welcoming 29

These are the flowers that I received from my husband for my birthday, today. I usually would not blog about flowers but they are just so beautiful; I had to show everyone what a good job he did!

It was such a pleasant surprise to see him come home with such a pretty bouquet...it was a nice start to the evening...a nice start to a new year.

Our plans tonight were to head back out to that special little Italian restaurant and enjoy a relaxing evening. It was nice to be greeted with heartwarming smiles upon returning there. Luigi was back at the door and led us to a cozy little table. This is the type of restaurant that you think you should see Tony Soprano sitting at a little corner table sipping red wine, and slurping his pasta. His homemade pasta - everything is homemade, down to the bread. It feels as though you're entering a friend's home and no request is denied.

We started the evening with the Frittura Mista, which is various seafoods lightly battered and fried. It was good, but I probably would not order it again. It was a bit too heavy as a starter, for my taste.

For our mains, we both had veal. Mine was with a Porto sauce, while Mony's was in a Sorrentino sauce. The porto sauce was not sweet at all since it was mixed with a demi-glace.

The sorrentino was made with tomatoes, cream, and cheese. The tomato sauce was so simple, yet incredibly delicious. We later learned that it only had 3 ingredients - tomatoes, onions, and garlic. That's it.

The wine for the evening was 2 glasses of Primitivo. When Luigi found out that it was a special occasion he topped off our glasses which was a very nice gesture. That is the type of family-owned restaurant this is. Luigi even remembered what I ordered when we were last there.
That is the type of place this is.
You become family.