I Suck At Celebrating My Anniversary

Yesterday was my wedding anniversary. Unfortunately for Karen, I suck at celebrating my anniversary. Karen and I have been married now for seven years. It's amazing how quickly the years have passed by.

In years past, Karen and I have exchanged anniversary presents based on the anniversary year. For example, the traditional first wedding anniversary is paper. That year I gave Karen a gift certificate to a spa. This year, however, we decided not to exchange any presents.

For anyone curious, the seventh year is traditionally copper. I'm not a big fan of copper, especially when it oxidizes and becomes blue. Luckily, neither Karen nor I could figure out a copper present to give to one another. So this year we decided not to exchange gifts. As a small token of appreciation, I had considered putting a penny on Karen's pillow. I was going to say that the penny was from our son (Braden) who passed away almost two years ago. (Karen enjoys the notion of pennies from heaven ever since her grandfather passed away.) Unfortunately, I could not leave the penny on her pillow because... well... she was on her pillow... and I had to leave for work.

Anyway, rather than exchange presents we decided to just go out for dinner. My favorite sister-in-law (Janine) had offered to take care of our baby daughter (Briana) a long while ago for our anniversary. In fact, she might have called dibs on babysitting when Briana was born. (Thanks again Janine!) And now apparently it seems like Karen's mom has called dibs for next year's anniversary. Who knew so many people wanted to babysit Briana? (I'm not complaining, of course.)

For dinner, Karen and I ended up at the Square Cafe located in Hingham. We probably would not have gone there had it not been for Janine's BFF (Gretchen) who recommended the place. Based on her recommendation, we decided to give the place a try. And luckily we did because Karen and I originally thought about going to Tosca's. It turns out that Tosca's is closed on Mondays.

Needless to say, the food was absolutely delicious at the Square Cafe. Everything was simply good. Our meal consisted of the shrimp and vegetable tempura, the petit grilled beef tenderloin, the grilled chicken salad, and the strawberry rhubarb crisp. I would definitely go back. I actually did not know the place even existed (in part because I do not go to Hingham Center that often). And for anyone curious, the place apparently was featured on the Phantom Gourmet.

It turns out as well that Karen and I were probably lucky to go on Monday. The waitstaff had informed us that the weekends are generally mobbed and require reservations. The restaurant itself is a little cozy as tables are set up right next to each other. Luckily when Karen and I went, we basically had our own space in the corner by ourselves.

Needless to say, we had a great experience at the Square Cafe. The waitstaff even put a little candle in our strawberry rhubarb crisp to celebrate our anniversary. I thought that was a nice touch. All in all, it was a great meal and I was quite impressed.