5/23/09 Magic Dinner

I'm so behind.  Well,  you know how travel is,  especially to the land of family.  

So,  I'll jump to the magic dinner.  Luke has a best friend from childhood.  Michael knows how to entertain and he has a great,  expansive nature.  Every year when we go to E.P. ,  Michael takes us to an extravagant dinner--the kind you never forget.  And this years dinner was the best yet. 

First we had drinks at Nana's so she could feel included.  I'm not exactly sure she did,  but at least she had company in the house.  There was Michael,  David and Jaylene,  and Luke and I.  Also Nana,  of course.

About David and Jaylene.  Luke and I were close friends with David and Jaylene when we all had small kids and lived in Evansville,  IN.  David and Luke met in the --where else?--music department at the University of Evansville,  and they were both bad boys.  Define bad boys-- tell bad jokes,  pull people's legs and laugh a lot.  

Anyway,  I was close to Jaylene and our daughter's 3 years old were good friends.  We both have pictures of our girls in the wading pool.  

David and Jaylene are Christian.  Nana opened with the fact that she was Jewish and  a list of awful things that Christians have done to Jews.  I learned that one of her relatives was beaten half to death by Irish Catholics in Boston.  Luckily David and Jaylene aren't Catholic or Irish and their beloved dauther-in-law is Jewish.  So that worked out.  

After-a-while,  we went to the restaurant.  Nana went to bed.  Ardavinos sits on top of a hill in El Paso but very near Mexico.  Walking into the main building,  you pass an amazing outdoor,  paradise.  I felt like I was in Hawaii.  Tropical plants.  Wooden tables.  Walkways.  Romantic lightinnng.  They were having a wedding party.  The guests were beautifully dressed wandering around in this beautiful setting.  It was like a movie set.  Yummm.  

We went inside and got to sit facing the lights of Mexico.  The interior of Ardavinos was soft and romantic.  Dark and mysterious.  The food --just delcious.  Luke and I sat facing the view and David and Michael were nice enought to sit opposit us.  The three viewers all got a creamy noodle dish with shrimps and little sweet scallops.  I love scallops, shrimp and creamy pasta.  The flavors were perfect.  I ate every bit and so did everyone else.  We shared desert.  A chocolate/banana cake filled with carmel sauce,  sitting on a bed of creamy carmel sauce with yummy cookies placed on the lake of sauce.  We all had a spoon,  so everyone got the experience without getting fat.  

Jaylene and I talked and talked about old and new times.  We'd be close if they lived in Indy and MKate would like her too.  

A perfect,  perfect evening with perfect friends.  Thanks Michael!!!