veggies are unamerican

we had the hub's birthday bbq on saturday at the grandparents' house, which is blessedly nearby. they're always willing to host GTGs, because that means less traveling for them, and considering they have the hub's 94-year-old great-grandma in tow, this is always a good thing.

the bean's been over there enough times to get nice and comfy with their floor plan. she's figured out how to maneuver herself up and down the two little stairs that connect the foyer to the living room and family rooms, and she loves to clap her hands and cheer for herself whenever she successfully climbs up and down them. it's comical.

i couldn't help but laugh at the different expressions i managed to capture here:

the teen was bored as hell.

grandma makes the best potato salad that ever was.

and here are the veggie burgers that FIL grudgingly grilled up ("here's your plate of unamerican burgers," he said):

just to spite him, i decided to forego the "real" burgers and helped the teen, my brother, and o in outnumbering the meat eaters at the table. the funniest part was when great-gram unknowingly served herself one of the veggie patties, took a bite, and asked me "what kind of meat is this??" haha!

everyone laughed at me as i dressed up my veggie burger. kind of defeated the purpose, i suppose.

whatever. it was tasty and i had a full serving of veggies.

the bean helped herself to one of my pieces of bacon, after inhaling almost a whole hot dog. my little meat eater.

not having seen each other for months and months, o finally got her chance to ask the teen to be part of the bridal party. yay! she's gonna be a junior bridesmaid and walk the flower girl bean down the aisle.

outside, my brother bonded with the bean.

the teen's a supermodel.

dessert was cheesecake and the hub's all-time favorite, french apple pie from marie callender's. there were also some yummy chocolate-dipped cookies too, courtesy of my brother and o.

when the bean decided to stretch out on the kitchen floor, we knew it was time to go.

little did she know, the night was far from over.

as close to hawaii as we could get

so, since the hub totally jacked up my restaurant choice for his birthday dinner - ha! - we did, indeed, go to roy's. we love anything that reminds us of hawaii, and so i knew that it would be a hit.

note: these are all quickie pics snapped with the iPhone, so they're crappy as hell, but better than nothing, yes?

we were seated quickly, and i was amused at the birthday decor at our table.

and when the hub opened his menu, he found this:

he'd also been greeted with a "happy birthday, mr. wan!" by both the hostess and our server. he looked pleased when they both assured him that they wouldn't sing. heh. my husband is the opposite of me when it comes to his birthday - he wants no attention and no acknowledgment. no birthday tiara for him!

our edamame was yummy and spicy. as much as i love bread with dinner, these were a nice change.

i'd decided to go with their prix fixe menu - it was a great deal, and i always love a bargain. i didn't actually start taking pictures of our food until after we'd received our entrees, but trust me - everything was super delicious. i chose their pulehu style "kalbi" sirloin, served with kimchee and edamame fried rice, while the hub opted for their lakanilau roll: crab, asparagus, and avocado wrapped in rice and then topped with slices of seared kobe beef. we ate monkey-style, trading places halfway through, and mowed through those appetizers like they were going out of style.

my entree was the "hawaii kai" style beef short ribs, served with potatoes and veggies.

the hub went with the blackened ahi, served with a spicy soy mustard butter sauce. he liked it, but found that the mustard was a bit overpowering and ended up eating it on his appetizer plate. oh, well.

i'd heard from several trusted sources that while roy's served great food, the service tended to be a bit spotty. and maybe it was, but we weren't in any big hurry and enjoyed the time alone. i gave him the card i'd made (sorry, you don't get to see that) and a copy of "quantum of solace" on dvd. of course, he knows me too well and had already figured out what i was giving him when he noticed that our rental movies, sitting on the counter at home, were gone. i'm really bad at surprises. but he had to admit that he had no idea where we were going until i pulled up at the restaurant. yay for me!

along with his complimentary birthday boy dessert, i chose their signature melting hot chocolate souffle a la mode (divine) and he decided to have the pineapple upside down cake. the special dessert (some kind of panna cotta thing that he dubbed "shitty ass flan") came with a birthday message written in hawaiian:

good lawd a'mighty, my pictures suck ass. but at least it all tasted better than it looks! and our server whipped out a camera to take a souvenir picture for us:

we left stuffed and happy. and it was over so quickly - by the time we pulled up at the thimble, we'd only been gone for two hours. and amazingly, the bean was fast asleep when we walked inside, and MIL was happily relaxing with a book and some HGTV. they'd had a great time playing together, having dinner, and then she settled down easily, with no crying or fussing. she used to cry for a good 15 minutes before falling asleep if i wasn't around.

ah, this makes planning date nights much easier for the future!

my old man

i can say that now, right? because the hub is officially out of his 20s as of today. yay!

although i was pretty bummed to wake up with a freaking planet on my face this morning. damn. i love how my body always gives me presents when there's a special occasion or something.

and while talking about work last night, the hub mentioned that he had a lunch meeting scheduled with a client. because he mentioned "pasadena," i casually asked "cool, where are you guys meeting?"

"smitty's grill," he said. dammit!

that was totally my front-runner for his big birthday dinner, because we've never been and heard it was super delicious. it's owned by the same folks as a couple of other fabulous restaurants in the area that we love, so i was excited to take him there. ugh.

on to plan b.