I could make a doors reference about Mojo, but I won't

So after a little miscommunication and Chris and Holly going on Monday, we Made it out to Mojo's tonight. It opened this past friday.

Holly gave a kind of mediocre review of one of the apitizers but said that Chris enjoyed his steak de burgo. Proctor stated that this was his favorite Chef in the metro, so that made me want to go...but with the mixed review from Holly I kinda was hoping it would be better then what she stated (we did stay away from the appitizer she didn't like).

So we had eaten at the resturant before it changed over to Mojo's and the change was astouding. Before it was very sports bar like, not much of a diffrence from any other sports bar, but now it's covered in dark woods, and has some nice jazz playing above. The tables were neat and clean with nice booths to enjoy comfortable dining. The only really negative thing I had to say was that I kept getting distracted by the inner open doors. Since they didn't really have springs on them to make them close, people (thinking they would have springs) would leave them open, and it just didn't look good. It wasn't too distracting, but I could see how that could really annoy some people.

While we were seated, before our drink order, I got a call from Clif about having an interview w/ IHS for tomarrow...which is pretty cool...it's only for a 90 day contract, but who knows where that'll lead.

After my phone call was finished, Shannon ordered a sierra mist and I had a glass of red wine (which was a special and was pretty good).

We ordered an appitizer of chicken fingers...rolled in cornflakes and almonds, covered in a honey mustard sauce. They were stood up over a bed of greens (that were also tasty). They were very good. The chicken was very warm, but it was crunchy. The Honey mustard sauce wasn't strong, but it wasn't weak. I think it was a good balancee. It was drizzled over the dressing and the chicken, with none on the side (which one might add a bit too much and dilute the taste of the rest of the food). Very good...

Shannon had the Cajun Seafood Pasta, which wasn't really spicy but had a bit of a kick to it. The pasta was good, the sauce was really good, and the shrimp and other seafood was quite tasty with the suace. It was quite a tasty combination. Shannon liked it.

I had a second glass of wine.

I had Burbon Street Beef, which was really good. the beef was tender, and the sauce with crawfish in it was quite amazing...But let me tell you about the potatoes. The potatoes were a bit mashed a bit not, with garlic and herbs in them (and a bit of salt). Even shannon took a second bite of them :) They were very good, with crisscrossed fried potato chips to dress up the meal. The beef was very good, Very Tasty.

The presentation for both meals was very nice, very pretty.

We both had dessert. Shannon had a choclate cake and I had a carrot cake. Both were very pretty, and both were very tasty. The Carrot cake is probably in the top 3 slices of carrot cake I've had. A little fruity a little carroty a little nutty. Shannons' cake was quite the mix of chocolate textures, from deep to fluffy cake to to creamy frosting. Nummy

Definatly worth another visit...we both left happy.

Catching up on things...

Last Thursday, we watched Sunset Boulevard (#12 of the AFI top 100 Movies) at Chris and Pat's Movie night. It was a pretty good movie and it was full of memorable quotes that people have probably heard before, but don't really know where they are from. There were a few parts where I thought it was a little long, but over all it was a really good movie. Some of the visual affects were pretty amazing (even for now), and watching some of the behind the scene stuff it made it even more impressive.

Saturday, day, we met with the Little's of Chef's Kitchen and Winston's and discussed what we'd need for catering and they also gave us ideas on napkins and cake (if we want to switch from hy-vee). We got most of the meal plan hammered out.

Saturday evening was a little get together at the Crib hosted by Jen (since Ryan's moved out, I think, and Dusty was out of town). Shannon wasn't feeling so well, so I went alone. It was slow to start, considering I got there late and was still the 2nd guest, but it was enjoyable over all. I played a lot of spades (even though i resisted for a long time) and eventually my partner and I won.

Sunday, Shannon and I did a lot of straigtening around the house and printed out our "Save the date" cards and cut them up. The printer was new (but Shannon wants it for printing out pictures), but the paper we used, I already have so excluding the printer, it'll cost us whatever the envelopes are and the 20$ paper cutter...so not to bad over all...The envelopes I originally bought for them were just a bit too small...so I'll probably take a trip to some office store or paper store to get envelopes that'll fit well. I hung the mirror too (which I already posted about).

