Belated Date Night

Yesterday's plans for going to the park and getting some stuff done around the house got hijacked when Riker started acting like he wasn't feeling well. He cried for over an hour and nothing would console him, which isn't like him at all, so we packed him up and headed to the pediatrician. Sure enough, the poor little guy has an ear infection. :/ Thankfully his meds seem to start working right away, so he was back to playing in no time.

AND this week he finally started walking! He's been testing the waters for the last two months, but this week he started walking long distances totally on his own without any prompting from us. So exciting! Along with walking he's climbing, including climbing all over his big snow tube. He loves that thing.

Around 4:00 Matt's mom picked up Riker so we could have a belated Valentine's date night. We've been wanting to see Argo forever, so hit up a late day matinee with the old folks crowd. ;-)

We both loved the movie. It was intense the whole way through, but with bouts of comedy throughout. I especially love movies when they're based on a true story, so the real life stories and photos at the end made it even better.

After the movie, we came home to quickly change and then headed to dinner at Fuji Japanese Steakhouse, a hibachi and sushi restaurant. We were told the sushi is amazing there, and we weren't disappointed. Fuji has a few traditional Japanese tables where you take your shoes off and sit on cushions, which I thought would be so fun, but unfortunately they were all reserved and we had to sit at a regular table. Womp womp. Guess that means we have to go back again!

We started off with a few veggie appetizers, including the seaweed salad and vegetable dumplings. Both were delicious. The seaweed was super fresh and the dumplings were the most tender I've ever had. They were definitely handmade.

For our entree, we ordered 4 rolls and split them. Fuji had literally over 20 specialty rolls to choose from, so it took us forever to decide. We eventually went with three special rolls featuring black pepper tuna, tempura lobster, shrimp, king crab, and even banana. We also ordered a regular salmon/cucumber roll to cut through all the richness of the special rolls.

The fish was incredibly fresh and so delicious. The green one in the middle had the banana in it; we both liked it, but I probably wouldn't get it again. A little too sweet for my liking. Either way, I guess you could say we liked everything enough to polish off the whole plate. ;-)

We had planned to pick up Riker after dinner, but on our way out Matt's dad called and said he was already sleeping and we could come get him in the morning if we wanted to stay out a little later and then catch a few extra zzz's this morning. They are pretty great grandparents, I'll tell ya. We took them up on their offer and decided to meet a few of our friends who were having drinks at Klee's, an Irish bar in Seaside Heights.

Seaside is slowly starting to come back to life after Sandy, so it was nice hanging out there and supporting one of the few local businesses that's been able to re-open. We just went for one beer and to say hi, then hoofed it home for a lovely 9 hours of sleep. Aaah. I have to say, I felt super refreshed when I woke up this morning.

***

Since we were on our own this morning for breakfast, Matt and I decided to take advantage of it by skipping the gym and going out for a bite before picking up Riker. I had a gift card sitting on my wallet for over a year, and it was high time it got used, so we went to one of my favorite spots, L. Gourmet.

I've eaten here plenty of times for lunch - most often to grab sandwiches to sit by the pool - but have never tried their breakfast. I had a hankering for Eggs Benedict after the one I had over Christmas break, so I zeroed in on it when I saw they had it on the menu. No salmon this time, but I did ask if I could swap out the Canadian bacon for fresh spinach, and they gladly obliged.

Yum.

I spent the last few hours running some errands and taking a little me time - getting my hair and nails done ;-) - and am now back home spending some time in the kitchen. Matt was in the mood to make a big pot of homemade sauce, and you can't have a big pot of sauce without some friends to share it with, so we invited a bunch to come over for dinner. Time to put my apron on and get cookin'!