Friday Date Night

We had a very unexpected date night. The one where you choose a restaurant that could be hit or miss and rent a movie that you're not sure you're going to like. The night seemed to work out perfectly!

We started off by trying a new Indian restaurant not exactly downtown (where we usually venture). This weekend is the kick off of SXSW (a big music, film, and interactive festival Austin is known for every year) and we knew that downtown would be swarming with out-of-towners. The restaurant was called SarOvar and didn't look very promising from the outside. Although, some of the best restaurants aren't exactly crowd pleasers from the outside. When we first got there we both had trouble breathing......err. Basically we had heard how spicy this restaurant was from reviews and if you took a deep breath when entering the restaurant you could definitely tell that that was no lie. We were literally breathing in pepper particles......there was no mistaken it (yikes)! So strike one already.....it was hard not to cough every now and then from the peppery air quality. Then we sat there for a good 15 min. before a waitor/waitress even came to speak to us about the menu or anything. Alex has a great ability to go with the flow most of the time....whereas I get annoyed when I don't receive the service I expect in restaurants. I was just telling Alex how I was about to get up and complain when our waitor came by and welcomed us. Strike 2. However, he turned out to be a really friendly guy....and we could tell that he probably was just really busy and didn't realize how long we were there. Okay fine, Plus 1. We asked a lot of questions about the menu since it had options and meal deals we'd never seen before, our waitor was super knowledgeable about Indian cuisine and even steered us away from their Coconut Curry as he said the chef was still perfecting it......wow Thanks! Plus 2, we've broke even now. The food came out and I so wish I had brought my camera with me since the small cups of sauces and the meal itself was so intricate and we had so many choices! I ordered the vegetable Korma while Alex got the Chicken Tika Masala. Since we made both our meals "Thali" for an extra $3 we also received curried lentils, curried peppers, two different types of soups, yogurt sauce, and rice pudding. It was allll so delicious. Plus 3!

We left and popped in "Wonder Boys," which we picked up at Blockbuster before we went to the restaurant. Alex had seen the movie before and loved it. It's a dark comedy that is so quirky and well......unexpected. SO funny, if you haven't seen it definitely go out and rent it (right away :-) Robert Downey Jr's character was hilarious and Michael Douglas played a cooky professor just trying to deal with his life that is spiraling out of control!

last Date Night before New Year

Last night Alex and I partook in our regular Friday night ritual......date night! We choose either a new or favorite restaurant in Austin, dress up, and go out to enjoy eachother's company!

Usually our trend is to try a different place in Austin on date night but last night we wanted to go somewhere where we knew the food would be delicioso! So I suggested ClayPit in Central Austin. It's a contemporary Indian restaurant with a very modern yet cozy atmosphere and the place is HHUUUGGEEE! It has three stories of dining space!

To drink I had their mango lemonade for the first time which was perfectly tart and sweet. For an appetizer we tried their curry crabcakes for the first time with their house Indian-esque tartar sauce (so good). And for the main entree we both ordered the Coconut Curry.....Alex got his with chicken and I got mine with Paneer (Indian cheese dumplings). As always the food was fantastic and I stuffed myself. But not too much, I made sure to have dessert when we got home.....vanilla pudding and fresh strawberries drizzled with nutella (what other chocolate drizzle is more appropriate?)

Upon returning to our apartment complex we found the cutest little kitten in our parking lot. We could tell it was well fed and very people friendly and couldn't bare to leave it in the cold especially since it was probably hungry and thirsty. However, we were weary of bringing it up to the apartment as Saci (the best dog ever) would probably FREAK it out. We were very surprised though with how well they got along. At first we had them in separate rooms and allowed Saci to get used to the meowing, then we brought them together and Saci couldn't have behaved more beautifully. I was definitely a proud mother.

We ended up feeding the cat chicken cold cuts and it grabbed a few mouthfuls of Saci's dog food. It also drank A LOT of water. Since our apartment isn't cat friendly (no litter box) we tried calling every friend nearby that is. Unfortunately we came up with nothing and had to put the kitten back where we found her just in case her family was looking for her. We gave her more food once she was outside and hoped for the best.

This morning while taking out Saci I called for her and did my best to look around the area we found and returned her to. She was nowhere in sight, hopefully she's warm and safe!

Also yesterday after work I was able to finally get my hair done. My hairdresser is super talented and super affordable which also means she has a TON of clients. I had to wait a month after calling for an appointment to even see her. It was well worth the wait as always. She colored, washed, cut, and styled my hair all for $60.......best deal in town, well as far as I know anyway!

more later.....

Lillies and an Anniversary

Sadly, amongst wedding preparations, planning for our upcoming Thanksgiving trip, and work mumbo jumbo Alex and I both let our 3 year anniversary slip by. oops! I reminded him 4 days after when I came to the realization at work. That night Alex and I had our typical date night at Salt Lick 360 (gourmet bbq). While walking to the car he insisted on driving and I realized why when I opened up my door and found yellow lillies on my seat and the Disney movie Rattaouille under my seat which I've been wanting to see so badly.

The date night was awesome and the movie was adorable....go rent it!