Birthday Continued...

Back in November, Mark purchased an overnight stay with dinner at the Valencia Hotel on the Riverwalk and tickets to CATS in our school's silent auction. Eva was able to spend the night with the kids and get them off to school the next day.

We had a lovely (and expensive, even with the gift certificate!) dinner at Citrus . I didn't know it at the time, but this restaurant hosted the Top Chef: Texas final four! We sat where Padma and Tom and all those guys sat! Woohoo! We shared a lovely bottle of wine that had Braille on it's label. Turns out the vineyard owner's brother is blind! It was really neat - and tasted great!

Then we saw the musical CATS at the fabulous Majestic Theater in downtown San Antonio. We didn't realize the tickets were third row until we got there which was a nice surprise! The show was terrific - and reminded me of the time we saw CATS at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater with my parents and brothers many years ago!

We walked back to our room at the Hotel Valencia which was modern and dark...very dark. I kept asking Mark if he could see - in the lobby, the elevator bank, hallways and our room! The hotel provided another lovely dessert with painted chocolate words.

We didn't have much time to enjoy it since Mark had to drive to Odessa in the morning and I had a "date" with Fabio Viviani, a Top Chef contestant (from my favorite cooking show) who was doing a cooking demo at a grocery store near my house.

We were so late coming back from downtown the morning after CATS, I was rushing to the store and got there right when the demo started. I thought I'd be standing 50 people back but I was able to walk right up to the demo counter and get a very, very good spot.

Why, hello.

Easiest pasta recipe ever: One egg plus two heaping tablespoons of flour per person. A splash of olive oil, salt and pepper and throw it in the food processor. You know the dough is ready when it does the "hula hoop" (dough ball spins irregularly in the processor). The audience squealed when Fabio did the hula hoop! Flatten and cut into whatever pasta shape you like.

The final product. Looked and smelled delicious!

Signing my book.

It really was a pleasure to meet him, even though I was instructed by a friend to "go there and take pictures or I will kill you." He was friendly and affable, comedic and handsome. She didn't have to twist my arm at all! 

After catching up on some things at home, my girlfriends threw a GNO at a local Mexican restaurant for some peeps who couldn't come to my birthday lunch the week before. Love these ladies...and the one who took the picture! 

It was a great birthday celebration -  which I hope to continue all year!