Anniversary, Covid style

Cas and I have gone on some really cool dates that we find worth repeating.  There are a few that we recently tried to replicate in our home, with pretty great success.   One of the things we've done a few times is see Ricki Derek do a show.  He is a local guy who sings crooner-style while backed by a very large and very talented band.  We've seen him a few times around the holidays, but we prefer his Valentine's Day show.  He gets his whole big band on stage at the Granada Theater and sings amazing, old love songs.  After a full set, the movie screen comes down, and the old-timey movie theater-turned-music venue returns to its original purpose.  They typically screen Casablanca.  

Monday was our fourth wedding anniversary.  We sent off a few bucks to Ricki Derek and purchased his official CD.  Nobody even really buys CDs anymore, but I thought it was the best way to get Ricki into Cas' music library while shelling a few bucks out to a favorite local guy who probably isn't getting a lot of work right now.  We listened to the CD during dinner, then watched Casablanca on the living room TV.  New twist on our oft-repeated Valentine date.  Mission accomplished.  

Speaking of dinner, we have a ritual there, as well.  We use credit card points to obtain restaurant and retail gift cards, and because of that, we use the credit card for EVERYTHING.  This results in tons of gift cards.  We usually save up a bundle of Ruth's Chris cards and have a fancy, expensive, blowout steak dinner for our wedding anniversary.  And, while I know we could probably have headed to Ruth's Chris and they would have been happy to see us, we wanted to continue keeping our social distance.  So, we used some other gift cards.  We had a hundred bucks saved up in Omaha Steaks gift cards, so I volun-told Cas to make me dinner.  He was happy to oblige, probably because he enjoys grilling, and probably  because I have made so many meals since quarantine started.  

Our usual move at Ruth's Chris is to have a fancy cocktail, then be seated for dinner, order a bottle of fancy wine and get some steaks with amazing side dishes.  Okay, challenge accepted.  I made a us each a very nice old fashioned, then we popped the side dishes in the oven and got the grill all warmed up for the steaks.  We had a fancy bottle of wine with dinner, of course, and when we finished that, because Cas and I are pretty perfect for each other, we watched cartoons.  

I hope everyone who is staying home is doing so with a good person or some good people.  It makes all the difference in the world.  

Here's the bar where we had the fancy drinks, complete with the flowers Cas' mom sent us.  I think it really adds something, don't you?  

Ricki Derek: http://rickiderek.com/new/

Omaha Steaks: https://www.omahasteaks.com/shop/