (raspberry vodka with a mimosa), CC had a Autumn Apple Martini of sorts, and the roomie had sangria. I really liked the raspberry mimosa drink because it tasted like a raspberry orange juice mix, and we all know that I like alcoholic drinks that don't taste like alcohol.

The roomie had halibut and shrimp tortellini. We were under the impression that there would be a bigger slice of halibut and just a side of tortellini. Let's just say the roommate didn't have to cook lunch today because of the leftovers.
CC ordered trout baked with sliced almonds over it, and the sides were asparagus and mashed potatoes. I think her meal looked the healthiest out of the group. I had a taste of the trout and the almonds added a nice flavor to the fish.

I ordered the lobster and shrimp ravioli, which here it looks like a plate of orange goo. The sauce was tomato based and although it looks kinda lumpy here (the lumps are the ravioli), the sauce was really good. There was an equal amount of saltiness and sweetness, and even a little spice to it that I was using bread to wipe off any remaining sauce on the plate. The lobster and shrimp ravioli were also amazing! It was so full of lobster meat that tasted so sweet, especially with the tomato sauce. And I could even order the lobster ravioli to cook at home - who would of thunk it?

The waiter surprised me with a slice of apple pie - on the house - for my birthday celebration. Gosh that thing was so good. Warm apple pie is always so good!

So then we attempted to walk off dinner because we planned on having actual desserts at another place (the apple pie was a surprise addition to the evening festivities). Forty five minutes of walking/shopping wasn't enough to digest our food, but we managed to continue with our plan and headed for the dessert place.

Round #2 -- Dessert at The Melting Pot. I always wanted to eat here, but the food is so overpriced! Fortunately, the restaurant has a very good happy hour special of $3.75 per person cheese or chocolate fondue, and half price martinis. Score! So, the roomie was very happy she was able to drink a Godiva Chocolate Martini (chocolate is her most favorite thing in the world), and I had a Raspberry Martini (the raspberry mimosa was a lot better). CC couldn't drink anymore so she had coffee.

And here's our chocolate fondue! We chose The Original chocolate mix -- milk chocolate with peanut butter and caramel. Yummmmmy!

Above - a slice of banana being taken hostage by the chocolate. Below - my birthday plate of "dippers," which included strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, rice crispy treats, pound cake, brownies, and a slice of cheesecake. I really loved dipping the fruits into the chocolate. I think that was the best combination. The rice krispy treats were really good to dip also. But then I started to feel a sugar overload when I ate the marshmallows dipped in chocolate. Next time, I'm requesting an all fruit platter for chocolate dipping.


And after all that eating and drinking, I wasn't surprised that I woke up with a hangover and a very upset tummy. Oh well, birthdays only happen once a year, even if I do gorge on food more than once...=)