Just Because

Did you ever receive a text that just made you smile? I get those quite often, but then there are the texts that make your heart beat fast, those texts that make you nervous?! I still get those 5 years later from Sal. Two weeks ago, Sal texted me asking me if I'd like to go to dinner with him, just because. I, of course, said yes! I was super excited and to be quite honest, nervous. Can you imagine, nervous to go to dinner with my boyfriend of 5 years!? He must be doing something right, ha! We're always up for trying new places, and lately Sal wants to surprise me all of the time, so he told me to dress casual, but nice. After much debate about what to wear (I swear this happens every time Sal wants to take me out), I pulled together the perfect outfit, and got a few compliments during the night.

He took me to Sevilla, a local restaurant that specializes in Spanish cuisine, and I won't lie, I was a little hesitant when we first walked in. Not only was it dead for a 6:00pm on a Sunday, but the people that were occupying the tables were much, much older than the two of us. The wait staff barely talked to us, which annoyed me to no end, well that was until we received a pitcher of sangria and escarole soup, both exceptional. The sangria was free, but it was the best sangria I've ever had, hands down. The soup... the soup was out of this world, even though Sal and I were a little nervous to try it, being that we've never had escarole, but we were not disappointed. I ended up enjoying the fact that the wait staff let us have time to ourselves... talking, figuring out what we wanted to eat, and just enjoying the food. For appetizer, we ordered mussels, which has become my favorite, and has always been Sal's favorite. For dinner, I ended up ordering the flounder stuffed with shrimp and crab meat and Sal ordered the paella. My dish arrived with rice and veggies on the side, and Sal also had veggies. The dinner was delicious and the portions were huge! We ended up taking half, if not more, of our meals home. That didn't mean we weren't able to try the dessert though! I was going to try the cheesecake, since I'm a cheesecake fan, but when Sal ordered the orange sorbet, mine didn't seem too appetizing, especially when they both came out of the kitchen. Instead of eating the cheesecake and disappointing myself, we wrapped it up for his dad to eat later, and we shared the orange sorbet, and it was a perfect light cleanse of the palate for after dinner.

We held hands in between courses, and after we were finished. Even though friends of mine have made fun of people that do that, and couldn't believe that Sal and I are "one of those couples," I actually love it. It makes me feel connected to Sal, even when we're sitting across the table from one another. I guess that's something you learn when you grow up... ignore what others think about you. You're not living your life for them, you're living it for you. Afterwards, it took us 20 minutes to snap a picture of ourselves together, since I not only love documenting every thing, but I need it to be perfect too. You'd think Sal would understand this after 5 years, but no... and I don't think he ever will, which is fine with me as long as he smiles in the pictures! (ha!)

It's funny, at the end of the night no matter who pays, we always say thank you to the other person. Just because he's my boyfriend, and just because I'm his girlfriend doesn't mean that we need to buy each other dinner every weekend. It's still something that's appreciated and I love that we let the other person know that every time. And we always, always end the night with a kiss.

Steak 'n Shake

Whenever I would visit my family in Florida, I would make sure that I stopped at Steak 'n Shake while I was down there because unfortunately, there were none in or near New Jersey. I would always get the same thing while I was there - the steak burger, fries, and a cookie dough shake. Anyone that knows me, knows that I am obsessed with all things cookie dough - ice cream, cookie batter, shakes... everything. The steak burgers are cooked perfectly, the fries are thin and crispy, and the cookie dough shakes are to die for.

Maybe it was a good thing that the only way I could eat a burger and fries was if I was headed to Florida, that way I wasn't tempted to eat it all of the time. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on the way you look at it, they built a Steak 'n Shake in NYC, and while I tried to plan many trips out there, I was never able to go. It wasn't until months later that I found out that they had put a Steak 'n Shake in a nearby mall in NJ! I was psyched, okay maybe psyched isn't the best word... I was beyond psyched, just ask my boyfriend. I immediately told him we needed to go, and eventually we did! I was so excited, but so nervous that it wouldn't taste just as good as I had remembered it in Florida. We ordered, sat down, and when we took our first bite it didn't taste the same... it tasted better! The shake had to be my favorite part by far.

