Chickpea Soup and Mushroom burgers

I had an absolutely fantastic birthday weekend!



Friday when I got home from class Spencer had made me a wonderful dinner. He slaved over the stove for almost 6 hours and the result was an absolutely amazing chickpea soup! It had the creamy consistency of twice-baked potato soup and was seasoned so well that it just melted in my mouth. He then made grilled chicken with a grape/apple chutney on top that was TOO DIE FOR! He started saying he saw flaws in the chicken, but to me I had never eaten anything better. :) He makes me smile all the time without even realizing it. After our beautiful dinner we broke out our desert of Ben & Jerry's ice cream and popped in Marley & Me.

I was absolutely terrified I would hate this movie because I had read the book a few years ago, and I just didn't think it was possible to do justice to the amazing story that John Grogan had written! ...and I was partly correct. The movie was not anywhere near as good as the book was, but it was a truly a fantastic story, and well acted. I laughed, I cried and I realized that the years we have with our Mia are ones that we need to treasure everyday, and never take for granted. :)

Saturday I had class again, for the last time! Yay for desert summer class being over! After class Spencer's parents took us to Lidia's italian restaurant for my birthday. Lidia is a world renown chef with her own cooking show. We had the Pasta Trio which includes Lidias signature Caesar salad and choice of (Tiramisu for me please!) The pasta was amazing! The first was a spaghetti marinara with basil and fresh mozzarella. The second a corkscrew pasta with a light creamy white sauce, sausage, broccolini and cheese. The third a 5 cheese stuffed ravioli in a light white wine sauce. Everything was superb, and they got me Annie Leibovitz's book, "Women."

Sunday Spencer and I slept in until 11am! Something I have not done in a LONG time! Then we went shopping and bought some beef and burger accessories. Steph, Joe, Zach, Sarah, Alexa and Jimmy all came over for bbq, beers and some gametime. It was a fantastic day with great friends, great conversation and a gigantic battle between Mia and the giant plastic cup she stole from Sarah and ran around the yard with.

I can't think of a better way to have spent my 25th birthday....ok, well maybe it would have been better without the school part!