After a break of not doing much for the wedding (which I kinda needed) we are working again at it...

Shannon's Present to me

Story with pictures...
So for Christmas Shannon got me a wine opener.

Take off the foil wrapping...

I've heard good things about the brand, and it was at CostCo...

Up...

Down...

Then Georgie and I split the bottle....

It was pretty good...certainly not the best I've had, but I'd drink it again...

Beef and Potatoes and corn...oh and a turnover

So tonight i cooked beef and potatoes and corn in the same pot to create a sort of mix...I don't even know what to call it...

Anyways, it was cuts of beef from costco that I cut most of the fat off of, two large potatoes and some corn, with some dry onion flakes, a couple of dashes of Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce, some garlic, some pepper, and a few dashes of paprika. In the pan I added some olive oil and a helpful dash of Robert Mondavi 2003 Cabernet Sauvighon.

I cut the beef into little cutlets, sliced the potatoes and put it in the pan to cook.

So I thought the potatoes were done (and some of them were), but they weren't

Anyways, the beef was amazing, done all the way through tender and with the taste of the garlic and the wine slightly in there.

It was good over all, but that's just cause the beef was such a standout.

For dessert, Shannon had an apple turnover from La Mie (I had mine when we went there to get some good coffee in the morning). Shannon liked it, thought it need a little more apple, but it was still very good. I loved the crumbleness of it and the apple core, it was yummylicious...

Welcome to the world Calliope!

Welcome to the world Calliope Matta!

Congratulations Nathan and Jenny and Taylor!

And on that note...

So Thrasher came and fixed the leaking sink drain, and discovered that there is a clog that is beyond the trap, and he suggestted the use of a snake or calling a sewer type service. But it looks a little more prefessional down there now, so I think it'll be good to some extent. Slow drain I can deal with :) George did however, get freaked out while I was holding him (to keep him from the plumber), and gave me a nice gash on one of my fingers...

Today there was a Steve-note from the Macworld Expo...I was hoping he'd announce new intel based Mac laptops...and he did, but they were obviously the high end ones, not ones like the iBook, so getting a laptop for the house (so Shannon has something to use when I'm not home and my laptop is at work), is going to be delayed a bit longer. *sigh*

Wow...that's cool

So a lot has changed since I played with color ink jet printers a long time ago. Since Shannon wanted to print off some of our digital pictures (we don't even have a film camera in this house). So after a little bit of research, and a little bit of product line reccomendation we ended up with a Canon Pixma IP 5200 Photo Printer.

Initially I was skeptical, but if it's what she wants, I have trouble saying no to her, but at the very least I figured we could print of the "save the date cards" and some pictures.

But I have to say I have been quite surprised, first with a picture of Shannon's niece and nephew (from Christmas) and another of a close up of Taylor. I was amazed at the details of the hair, the eyes, it was just really cool.

So I was actually surprised at the variatey of paper that I have, from Matte to glossy to ones with cotton in it, and they all turned out really well. We even test printed the "save the date" cards and those turned out great (Thanks Adam!).

Anyhoo, I'm not disappointed with my purchase.

Wedding show, ticket, Matt's Apt

So Sunday Morning, we're heading out, a little early, we head down 42nd street, I get some cash, then stop at La Mie for a Mocha, and head to the interstate, things going smootly, we heading through downtown Des moines, My cell phone alarm goes off, reminding me it's time to take my pills. After beating myself up for a bit, we head back towards home. I run in, take my pills and make the decision that I'm going to move my pill taking time up from 10:AM to when I wake up...

So we make the 42nd street run again, get on the interstate, I look over, and some lady is just hiding in my blind spot, so I accelerate to get past her, and when I'm slowing down, Shannon mentions that there is a cop on the on ramp over there, so I check my speedometer and I'm going 65, so I'm thinking no biggie, only an extra jerk of a cop would pull me over for 10 over or less.

