Date @ Zuki

  

Kevin's new-found love is with sushi.  Last week he went to Zuki with a large group of his co-workers.  It was his first time to eat there and he was very impressed.  Several people told him we'd like it because it was a lot like Nagasaki (our favorite local hibatchi eatery), so we went to Zuki for a little lunch date this weekend.

I was skeptical that any place would be better than Nagasaki.  I ordered the same thing (steak & chicken) that I normally order so it would be easy to compare the two.  

Kevin got an order of sushi while we waited for our chef to arrive.

First up was soup & salad.  It was very comparable to Nagasaki!  The salad dressing may have been a hair thinner but the taste was the same. I know there are some people who don't love the traditional sesame dressing, and Zuki offered a second dressing choice.  It was a ginger based dressing, but I didn't try it.  The salad got two thumbs up from me!

Our chef arrived at our table and was packed full of humor.  He was singing and dancing to popular radio tunes as the grill heated up.  He cooked our veggies and rice first.  He was putting sauces into both as he cooked them so I was anxious to try them.  I requested no mushrooms or onion because I don't love it, so my veggies were zucchini and broccoli. Yum!  At first taste, I knew it was better than Nagasaki. I couldn't wait for him to cook the meat!

And the meat... He also added in sauces while he cooked them and they were amazing.  Amazing like I could have cleaned my plate but only stopped myself because no one else was shoveling in their food kinda good.

So, I'm ok with Nagasaki going out of business because Zuki is so much better!!! I can't wait to go back!

June's Date Night

Every month Kevin and I have made an effort to go on a date night.  He gets really into planning them.  Last night was our scheduled date night and he wouldn't really tell me anything about the date ahead of time.  Chinese food was sounding good that morning, and I had a good feeling we weren't eating that (since we did that the month before) so I asked if he'd tell me where we were going so I could start thinking about what sounded good.  I was surprised he told me, but he said we were going to Cavanaughs.  We love the restaurant!  (It's actually where he proposed!)

Yesterday afternoon, Kevin had been talking to his friend about buying his old bicycle, and he decided to go get it at 4pm.  I was slightly annoyed because we were supposed to leave in one hour for our date, I had a pounding headache, and I knew it would take him longer than an hour to get to the northside and back because he is a talker!  5o'clock got here and Kevin hadn't gotten home yet.  I was sitting on the porch and the kids were running through the yard with the pup.  A car (a shiny Mercedes) came down our street really slow, and turned in our driveway.  I thought they were turning around, but the kept pulling in the driveway.  I thought "I don't know anyone that drives a car like that so I have no idea why they are at my house!".  And out pops Kevin.  He borrowed the car for the evening from a very nice friend at work.  So sneaky Kevin didn't go get a bicycle like he told me, he went and picked up the car.  We took some prom-like pictures with it and then we were off to dinner.

We were the only reservation that night at Cavanaughs.  I was hoping for a window seat, and once we left the hostess stand, I started checking out the open tables by the windows hoping we'd get one.  Then I saw a dozen pink roses sitting at an empty table and guessed that's where we were headed.  I was right.  I was surprised, once again, by the most wonderfully smelling roses I've ever smelled in my life.

Dinner didn't disappoint.  Actually the steak I got was the best I've ever had.  I was telling the waitress how wonderful it was and she was telling me their cook had a grill master degree.  I believed it!  So good!

 Kevin is not a dessert person, but he enjoyed his vanilla bean ice cream drizzled with caramel!

Here are my favorite things about eating at Cavanaughs...

1. It's formal dining yet people are usually dressed semi casual.
2. The food is consistently amazing!
3. Between your salad and main course, you get sorbet to cleanse your palate!  It was lemon last night and tasted great!
4. The warm bread is served with fresh cloves of garlic in olive oil.
5. Everything is priced a la carte.
6. Their ranch is the best ever - and I love the mini gravy boat it's served in.
7. I usually don't have room for dessert, but I always get it anyways.  They have a dessert cart they bring to your table and it's filled with 7-10 desserts you can pick from.  
8. It's pricey, but the service is always exceptional.

Before dinner Kevin snuck an envelope full of cards into my purse.  After dinner, he asked me to take them out, and I had no clue what he was talking about, so once again he surprised me.  We went and found an empty bench that overlooked the river and we took turns opening the cards.  He had written questions that we took turns asking and answering.  It was a fun and relaxing thing to do after eating like a horse.  After we had gone through all the cards, we took about an hour drive before heading home.  The highlight of the drive was listening to Sirius radio. :)

I am still so impressed by all the thought Kevin put into making the evening special for me.  Big thanks to Kevin, and his co-worker that loaned us the car, and the ladies that gave him tips on where to get flowers on Sunday (p.s. Schnucks is about the only place that delivers flowers on Sunday!).  Kevin told me June was the peak for our date nights and they would all be scaled back from here, but I'm still looking forward to them :)

January Date Night

Kevin and I decided to make it a priority to have a date night once a month.  He plans the odd month dates (January, March, May... etc) and I plan the even month dates (February, April, June... etc) and we can choose not to tell each other what has been planned.  We were both really looking forward to this date last night!  We hadn't had one since before Krissy was born!

I knew he was taking me shooting, but I didn't know what all he had planned.  He bought me pink ear and eye protection which was my first surprise.  We did our shooting at Strictly Shooting and had a fun time!  (I wasn't a bad shot if I do say so myself).  Then he told me he was taking me to dinner at my favorite place.  I guessed China Bistro and I was right :)  I mealed on some General Tsos chicken!  He told me he had one more thing planned and it was something neither one of us had ever done.  I racked my brain and had no clue what he planned.  He told me he was taking me to an Icemen game.  I still don't understand the game what so ever (like why the guys hit each other a dozen times, but the 13th time ends up in a fight? and why the crowd cheers for fighting when it's frowned upon in just about every other sport? or why the officials stop the game so much?), BUT the atmosphere was high energy and fun!  I think the kids would really love going to a game so we may try to plan that before the season is over (as long as we can distract them during the the "Hey you suck - we're gonna knock the puck out of you" chant...).

Kevin favorite part of the date was between stop 1 and 2.  I was getting out of the car for dinner and something dropped in my boot when I was walking into China Bistro.  I stopped in the parking lot, shook my boot, and out came an empty bullet shell.  He planned a great date night so I have some high expectations to fill for February!