Our 38th Anniversary Celebration

Is time going by fast or is it just me? I just can't believe it has been 38 years since our wedding day. We've lived in three different states, raised two children and now have two grandkids. We are currently living in our fifth house and remodeling yet again to make this one our own. Life has hardly been monotonous, that's for sure. I guess you could say we make sure life does not get monotonous. That is probably the main thing about the two of us that we have in common. We like the spice of life or making the most of our current situation. Right now, we don't have much at home with our house torn up with remodeling so we've been going out a lot. The electricians have been replacing all our old wiring which makes quite the mess. We are happy to leave for any occasion we can think of.

Fortunately, this is July and we have a lot of special occasions. Our 38th wedding anniversary was definitely one to celebrate.

We went all out for our anniversary by going to La Rustica that I've posted about before. We go here often for special occasions or with friends or out-of-town guests. La Rustica hits all four of the criteria that we judge a restaurant on; service, location, atmosphere and of course, the food. Here we are when Nick came home to visit from Japan in 2016. It's now one of his favorites.

We celebrated my sister-in-law's birthday here in 2017. My brother has tried to copy their recipe for shrimp scampi for his Christmas dinner. He was an executive chef in a previous life so he appreciates creative, gourmet recipes that La Rustica has no shortage of.

Last year, we went here when our friends were visiting from out-of-town. Jeff is Italian and they appreciate good Italian food. It was a spur-of-the-moment idea to go to La Rustica and since they don't take reservations, it's easy to just come here when you feel like it.

You get the idea that this is one of our favorite places and we've had many other visits here that have not been a disappointment. Bruce suggested La Rustica for our anniversary because he felt like Italian and I realized we haven't been here in over a year so it was a good choice.

You always get a salad, roasted vegetables and a side pasta dish with your meal so last night Bruce ordered their special of slowly braised lamb shank with their special seasoned sauce of aged balsamic vinegar.

The meat was fall-off-the-bone tender and so full of flavor, it's amazing. The roasted vegetables last night were bell peppers and carrots that were still slightly crisp, not soft or mushy - if you know what I mean. Everything is just perfect. I got my brother's favorite dish of shrimp scampi that consisted of four large prawns wrapped in pancetta. So good! Even their plates are colorful.

To start the meal, we received our green salad with their wonderful oil and vinegar dressing (with lots of garlic). The mixed greens are so fresh, I just inhaled mine.

I could tell I've been without a kitchen for four weeks, this meal tasted so good! Since this was a special occasion, we ordered dessert of tiramisu. Normally, we order their lemon tiramisu which is AMAZING but they didn't have it last night so we settled with their regular. It was very light with lots of rum and cream and a very generous portion. It passed our taste test.

Another year has gone by, another anniversary has been celebrated. We both feel so fortunate to have each other and the life we've had together. Here's to many more years of celebrating.

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Once again, I turned on the television yesterday and saw that Mark Bittman was on the Today show and was making his version of meatloaf . This must be meatloaf season. It was surprisingly similar to the Pioneer Woman's version who was also recently on. I was a little surprised of his version because Mark Bittman is into healthy eating and has lost a lot of weight and improved his health by changing his diet which he writes about in his book, Food Matters . His meatloaf recipe also included bacon and cheese! I must be doing something wrong. The thing to remember, which he writes about in his book, is that you can eat healthy without going extreme or changing your whole life. If you don't know who Mark Bittman is, he is a food writer and a four star chef with multiple cookbooks who loves to eat but changed his food philosophy to improve his health. He tells his story in Food Matters and provides a plan for responsible eating that covers a no-nonsense rundown on

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Sylvia's Scenario

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