Apprently he clocked me at higher. Cause I see the flashing lights in my rear view mirror and he pulls me over. Now of the experiences with cops that I've had, this was probably one of the better ones, it's all bussiness, no baloney, I was done in 15 minutes, no wasting my time.

So the crime? Apprently I was going 74 in a 55, so 19 over...I remember these things being much more dramatic, but I guess it just didnt' affect me that much, but it did give me something to talk about that day. I'm not gonna say that I'm guilty, but I do have somewhat of a lead foot and I probably deserve it...

Oh well.

The rest of the drive, I complained about how slow I felt we were going, so I eventually went from doing the limit, to 5 over to 7 over, to 9 over like I would normally do. Oh well...I guess I learned nothing from it :) I'm curious as to what this'll do to my insurance rates. I think my old ticket (which was for 10 over almost 5 years ago, that cop (from Clive) was a huge ass).

We went to Shannon's parent's (Bob and Linda) and I looked through a scrap book with pictures of her childhood and that was nice. She has funny pictures of her (that she's embarressed of), just like I have funny pictures of me.

Afterwards, I called Matt and left a message and then called Nathan and headed over to the Matta's. I got there just in time to get Taylor all excited before she took her nap (probably not a good thing). I got a call back from Matt and he said he'd give me a call when he was done with the errends he had to run that day. 20 minutes after Taylor went down for her nap, Jenny (who is still pregnant, which I guess it's not still since her due date is actually next week, but she's been having practice contractions for a while now) headed upstairs for her nap. Nathan and I headed downstairs to play some video games. We settled on a sort of Diablo/Gautlet style game, which we made it through a few parts of the first mission, before Taylor had waken up and was stirring in her crib.

So up we got and then a little while later jenny woke up and we all played with Taylor.

I got a call back from Matt, he told me to check with Shannon, I did, she was happily watching the bridal fashion show with her mom and sister, so I headed over to Matt's new apartment.

It was pretty spacious (2 bedrooms) for only $550 he's paying in rent. Which is quite a bit smaller then what he was paying before. So his friend Stacy and her child Devon were also there and I got the tour and we chatted about things and stuff and drank down a Guiness (Which I'm thinking he bought just cause I was coming over).

I got a call from Shannon and they were headed back to her parent's, so I told her to get a ride over to the Matta's (since they had offered to feed us, if we wanted to join them for dinner) and I'd be over in a bit. Also Taylor wanted to see her (Shannon! Shannon! Purple! Purple! (She was wearing a purple sweater when Taylor associated the color with her)), so after a bit, I bid my farewell and drove back across town.

We had pasta from a CR pasta place, and it was good, it was nice. We thanked them for putting up with us for a 3rd weekend in a row and headed out of town.

The drive back to Des Moines went pretty smooth, and we got home and I'm glad that next weekend we don't have to travel.

Oh, Shannon got a good idea of what she wants to do for her bouquet, so that's good.

At the carwash...

So we both washed our cars today. Mine first, then a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond and CostCo (Shannon's Dime), then we went another carwash, and since the weather is nice, there is a line, and they car in front of us...payed in quarters...somewhere between 6 and 10 dollars in quarters. initially I thought he'd have dollar coins, but no, it took him most of the time that the guy in fornt of him took in the car wash. It just was really funny to watch.

cha-chink...
cha-chink...
cha-chink...

Anyways, afterwards we went to Super target, picked up the last items of the day (my dime) and headed home.

Oh yeah...

So in talking with Clif, over the last couple of times we visited Cedar Rapids, I found out that his father and his step-mom, even though his father now denies it, thought that Clif was gay...and not only that, they thought that Clif and I were...well...lovers.

After I got over the inital shock of this, I kept finding it funny. Clif would always talk about the guys, and not talk much about the girls in his life...and well...there was a reason for that, he didn't really have a "girlfriend" in the classical sense, but he did have women that he would "see", not exactly someone you bring home to the parents.

Anyways...I thought it was funny.