I woke up yesterday to Ella wishing me happy birthday. Then she wasted no time in giving away what mom had gotten me a a gift, “we have a game for you daddy”. She brought me a gift bag with a new Playstation 3 game inside. (Thanks honey)

I lounged on the couch with the family while finishing up American Gods, by Neil Gaiman, it felt like I took forever reading that book, so it was nice to finish it!

We decided to go out to lunch and do a little shopping for Ella’s upcoming 3rd birthday party. We had a nice lunch at Olive Garden (thanks to a birthday gift card from my mother-in-law).

Here is what I ate, delicious!
Pork Milanese is a rustic dish prepared with the traditional scaloppini technique used in Italy. A pork loin is pounded until fork tender, then dredged in a blend of panko, herbed breadcrumbs, fresh parsley and parmesan cheese and pan seared until the crust becomes golden brown. Accompanied by asiago-filled tortelloni tossed with fresh spinach in a garlic cream sauce, the dish is finished tableside with a squeeze of lemon as is classically done in Italy.

After lunch, we went next door to Toys R’ Us and found some great boys customers for Ella’s dress-up birthday party ina couple weeks. We also managed to buy her a few birthday gifts without her noticing.

We came back home and I relaxed on the couch playing my new video game (Heavy Rain is a cool new game with amazing storytelling as you try to solve the serial murders of the Orgiami killer, or are you the killer? Ewww.) until my mother-in-law graciously came over to watch our rugrats while the wife and I went out – something we rarely get to do!

We had planned to do our usual dinner and a movie, but since we had a big lunch out, we instead decided to enjoy some more retail therapy, so we hit the mall. It was a surprisingly good time, Erin exchanged some shoes and perfume and I bought some “Ass Kickin’ Hot Sauces” from Le Gourmet Chef.

Then we grabbed a quick margarita and tortilla chips at Agaves Mexican Grill – great idea honey!

Finally, we caught “Crazy Heart” starring Jeff Bridges, one of my favorite actors. Since we were again using a birthday giftcard (thanks Rachel) we decided to let loose on the concessions and each got a pizza, coke and shared a popcorn too! Wow, I’m really off the diet now!

It was a great date night and a wonderful birthday. Maybe being my parents age (36), is not going to be so different after all.