Anniversary Tradition

As readers of the blog know all too well, a great night on the town for Andrew and I involves dinner at the Parish Cafe followed by killer martinis at Bar Lola. We follow this tradition for every anninversary and halfway mark and last night was no exception. Not including times we headed to the Parish Cafe after the Boston Prostate Cancer (two years in a row) and when we celebrated our engagement, this marked our fourth straight anniversary dinner - a streak we intend on maintaining!

A shot of my fine dining companion who is patiently (!) waiting for me to finish my picture-taking so he can dive into his sandwich or perhaps its displeasure at learning that Parish Cafe's summer menu doesn't include one of favorite appetizers, the onion rings:

No surprise here, his choice is Rowdy's Famous Chicken Sandwich with their delicious chipotle aioli:

I tend to bounce around with my menu choices but I stuck with an old favorite, the Zuni Roll:

Afterwards, we headed to Bar Lola. Andrew noted that it's definitely picked up in popularity since when we first started going, as the place was packed. We scored two seats at the bar and spent the next two hours savoring Bar Lola's potent martinis:

Sunday Night Celebration

We didn't officially celebrate the engagement with some of our nearest and dearest - Amy, Phu, Pete and Jen - until Sunday since I had to bake on Friday night and we had the wedding on Saturday night.

Sunday was beautiful but by the time Andrew and I started walking to the Newton Center T stop around 6 pm to meet up with Jen, it was pouring rain - as we waited out a few minutes of the downpour under a tree, we heard the longest peal of thunder that I'd ever heard - yikes! However, by time we got off the T in Boston, there was a rainbow and gradually clearing skies awaiting us outside Parish Cafe:


After the Parish Cafe, only Amy and Jen were brave enough to join us at our favorite place for martinis, Bar Lola. Here's Amy and Jen showing off their Fresa martinis:


Andrew and I ordered Frambuesas for our first drink:


Many martinis and three hours later, we hit the streets feeling a little loopy:


...And we paid for it this morning when we woke up for work feeling like crap. Confirming that I am indeed too old to stay up late on Sundays but it was well worth it!