I'm 26 (and 7 weeks)!

Okay, so this is a late blog. But I realized I had photos on my phone (not the best quality) from my birthday.

After church, Aaron took me to lunch in Old Town Pasadena. We went to a Thai restaurant and surprise! Heidi and Josh were there! We didn't take any pictures but that was a nice start to my birthday. We shopped for a while in Pasadena and then went home for a nice nap.

Aaron took me to Animal for dinner. Animal is a very, very hot restaurant right now in LA. The two chefs are Art Institute graduates! They also formerly had a show on Food Network called Two Dudes Catering. Each day they only take reservations for one month from that day. So to get a July 19 reservation, Aaron had to call first thing on June 19. This place is so cool they don't even have a sign.

Cheers! I ordered a crisp, cold, yummy rose wine and Aaron had a "Mexican Coke." Did you know in Mexico they use REAL sugar in their Coke instead of high fructose corn syrup like here in the US?

We dined on several delicious shared dishes:

Chicken liver on Toast

Whole Fried Quail with bacon, sauteed chard, grits and a maple jus (soooo good)

Garlic bread with chorizo and melted petit basque cheese (Yummy! Pictured below)

Branzino fish with farro, rocket pesto, roasted artichocke hearts, pancetta vinaigrette

And for dessert we shared the famed Bacon Crunch Bar. Chocolate and bacon is a very trendy pairing right now, and let me tell you, it was delicious. It really just adds a salty, slightly smoky crunch. Sort of like nuts. They cook the bacon super crispy, so it isn't as meaty. It is a served with a creme anglaise underneath, to keep it from being dry.

It was a fabulous (slightly fattening) day! Thanks Aaron for making my birthday spectacular!