Last Sunday was Ansen’s birthday… I know, I know, it’s taken me almost a week to post pictures, but we had a fabulous time. I really wanted to surprise him (even though he doesn’t love surprises), so I gave him a note Sunday morning that said to be ready for anything.
We went to church as usual. Then came home and that’s when the fun really started. Or maybe I should say… food.
It all began with mushroom swiss burgers on a butter toasted bun. Delicious sauteed mushrooms in a brown gravy sauce with melty swiss cheese, lettuce and a little mayo. Mmm!
And no burgers would be complete without some fries. Homemade shoe string to be exact. Using my handy dandy food processor, I julienne a couple of potatoes (one would have totally been sufficient… note to self) by slicing them one direction and then putting them back through the chute the other direction. I soaked them in salt water for a few minutes while I made the burger patties and the dried them on paper towels before putting them in the deep fryer until golden brown.
Back in the note at the beginning, I told Ansen he was going to need to trust me. I then told him that he would only need one burger (but I made it a double)… and he trusted me, though he didn’t know why.
A few 3 hours later… this is why:
You may not be able to tell from the picture, but those are sea scallops and they’re about 2 inches in diameter! For those who live on the coasts, don’t laugh, but here in the midwest (I think I can call NWA midwest, right?) these are HUGE and rare. But Sam’s has them on a regular basis. Lucky for me, Ansen doesn’t go to Sam’s, nor does he snoop in the freezer, so I bought some and hid them from him. He said he didn’t even know we could get those here. Grilling was kinda a flop because our grill just doesn’t get quite hot enough, but went with plan B and pan seared them, which turned out perfectly. A little olive oil angle hair and some caeser salad and we were stuffed.
But wait, there’s more!
Berry pie happens to be his favorite, so I grabbed a bag of frozen mixed berries, made a pie crust, mixed a little sugar and flour in with the berries, covered in butter and baked. Isn’t my lattice pretty? I haven’t perfected it yet, but there is something really fun about a pie with lattice. Thanks Gram for passing along the pie gene!
Just as we were finishing up the pie, the doorbell rang. I had Ansen get it. Much to his surprise, our wonderful friend, who is just dying to watch Avie, had showed up. (Perfect timing! As a side note, Ansen also had no idea that we had a mis-communication and she had actually come over the night before. Luckily, he had just gone to our bedroom for something and didn’t hear any of it! Thank goodness!) So we were off. He told me, “This is probably the only time I”ll ever say this, but I hope we’re not going to eat.” I told him he could guess where we were going, but I wasn’t telling.
We arrived at the movie theater, just as he predicted (though he wasn’t sure which one… and then he got really confused when I took a different way). Then there was the task of guessing which movie we were seeing on the way in. Really, there were only 2 and he had a 50/50 chance, as I had thought about both. I had already settled on the 7pm showing of Iron Man 3, though and for good reason.
After an exhilarating movie that I might say was the best yet, we had to hurry mosey to Cold Stone across the street for ice cream. They close at 10pm and I knew this. That’s why I chose the 7 o’clock showing. But then I got nervous that the movie would be longer than anticipated… and with the trailers at the beginning… and of course there is a scene AFTER the credits that we had to stay for… It could possibly close before we got there and my planning would all be for not! But we left the theater at 9:15… plenty of time. I don’t know why I was freaking out. Either way, it was the perfect ending to a day full of surprises for my sweety. And of course, was we were walking it he reminded himself that he really only needed a “like it” size…
Happy 26th my love! Here’s to many more and lots of scallops!