Saturday, February 20, 2010

First Visit to the Vet

Gicle'e and Ashley had their first visit to the Vet today. They were great! They allowed themselves to be gently poked and prodded without crying out. They saw Dr. Utchen at Bishop Ranch Veterinary Clinic, who is our favorite Vet. He really love animals more than profit. We found out that both of our 1 1/2 year old kitties are in perfect health. And, we found out that Gicle'e is not a calico but it appears that one of her parents was an orange tabby and the other was a grey tabby, and one or both also must have had patches of white on them. I believe she represents a whole new breed of cat which should also be called Gicle'e. BTW, the pronunciation of Gicle'e is "Zhee Clay" which means squirt in French. It looked to us like God squirted her with various kinds of cats and we found out today that we were right!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Table for Two

Happy Valentine's Day!
Del and I trade each year who plans Valentine's Day and who plans our Anniversary celebration. This year was his year for Valentine's Day, and he sure made it special! I woke up to a sweet card and what looked like a box of chocolates, but it actually contained a freshwater pearl necklace. He had also gotten me 3 dozen roses at Costco that are simply gorgeous.
Then, instead of going out like we usually do, Del cooked me a wonderful Valentine's Dinner at home. It started with our version of bruschetta: roasted garlic, cambozola cheese, marinara sauce with golden raisins in it and chives for decoration, all on asiago cheese bread. Yum!
The salad was baby spinach with feta cheese, pepitas, apples and a balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
The main course was shrimp scampi, steamed King Crab legs, roasted asparagus, and mushroom risotto topped with grated parmigiano reggiano cheese. Everything was cooked wonderfully (OK, Costco helped with the risotto) and tasted delicious!
Then we had individual chocolate lava cakes for dessert (also from Costco), Breyers vanilla ice cream, and fresh raspberries on top. And best of all, he didn't expect me to clean up. I ended up helping a bit, but even that was optional. What a great guy.
Note to my dear husband: Thank you Del, for making this Valentine's Day a very special one.
I love you!! XOXO Diane p.s. I guess I'd better start planning a special anniversary celebration this year!