Now I don't eat burgers and fries all that often because I'm usually eating lean, clean, and green, and a burger with fries and a shake definitely isn't great for you, but everything is okay in moderation! Sal and I sat there and savored our meals, and then afterwards we walked around the mall. It was great being able to spend time with him, enjoy a meal and then 'workout' without even realizing it, afterwards. It would have been worse if we ate and then went home and laid around. I'd consider our night successful, and I haven't been tempted to go back there in the weeks that followed, but writing this post makes me want to go back, at least for the shake!

While I don't recommend eating at fast food restaurants, I do recommend at least trying Steak 'n Shake if there's one in your area. Just don't let it become a daily or weekly occurrence. Remember - everything in moderation.

Homemade Dinner Date

Whenever Sal wants to make dinner for me, I always let him, because let's face it, he's an amazing cook. He doesn't cook just anything either - think big - chicken francese, filet mignon, and mussels to name a few of his go-to dishes. He had ideas the other night, and I let him go with it, especially when he mentioned chicken francese, except I told him not pasta - I don't eat heavy dinners anymore because I hate going to bed with that full feeling. He gathered the ingredients and came over my house to start the meal. While he was cooking, I enjoyed watching. I mean there are few things sexier than when a guy is cooking dinner for you.

I set up a small salad for the two of us as he cooked mussels for an appetizer and chicken francese. He is perfect at timing while cooking, something I certainly have to work on, and everything was cooked perfectly. The mussels were done, so we sat down with a bottle of sangria and dug in. Now I wasn't always a fan of mussels because they not only look weird, but I figured they tasted funny too, until I tried mussels that Sal made for me one night, and since then I've been hooked! I didn't think we were going to finish all of them, but I guess we were hungry because there was nothing left but the shells!

We were then ready for the chicken francese, and Sal presented the dish quite well, I'm not going to lie. Taste is important, but presentation makes it that much more delicious. 

Along with the chicken, we had a small caesar salad and warm bread. I can't even begin to describe to you how amazing dinner was. Sal is such an amazing cook, I secretly want to enter him into a competition on the food network channel, like Chopped. If you see him on there one day, you'll know it was my doing! 

Afterwards, we washed the dishes, and we headed to the coach to watch the football games with our new jerseys on - yes, I wear a Packer's jersey sometimes. I figured the least I could do was watch some football with the man who had cooked such an incredible dinner. I wasn't even full after, it was a perfect amount of food and it was light, having just a side salad. I baked some cookies, and we enjoyed them, as well as strawberries that he had bought. The combination was extremely tasty! 

It's always nice to have relaxing nights in, instead of going out and ordering at a restaurant. 

When you can find a sweet man that can cook, you've got a keeper! 

A Celebration Date Night

When I passed my certification exam, I was extremely excited not only because I passed, but because my nights would no longer be filled with studying and reading. I must admit, I give Sal a lot of credit for coming over and sitting with me as I studied. So when I passed, Sal was just as excited as I was. We immediately planned to go out that weekend to celebrate. We chose to go to a restaurant a few towns over because the chef was a Chopped Champion.

I ordered a glass of white wine, while he ordered a beer. We cheered; I was now a Certified Child Life Specialist. The atmosphere was perfect, they put us in the back corner, so it felt like we were alone. We ordered mussels for our appetizer, but I must admit they weren't as good as we were hoping. I was really disappointed because I thought our whole entire meal was going to be bad. Thankfully we didn't leave, and we had amazing entrees, and the dessert wasn't too bad either!

Once the food was devoured, we just sat there enjoying each others company, sipping on our drinks, talking and laughing. Overall, I'd definitely recommend this restaurant, and the title is definitely deserved... just don't order the mussels!

Afterwards, we headed home, but not to call it a night! Instead, we picked up my brother and his friend and headed to the bowling alley. Sal and I hadn't been there in years, but we both looked at each other, knowing that the first time we hung out was at a bowling alley with two friends. We were 16 and apparently the bowling alley was the cool place to hang out, especially on Fridays during laser bowling!

We played boys v. girls and even though we won the first time, the boys got better throughout the night, and beat us, and then beat us again. I had the top score of the night, which I was pretty proud of - 132!

We still didn't go home after we left the bowling alley. We took a long drive, listening and singing to country music, and there's honestly no better way to end the night.