Date Night Out with Friends

Sunday night Tim and I got a baby sitter and went out on a late Valentine's date with our dear friends Tim and Katie. We had decided we wanted to try some place in Chicago, so I had been doing some research on recommended restaurants when I found out that the day we were planning on going out was the beginning of "Restaurant Week" in chicago. This is where a 160 restaurants in Chicago agree to put out a prix fixe lunch and dinner menu including three courses (appetizer, entree, and dessert). After much research and conversation between Katie and I, Barker ultimately looked at the menu and picked Fornetto Mei. It turned out to be a pretty good deal since just our entree normally would be the same price as our entire three courses ended up being.

It was a nice little romantic place. The food was very tasty, but the portions were small. I think Katie and I were comfortably full, but the boys said they could have eaten some wings afterwards -haha :)

My first course- crab cakes. They were delicious and the sauce had a little kick to it that was amazing!

Tim got the Beef Carpaccio for his first course. It was very interesting as the beef is raw under a bed of arugula, parmesan, and capers.

I got the Lobster and Crab ravioli. It was splendid!

Tim got the pan roasted, dry-aged 8 ounce steer tenderloin. He seemed to really enjoy it.

I got the tiramisu for dessert and Tim got the molten chocolate cake. We were so excited to try them, that I forgot to get pictures ;) But they were divine!

Afterwards, we walked down a few blocks in the snow to grab some coffee at Starbucks. We all just enjoyed catching up on life and discussing vigorously whatever topics came up. It's not often you come across a couple that you mesh with so well. We are so thankful for our dear friends and the past 10 years we have gotten to know them. We value these times as we know soon the Barkers will be going to Boston to help our friend's Dawn and Nate church plant there.

I am pretty sure I am thinking, "What do I do with myself without a 14 month old climbing up onto my lap right now?" Haha - It was so nice to get out just with other adults!

It was definitely a night to remember.

Valentine's Day Out With Friends

For Valentine's Day this year, Tim and I had decided to go out to a nice restaurant in the city with our friends Tim and Katie and Scott and Lindsay. After much deliberation, we decided to go to the steak house, Shula's.  We were all excited to go out together, when the Logan family caught the flu and Scott and Lindsay were not able to join us. We felt so badly for them and missed them dearly.  We would still like to go out with "the whole crew" at some point.

 

This is the four of us at our apartment before we left. We were fortunate to have two of the graduate school girls from our church agree to babysit Madison for us. They were so sweet. We were so thankful for their help. Maddy just about slept the whole time - so we are hoping we have them hooked as sitters because they think it's a piece of cake :)

This was us trying to get a family picture right around Maddy's bedtime - so she was freaking out. We kept trying to bounce her and try to get her to be calm for just one second - I couldn't help but laugh!

Ok - this one is better :)

As much as we both missed Madison while we were out, it was nice for us to get out without her for a few hours and spend some romantic time as a couple - much needed :)

We found out that Shula's had valet parking for $12, so we decided to take the Barker's car into the city. I won't go into the details, but the trip was quite eventful - maybe Katie will add more details on her blog :)  Long story short - Google Maps brought us beneath the Restaurant on underground streets with the same names - weird! 

The restaurant was inside of a Sheraton Hotel. This was Katie in the lobby checking out the centerpiece. Those were actually real flowers!

The restaurant is owned by a former football coach - so it was interesting because it is fine dining but the pictures on the walls are all of football players. But as you can see in the picture below, they are in very nice frames :)

In this picture, Tim was making fun of Katie and I for taking so many pictures. And in all our picture taking, I didn't get any of the food! 

The steaks were just gorgeous coming out of the kitchen. 

But the aroma and taste beat the presentation by far.

 Everyone at the table was just perfectly silent as they tasted their first bite.  Then their was a quiet gasp of delight around the table as each person tasted his steak. I had the 8 oz. filet mignon. It was absolutely divine! We all decided that it was the best steak that we had ever tasted. I guess they raise their own cattle and have higher standards for themselves than even the FDA.  If you like steak, you should try Shula's out. They have them all across the East and Midwest. It was pricey (think $10 more than Ruth's Chris) but definitely worth it for the experience. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day as well! What did you do on the special day?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here are a some of the best shots that I got from my photo shoot with Maddy :) 

I hope you all have a fabulous day, spending time with the loved ones in your life!

Valentine's Day Question

Well, it is 4 am and Maddy is wanting some "awake time" so I thought I would change my background and do a little post. I decided to do a Valentine's background. Valentine's day is such a fun holiday- a time to remember those you love :) I always loved handing out Valentines to all of my friends at school.  I know Valentine's day is still a little less than a month away, but I was wondering how and if you plan on celebrating the day. Are you one who enjoys planning the day yourself or would you rather your significant other surprise you? 

I tend to drive Tim crazy on this one. I usually like for him to surprise me on special occasions (although sometimes I do enjoy surprising him too!) But then I usually bug him for days on end prior to the day asking what we are going to do. He usually responds, "Don't worry about it. I've got it all under control". Which if you know my husband, either means 1.) He really does have it all planned out already and just doesn't want to tell me or 2.) I have been too busy to think about it -but I will get to it before the actual day  ;) -haha - I love you sweetie!

I just thought this needed a picture - so here is one of Tim and I in VA in 2005

Most of the time Valentine's Day for us is not a major event. We save those for our Anniversary :) On V-Day, we usually go out for a nice meal together and then often buy a combined gift for our home. Our first year we got ourselves a coffee table from Pier 1 (I know - romantic, right?). But decorating our home is something we really enjoy doing together.

Just for kicks, I thought it would be interesting to link to the past posts I have done on Valentine's day.

V-Day 2007

V-Day 2008

So how about you? Any plans brewing in your head yet? Who usually does the planning?

Oh and I couldn't go without posting a new pic of our little peanut :)