p.s.

Oh yeah...I promised to include a little something on our anniversary celebration, so here it is. We celebrated 9 years back in June!

First, Mike brought home an absolutely exquisite bouquet for me, which I promptly forgot to photograph. All I can do is list the flowers involved, 'cause it was so pretty I got all distracted and failed to document it. Boooo, Sarah, booo.

Here's what it looked like after all the other flowers had kicked off. A couple of gerbera daisies and a stunning off-white-peach-y lily. But before, there were also more lilies and daisies, plus peachy-pink roses, raspberry alstroemeria, some sort of yellow-green foofy feathery greenery, and small palm and fern fronds. SO pretty. Really extraordinary.

Then, it was off to dinner at Hotel Zum Storchen, which is a relatively fancy, snooty-like restaurant right on the river Limmat in beautiful downtown Zürich. You can certainly pay more for a meal here in our fair city, but you have to go looking for it. Actually, we had a delightful experience, with plenty of good food, and terrific service, so I have no complaints. What a lovely anniversary dinner.

When we arrived at our table, they had a little gift box waiting for us: a heavy pewter keychain with their logo on it, for our anniversary. Mike had told them why we were coming, and they did not disappoint.

They also had a gorgeous little bouquet of roses and orchids on our table, which I originally thought were on everyone's table...but then I realized that we were the only ones with it. Another anniversary touch. Here they are, complete with Mike reaching for the basil-infused olive oil.

We didn't take any photos of the meal itself, as we started it outside on the balcony, and then were abruptly moved indoors when the heavens broke loose in a furious torrent that jetted through the grommets on the awning over our (we thought, protected) heads. We had, just a short time previously, been fairly self-assured in our being protected from the storm, chuckling in confidence to ourselves, as were the rest of the people out on the balcony with us. ("Ooh, look at us, we're safe and dry under this awning.") However. In the course of five minutes, I watched the city disappear under a gray curtain of thick rain, which would probably have been just fine, if not accompanied by howling lateral winds. Which it was. The grommets--cleverly placed to drain rain into the flower boxes on the balcony--turned into water jets, which, with the wind, were aimed precisely at us. The waiter apologized profusely, moved all of us indoors in a quick and efficient manner, and brought us new appetizers. In the shuffle, we thought we'd better just enjoy our meal and be happy that we were indoors, and not soaked to the bone. I did take notes, though. You saw this coming, I know. 

Mike started with lobster cognac soup, and I had white tomato soup that was really more like cream- and-cheese soup with a splash of tomato. (This is my favorite kind of tomato.) Then we moved on to my Scottish salmon on top of yellow beans and sugar peas with black cherry prosecco sauce and potatoes, and Mike's veal with vegetables and a curried baked potato. We finished with my semolina custard with rhubarb lime ice cream and a toffee-almond cookie-thing (it was an arch over the rest of the dish...), and Mike's Toblerone mousse with nectarine ragout and cocoa crunch crumbles.

And then, when we were stuffed full and thought we were finished, out came this.

A plate with three kinds of fruit-filled white cake (apricot, rhubarb, raspberry) and decorated with a sparkler and the words "Alles Gute zum 9. Hochzeitstag" ("everything good for your 9th anniversary"). Just delightful. And, on our way out the door, as an apology for "the circumstances" (i.e., the insane rain storm), they gave us each a wee box of delicious chocolates. (I know they were  delicious, 'cause I ate mine almost immediately. Mike promptly forgot about his.)

Lovely dinner, lovely flowers, lovely anniversary.

P.P.S. - On a completely and totally unrelated note, I forgot a few snaps that I took while were home for my sister's wedding...felt like I should share a few of the wonders of New Mexico. 

Behold, chiles at the farmer's market store. This is also the same wonderland whence cometh our 20-pound bags of clean, rock-free, delicious pinto beans.

Layers of mesas and mountains. Tons of open blue sky. This place is parched and wild and just gorgeous. I love it.

Seriously, this time the Matterhorn is up next.