Two Fabulous Years

As of Monday, Paul and I have been married for two years. :) Aside from the fact that Paul had to work all day, we had a great anniversary. We didn't have any huge plans, and with limited time and money it seemed our celebration was going to be small. In spite of this, we both managed to surprise each other and have a great evening. :)

Paul walked in the door from work holding these in his hands:


You may be thinking, "That's cute, but oh so traditional. Where's the surprise in that?" Well, you'll all be surprised to find out that this is the first time in our married life (and even before we were married) that Paul has bought me chocolates. Shocking, I know (especially if you know me)! I think he was nervous because I'm such a chocolate connoisseur. ;) Well, he shouldn't have worried, because he hand-picked these, and they are wonderful. As for the flowers, well, they weren't surprising, but they were lovingly selected. (Caution: Those with weak stomachs for cheesy romantic stuff, you may not want to read this next bit. ;) ) The red Paul chose to signify love (and because it's my favorite), and the white he picked for purity. Together they symbolize Pure Love. Aww! Paul's such a softy!

My surprise for Paul was the menu for the evening:


He knew I was making dinner, but I kept the menu a surprise (well, until I started struggling in the kitchen and needed Paul's help ;) ). For dinner we had a spinach salad with strawberries and slivered almonds and Penne with Shrimp and Creamy Tomato Sauce (as you can see from the recipe, I changed the type of pasta, but it was still good). Here are a couple close ups:


These strawberries were delicious! If you ask me, it was a pity to waste them on a salad. Ha ha.


It was definitely a new cooking adventure for me because first of all, I have never cooked shrimp, and second of all, I have never cooked with wine. (Speaking of wine, I now have a mostly full bottle of Sweet Vermouth and nothing to do with it...if you come across a recipe that uses it, please let me know! We'll probably make this recipe again with a different meat because shrimp is expensive, but other ideas are welcome.) It was fun! Shrimp cooks incredibly fast (we're talking like, two minutes). The sauce was very thin--I actually predicted it would be, because the recipe didn't call for any kind of thickening agent--so next time we'll probably throw in a couple tablespoons of flour or something. But it was tasty! I'm glad I went out on a limb and tried it.

In addition to the salad and main course, we had Shirley Temples to drink and these amazing Peanut Butter and Fudge Brownies with vanilla ice cream for dessert:


They were incredibly rich. The ice cream helped calm it down a bit. ;) If you look at the recipe, I made mine with creamy peanut butter and didn't put the peanuts in the brownies. I also used cream instead of whole milk for the peanut butter layer simply because I drink skim milk and I already had to buy cream for the main course.

Anyway, it was a great night. I can't believe we've already been married for two years. We've had a lot of adventures so far, and they're sure to continue. :) Oh! And speaking of cheesy romantic stuff, Paul got me the best card! Here's what it said:

She looked at him.
He looked at her.
And everyone who saw that look wanted to throw up a little.

Isn't that great? :)

Special note for Paul: I love you! Happy Anniversary again! And guess what? In honor of you, this entry is the 23rd one in our family blog.