I Suck At Wedding Anniversaries

Today is my wedding anniversary. Too bad I suck at wedding anniversaries. It was nine years ago today that I duped Karen into marrying me. And still, the joke is on her.

In the past, when we were young and wild whippersnappers, we used to celebrate our anniversary by exchanging presents based on the traditional anniversary gift list. Sadly we stopped that practice as those traditional gifts became increasingly difficult to plan around, like iron for the sixth anniversary. As much as I enjoy a little ferrous, I can't for the life of me imagine wanting anything made of iron. (Bueller... Bueller... Bueller...)

Needless to say, we ditched that idea. For the past few years, however, Karen and I have been dining out at the same restaurant on our anniversary. That restaurant: the Square Cafe, located in Hingham. A few years ago, my favorite sister-in-law's BFF (Gretchen) had recommended the place to us when we were deciding on where to go out for dinner on our anniversary. Always up for something new, we gave the restaurant a try and we've gone back ever since on our anniversary. (Thanks Gretchen!) We enjoy the food that much.

This year, however, there was a slight twist with our anniversary as we decided to bring our children with us for dinner. In years past, Karen and I had offers from family to watch our kids while we celebrated our anniversary. For our ninth anniversary, no one outside of my friend (Andrea) offered to watch our kids. (Thanks Andrea!) And as much as we appreciated Andrea's offer, we felt bad sticking her with a two year old and a two month old. So the kids came with us to dinner, which is always a daunting task because it could either go very well... or very badly.

Luckily for us, today our two year old (Briana) was very good. In fact, I would say that Briana enjoyed the food at the Square Cafe too because she ate practically everything on her plate. In case anyone is curious, I had the ribeye steak with jumbo shrimp and scallion mashed potatoes and asparagus. Yum! I had no problem being part of the clean plate club today.

Karen and I actually did something we hardly ever do when we dine out. We ordered an appetizer and a dessert. Generally, if we are to order something besides our main dish, it is usually appetizer or dessert, hardly ever both. But since the food was so good, we had to indulge. We had the crispy hot and sour calamari (made with grapefruits and mango) and the strawberry rhubarb crisp. It was so good.

Needless to say, it was a delightful dinner. I enjoyed it immensely. And as a side note, we ran into one of the librarians from our library. She was out walking her dog when we ran into her. It was good to see her... and her huge labrador retriever, Jasper.

All in all, it was a good anniversary. I can't believe it has been nine years.

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.