This past Saturday night was truly one to remember! Jamie and I spent the evening with 3 other couples...I say the word evening rather loosely as our dinner reservations for The Melting Pot were for 8:15 pm. We had planned to enjoy a fun dinner and then spend the remainder of the night/wee early morning glow bowling...we got home at 2:30 am...and yes, I took a Sunday afternoon nap, my body doesn't do late nights without a nap any more.
If you've never eaten at The Melting Pot, it's quite a different dining experience. Everything except for the salad involves using a fondue fork....but then again in Don's case, even the salad can be eaten with a fondue fork. I've always said food tastes better when eaten with a fork, maybe it tastes even better when eaten with a fondue fork.
Jen can put a knot in a cherry stem with her tongue...my tongue is definitely not that talented. I thought the steam added to the ambiance of the picture. Love it, Jen!
Our meal started out with a choice of 2 cheese fondue's with bread, granny smith apple's, and veggies to dip...the apple's and cheese were my favorite...trust me, it's a yummy combo. Then we moved onto our salads, another yummy combination. The main course was couple's choice and we chose the shrimp, pork tenderloin, filet mignon, goat cheese and ratatouille ravioli, chicken, and duck, as well as a few veggies to cook in our pot. After cooking, the dipping process began again as we had more than enough choices of dip to dunk our meat in.
And following all of that...DESSERT!!
I think this was my favorite part of the meal...although it was all quite delicious. We chose between the white chocolate creme brulee and the milk chocolate and peanut butter combo. (I was thankful the creme brulee was on my side of the table as chocolate and peanut butter don't taste nearly as good.) We had our choice of strawberries, marshmallows, rice krispies, cheesecake, pound cake, brownies, and banana's to dip in our scrumptious warm chocolate. After the chocolaty goodness was all melted in the pot, our waitress topped it with the fabulous sugar, sprayed on a little alcohol, added a flame and
wa-la...some caramelized, ooey-gooey chocolaty, finger-lickin' yummyness. MMMMMmmmm....there's not much more to say about that.
We finished our meal with barely enough time to make it to the bowling alley for our 11pm reservation. But before we could leave, we needed to pay our bill. We were the last couple to get our check and after opening the bill to check for the "damage", to our jaw-dropping surprise we found a note that read, "Your meal has been taken care." I looked around the table trying to figure out who had paid for our meal and for the life of me couldn't understand why. It appeared that everyone else had to pay for their meal, so it was just us....but why? We didn't want to make an announcement and make those who had to pay uncomfortable, but I didn't want to just leave without saying thank you...so what do we do? We didn't say anything but headed to bowling alley, but it was bugging me. I had to know who and why....
We had 2 lanes reserved and it was boys against girls...none of us really cared a hoot about who won or lost...well, except for maybe Amos. Amos and Sonya were also the brains behind the names.
Jenny Jen is eyeing up her shot...
Great form, Amos! (Especially that tongue sticking out...is that part of your technique?)
Our fabulous, Sonya or Pinky...looking fantastic as always in pink.
Jenny Jen and I practicing "shaking hands" in our attempts at keeping the ball out of the gutter...it's favorite place to be when I bowled. K-K kept telling me to shake hands when I bowled...I tried, the ball was just more interested in cuddling with the gutter.
At least my hot pink bowling ball was purty...if I'm gonna lose I'm gonna lose looking good!
It just so happened that there were moments when each couple was up to bowl at the same time...how stinkin' cute.
Amos and Jamous (better known as Studly after Matt read Mudder's blog and thought the name Studly was hilarious) up to their usual antics. Jamous, get that thing outta your nose, you don't know where it's been!
Jamous also had a little difficulty with a runaway bowling ball.
The girls...and some random dude in the back. Funny thing...Matt was the one who took the picture and when he looked at the picture did a double-take himself thinking he was also in the picture. For a change, Matt can't claim the rights for ruining this picture.
The smallest and the largest represent...as well as bringing rolled up jeans back in spectacular style! (Honestly, I just didn't want to find myself making out with the greased bowling alley floor after tripping over the bottom of my jeans. Dear God, a few more inches wouldn't have been a bad thing. Love, Vertically Challenged with Shredded Jean Hems)
My lovely Sonya and K-K
Me 'n Him...Studly & Strawberry Shortcake
Matt & Kiersten....Amos & Hartysgurl (Just for informational purposes, this was like 10th picture we took of them because Amos can't seem to take a picture without acting up, which drives K-K nuts...it's good we no longer have film because I'd have to charge to take pictures of the 2 of you.)
Don & Sonya....D-Duck & Pinky
Brian & Jen...The Poet & Jenny Jen...Brian comes up with the most hilarious poems that are far from romantic but with this group it isn't always about the romance. We all can't wait for the next get together to hear more poems.
...so to finish my story from earlier...since Matt and K-K were driving the same direction we were, they met us at my parents house where we were staying for the weekend. My curiosity got the better of me on the way home and I had to ask them about it. They both denied knowing anything at first, but they're terrible liars. A few weeks ago Jamie and I had paid for the meal we all had at the Japanese Steakhouse, but it didn't come without it's protests and they refused to take their money back, so Jamie slipped it into K-K's bag that night without them knowing...or so we thought. We had completely forgot about it...they hadn't. They had been scheming about how to give us the money back and I must say, they got us good. We also gave them a good show because they were watching our confused expressions after getting the bill and apparently had a difficult time keeping a straight face...we were too involved in trying to figure it all out to notice their amusement. I just couldn't figure out how they told the waitress without us knowing...Matt had "gone to bathroom" at one point and found his way to kitchen, hollered for our waitress (a show I'm sorry I missed) and got her in on it...sneaky, sneaky...when you least expect it, Amos and K-K...when you least expect it.
Until the next event to remember...
