Boy Meets Kitchen, Girl Meets Bling

So, you all remember this post, right?  The one where the boy had made this grand 'ol plan to cook me a fabulous meal to prove that he could a.) cook b.) cook something healthy, and c.) we'd both still be alive after the meal.  Well, the good news is that we are still alive after his attempt at cooking.  The bad news is that both a.) and b.) didn't quite happen. 

The night started out relatively promising...I had gotten home from work and grabbed a couple last minute things from the grocery store (i.e., wine) and then went on a quick run.  The boy came and chatted with me about the workday and plans for the weekend while I was getting ready, until ultimately getting kicked out to get started on this meal he had planned....I mean, it was 7:00 and I was HUNGRY!

About 20 minutes after I banished him to the kitchen, I was dressed and made my way downstairs to supervise help him in the kitchen.  I got about halfway down the steps as he was coming up to talk to me.  "Babe, we need to go out to eat" he said.  He assured me that dinner was not going to happen as he had "already messed it up".  Although I had heard more banging around in the kitchen than a marching band, I thought for sure that whatever he had made could be salvaged.  Here is what I found:

What you see here, dear readers, is his attempt at making "tomato juice" by pushing the tomato innards through a metal colander.  God love him.  Needless to say, that wasn't working.  I took a survey of the ingredients and offered to make something else and let him cook for me another night (with a different recipe that was more "first time cook friendly"), but he was insistent that we go out.  I was too hungry to argue and had already had my mind set on my food and wine being prepared and poured for me, so we headed to Malone's. 

What can I say...cooking ain't his thing.  After two days of research, preparation, and grocery shopping, it only took 20 minutes for us to confirm what I already knew....I wear the apron in this relationship (and the pants too...but don't tell him that).  The good news is that we had a lovely dinner at Malone's and drinks downtown and sometime in between tomato puree and bedtime, he gave me this:

I promise to give you more details on that soon :-).....until then, we'll be pourin' the Chandon and celebrating the story of the dinner that wasn't and why it turned out to be a perfect night anyway.