Happy Birthday And My Week

Happy birthday to my hubby yesterday!  We spent the day running errands he wanted to run.  Got to enjoy Smashburger for the first time.  Holy oil slick, my sweet potato fries were bathing in so much olive oil I gained another pound just looking at them.  Tasty, they were.  Good thing it's over an hour away--not making that a habit.  Got to see Mitch & Dawn and fam.  That is always nice.  See their daughter and "donkey" (that's the name of the lizard):

My business trip this past week to CA was a success.  My big activity went well, and I was able to meet and develop relationships with many coworkers.  I didn't spew forth unintelligible mumblings into a microphone when answering questions standing up in front of ~130 people, nor did I trip walking up the stairs to accept a little present on stage in thanks for all the work this project required from me.  I heard from several folks how happy they are that I am part of the company and how much they value my contributions.  I heard many supportive and appreciative comments this week.  It's really nice to hear.  *Really* doggone nice.

 
The most fun I had was a cooking/wine tasting class I elected for my free afternoon activity.  This is so awesome y'all, listen to this.  I had a choice between several wonderful options on how to spend an afternoon, and why yes, I chose drinking delightful wine and eating outrageously delicious food prepared by the resort chef.  Then after the festivities were supposed to be over, we sat on the patio cheering on the golfers as they played through one of the holes.  I believe our supportive clapping and shhhshing the "audience" helped everyone enjoy their golf outing just a little more since they surely felt the ambiance of a Pro tour.  I know we thought it was a hoot. 

Now for a recap of the food.

This cheese was on the appetizer board in the kitchen.  If you ever have the privilege to try this cheese--don't miss your opportunity.  It was an amazing *firm* goat cheese.  I didn't know this kind of cheese exists, and it was the chef's personal favorite.  I understood why after I tried it.

Next came a roasted beet salad with soft goat cheese crumbles that had rosemary, lavender and thyme herbs in the cheese--please bathe me in this when it's my time to go.  I cared not for the beets, but I get credit for trying them.

Now for the main courses, there were two.  This picture doesn't do it justice.  The dark pieces within the rice looking stuff are pieces of the best smoked bacon ever known to human kind.  The spareribs on top, I cut with my fork.  No knife was required.  I could not believe this half of the plate.  I wanted to stuff this in my pockets and bring it home to Todd, but I was pretty sure TSA would not have approved.  I LOVED LOVED LOVED it. 

On the other side of the plate, two scallops swimming in a butter, shallot, leek sauce with tomatoes.  This was very tasty.

And to finish off the feast, on a toasted bird's nest of coconut sat a shimmering gold dusted poached pear filled with mascarpone cheese with a side spoon of blue cheese, caramel and blackberry.  Sounds very odd, but it worked people, it worked!  LOVED every bite of it.

Back to reality for me now. I have more "lint filter cleanings to plan".  I do love my job and am beginning to really enjoy the people I am working with too as I form more relationships.  Which is a damn good thing since it is requiring so many hours from me every week.  Todd is nothing but support though, he's the best.  You know, all great leaders have someone or multiple someones behind them helping to make them as strong and successful as they are.  Most of the time they don't get there all on their own, they usually have backup troops who hold down the home-front allowing them to focus on their mission. God knows I've got lots of support or I'd never have made it this far.

Many days I get to my work and think, "here I am, let the stress begin".  But would I want it any other way?  Well maybe just a tad bit less stressful, but I will take that over being bored ANY day!

Now I'm off to bake my pillar-of-support / birthday-man some caramel brownies since we were too busy running around yesterday.  Oozy gooey sticky squares of pure evilness which cannot be resisted.  Happy Birthday weekend, Todd!