Weekend Update: You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile

I got to enjoy the first of my 2 Christmas gifts with Jay this past weekend! On Sunday afternoon, we saw:

It was a great show and since it was at 2pm, the audience consisted of many young girls all dressed up in their party dresses, tutus, etc. It was so cute!! We got in trouble for taking the above picture on my camera phone so snapped this one on the way out in front of ASU's Gammage:
After the show, we headed up to Scottsdale for dinner at Cowboy Ciao. If you live in the area, we definitely recommend you check this place out! The ambiance, food, and wine were fabulous!

For our appetizer, we had the Buffalo Carpaccio. I had trouble taking photos due to the low lighting, but bear with me. Here it is - rolled in a cumin/espresso dry rub, seared, and then topped with red onion/honey marmalade, greens (arugula?) and goat cheese (I think - it just says "chevre" on the menu). SO GOOD!
We each also enjoyed a flight of wine. They have 3 generous 3oz. pours per flight:
::sidenote:: I just adore Photoshop! I'm still learning, but it totally saved the above photo! I thought it was way too dark to even fix, but with a few tweaks here & there, I just love how it turned out!

For dinner, Jay had the house specialty - Exotic Mushroom Pan Fry. Nine different kinds of mushrooms in an ancho cream over double-cooked polenta topped with grilled portabellini, avocado, tomato and cojita cheese. He loved it! And get this. I tried it too. I ate mushrooms and didn't gag! They were actually pretty good (it's the texture that gets me) but that sauce was amazing! I think it would be delicious with pasta & chicken. Or really anything!

I had the New Zealand Lamb Loin - pepper crusted, grilled medium-rare, with roasted tomato/anise butter, served with roasted artichoke risotto cabernet demi-glace and vegetables. The lamb was amazing as was everything else but the risotto. I think I was expecting it to taste more like spinach-artichoke dip or something, but instead it tasted...well....the only way I can describe it is that it tasted like a hair salon? Like how I think Aveda products would taste if you could eat them. Clean? Fresh? Anyway - it wasn't my favorite, but mixed with the demi-glace, it was a-ok!
What is date night without dessert?? After much deliberation, we ordered some coffee and the Cuppa' Red Hot Chocolate (sort of). Basically it's a big hot chocolate mug filled with a chocolate-ey, cinnamon-ey, cayenne-ey fudge-ey YUMMINESS (it's cold though - the "hot" in the hot chocolate is due to the cayenne), topped with this creamy goodness (to look like the froth on the hot chocolate), and is served with 2 spice cookies. Can I say again - DELICIOUS. I have been salivating for more of both the Buffalo Carpaccio and this dessert ever since we got home. I want more.

So there you go. Christmas Date Night #1. Awesome. I can't wait for the next one - just a few more weeks (and a Spoonful of Sugar)! :)