la vie en rose

Our fun night downtown at the Arctic Club Hotel...

In honor of my birthday!

The hotel was decorated for Christmas. It was so beautiful. I didn't take pictures of the front desk (didn't want to embarrass myself like a tourist), but they have pictures of all the former members of the Arctic Club adorning the walls, as well as cases of top hats and collars. I loved it!

The 2nd floor ballroom is gorgeous! I asked J if we could get divorced and then remarried so we could have our reception there. He said okay, so now we just have to set a date.

Up to the top floor (just one of the perks of being married to J (and of his job)).

What a view!

On Friday evening we walked over to Wild Ginger for dinner. We've always heard good things about them. It was pretty tasty - I had the duck, which I have never had before. I liked it. Tasted like dark turkey or chicken, and the skin was quite nice. Apparently the picky eater as a child has grown up to be a little adventurous! J had the panang curry. I think they left out the seasoning. But he wasn't too disappointed - he has been trying to replicate the ginger orange mint tea that he had there since then.

Our hotel room was very nice. I wanted to know who had picked out all of the decor - J said it was his boss's mom. She has very good taste.



The bathroom was really cool. The doors leading to it were glass and had the letters "BATH" written on them. I don't know why I got such a kick out of that, but it seemed so vintage, so out of another era. And the tiled floor! It's my dream to have a bathroom floor that looks like that.

But what was that on the table in the room? When J was making the reservation he let them know that it was my birthday. So the hotel manager had them send up a little place of goodies with a card. That in itself was very sweet, but when I saw what awaited me on said plate, I gasped with joy.

This may not look like much to the untrained eye, but underneath the crispbread, next to the grapefruit wedges, dates, and black grapes, nestled next to the twisted breadstick cracker were 3 kinds of delicious cheeses. Creamy, rich, a bleu ribbon in one, an ash rind on another, pungent, definitely unpasteurized (but all the best cheeses are), definitely something on the "Do Not Eat" list.

I love cheese. I've rarely tasted a cheese I don't like. I may be a bit of a cheese snob in fact. I couldn't resist this plate before me. I apologized to the baby for what I was about to do and dove right in. It was one of the best parts of the evening. It doesn't take much to make me happy.