Yesterday was my birthday! The whole weekend was pretty awesome!
But before I get into that I want to post a picture from Archop/Arthop which was Thursday 2/5.
My Advance Residential Design class decided to take the night off and go down town to see the work of some local architects at Archop which (I believe) was organized by my favorite professor Riitta. It took place at the same venue as Arthop which is a monthly art show of local artists all around Fresno. Its pretty awesome. Anyway, after checking out the new Archop projects, I mozied around the Arthop show and saw some pretty amazing stuff. My favorite installation was this one.... what caught my eye was the large print on the wall, "Your love is all I think about". How sweet?!
There was another artist... I've seen her there before but can never catch her name! Anyway, she does some AMAZING oil paintings. She mostly does portraitures and they are simply beautiful. If I could, I would hire her to do a family portrait. She has an amazing way of capturing a moment. I wish I could have taken a picture of some of her work...
Now back to my birthday... haha. I'm officially a "twenty-something"... ugh....but at least the celebration was awesome. I went home on Friday and my parents and I went to Larkspur to have dinner at The Melting Pot. One word: delicious. One more word: FONDUE!!
I've never had fondue before in my life let alone a whole meal of fondue-y goodness.
The three of us ordered the "Big Night Out" which was basically a sampler of
everything.
Here is the reception area... the restaurant is actually in an old brick factory and I believe ate in the kiln! haha the whole interior was basically tunnels of brick. It was seriously amazing. Three things I need at a restaurant: good food, good company and good interior design. This place rocked!
When we were seated, there were three balloons and a fondue chocolate bar waiting for me. Sweet!
Our meal began with a cheese fondue appetizer. I believe we chose a cheedar cheese with spinach and garlic mixed in. For dipping, we were served granny smith apples, breads, chips, and an assortment of veggies... it was delicious!!
Haha! Me and my mom getting ready to dig in!
I was so completely blinded by the awesome-ness that is fondue, that I forgot to take a picture of our main meal.... basically, we were given raw meats such as shrimp, chicken, beef and lobster. We put said raw meats into the fondue pot which was filled with hot broth to cook for about 2 minutes. After the meat is cooked we dipped them in one of about ten sauces that were given to us. It was definitely a unique way to eat dinner and fun to experiment which sauces would taste best with which type of meat.
For dessert, we ordered the chocolate turtle which was a milk chocolate with caramel mixed with and sprinkled with pecans on top. mmm! Our waitress even flambee-ed (sp? lol) the chocolate and we were given a ton of delicious sweets to dip in the chocolate.
If balloons and chocolate weren't enough, our waitress gave me a complimentary plate with goodies for dipping AND a piece of cheese cake (with a candle!!) haha good stuff!
Here is our dessert in all its glory.
And of course, my parents....
So that was my birthday celelbration with my parents.. now on to my Fresno Birthday...
Sunday, the 8th is my actual birthday but since I have class on Monday I had to drive back down to Fresno...
Alex and Diego made me dinner. They cooked pesto gnocchi! Which is officially my favorite Italian dish. They also made some delicious garlic bread and Richard bought me a pack of Mikes Pomegranate Hard Lemonade (which is another favorite of mine). I also brought some lumpia which is basically an Indonesian eggroll that my mom made specially for Alex. haha. Everyone loved them and I didn't burn myself while frying them in the hot oil...score!
I wish I took more pictures, but I have having too much fun enjoying dinner and what not that it slipped my mind.
Here's me with my teeny-tiny party hat! haha just kidding, its not really a party hat. I dont know what it is....Diego just put it on my head and took the picture.
After dinner and the Grammy's....Diego cut us all a slice of some delicious ice cream cake. It was so bomb!
Annnnd here's Alex!
haha Well that's all for my birthday. I just want to say thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday and especially thanks to Alex, Diego and Richard. They are the best guys to have as friends!!
