Russell snapped this shot of the place settings... we also had a nice fire crackling away.
This past Valentine's Day was THE BEST VALENTINE'S DAY EVER... bar none. I don't see it being rivaled anytime soon. For me, Valentine's Day is just another day most of the time. Never been with anybody on Valentine's Day before, so I'm sure that would change things. Anydangway, some of the Regent guys decided that this was the perfect opportunity to show just a few of the wonderful ladies of Regent just how special we think they are by treating them to a complete evening of dinner, song, dance, and most of all good friendship... that all equals a lot of good pampering is what I'm saying.
Jen Headley, Will Berdinner, Tai Luu, Sara Kandiah, Josh Koh, and Jenny Chung.
The ladies were greeted at the door by the wonderful gentlemen of Regent: Billy, Tai, Josh, Will, Russell, Alex, Matt, Ian, and Duncan (Ryan Namba was a big helper for the party, but couldn't make it). I didn't get to greet them cause I was too busy cooking, but managed to get out of the kitchen long enough to present the menu to the ladies. So, as our lovely guests settled in with the sounds of Natalie Cole playing and the semi-formal atmosphere provided by Duncan and the guys work, a "scrumptulecent" dinner was being prepared by the guys and me in the kitchen.
Liz Lee and Russell at the end of the evening...
Here was the menu I prepared for the evening:
For starters, we had a nice caesar salad that Josh prepared with the ingredients I provided. A nice set of romaine hearts tossed with real grated parmesan, some grated carrot, fresh squeezed lemon, garlic butter croutons, and dressing. It was simple, the real effort was put into the main course.
A picture of one person's version of Lemon Chicken Scallopine. It looked just like that when I made it minus the lemon slices.
The main course was a dish that I really loved at T.G.I. Friday's called Lemon Chicken Scallopine. I found few different copycat recipes on the internet and chose the one that I liked the best. And let me tell you, in the words of Jill Zimmerman, "it was divine." Pan seared chicken breast, tossed with sauteed artichoke hearts, mushrooms, capers, and pancetta bacon, then smothered with a creamy lemon-butter-wine sauce. Served over capalinni angel hair pasta. It was tremendous. We did our best to garnish all the plate nicely as we served it to the ladies and though the pasta ended up being a little colder than I would have liked, it was still wonderful. I chose some nice white wines to go with the meal, that may I say went very nice with the meal. Favorite was the Fetzer Chardonnay, but we also had a nice Robert Mondavi Savignon Blanc. I also got some White Zinfandel for all those that don't like real wine. :) It was perfect.
Tai, Carla Wiebe, and Sara Baglin
All the men rose of their chairs and served the ladies by removing their salad dishes and served them their main dish. I was expecting them to like the food, but I certainly didn't expect the standing ovation I received when I finally left the kitchen. I was so happy, thanks guys!
For dessert, I didn't have time to make anything homemade, but gave it a nice touch by decorating all the plates with chocolate syrup. We had a choice of two desserts. One was a nice ice cream mud pie with chocolate syrup and a nice cheery on top. The other was a really nice New York Cheesecake covered with hot raspberry sauce and hot chocolate sauce, garnished with a cherry. It was very good for a store bought cheesecake.
The Chef enjoying the fruits of his labor
Now for the entertainment, the men had prepared a few nice love songs to sing to the ladies: Fools Rush In by UB40, You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling by the Righteous Brothers, and we sang another but I can't remember what it was. Now, during our last song (Lovin' Feeling), we gave all the ladies roses. The bummer was that we only bought enough roses for the ladies we had originally thought would be there and a few more turned up later so we didn't have flowers for them :(. However, Josh Koh instead gave his girl, Jenny, a bottle of hot sauce... nice save.
The ladies woo-ing all of the guys with their voices and Rachel's dancing :)
Now, to our infinite surprise, the ladies whipped up some entertainment for us as well. They sang to us a very charming song and then gave a allegorical description of taking care of our tulips (which they gave us all tulips) that mirrored taking care of women :). Sara Kandiah wrote us a nice beat poem about TULIP, redeeming the acronym from its Calvinist roots to mean Together Until Love Is Perfected. It was very cute. Jill Zimmerman performed her song from the Regent Christmas Party, changing our focus to the Lord more. I'm telling you all, God's given that woman a gorgeous singing voice.
Handing out the tulips!
We finished the evening out with some disorganized dancing, but it was fun. Liz managed to wrestle me out to do a little dance, but I've got a lot to learn. Anybody want to teach me ;).
I can't dance, but at least I'm willing to try... sort of.
That was the end of our evening ladies and gentlemen. It was the most memorable valentine's evening ever and we didn't have to have dates. :) Take notes guys...
Also, I wanted to make a special note because, unfortunately we couldn't invite everybody to this gig. We wanted to soooo badly, but the costs and prep and everything we already super high. The guys of the "Regent Brotherhood" would like you all to know that we love you very much. We simply had to keep the party smaller. Sorry. :(
Front: Sheryl Hovde, Autumn Stevick, Rachel Kitchens, Anneke Spee, Jen Headley, Russell Dawe; Middle: Josh Koh, Jenny Chung, Matt Mattoon, Kendel, Sara Kandiah, Sara Baglin, Ursula Brandt; Back: Ian McFadden, Jackie Bolen, Jill Zimmerman, Will Berdinner, Renee Cunningham, Carla Wiebe, Tai Luu, Duncan Gray, Billy Q Vo, Alex Fritz; Behind the Camera: I think Liz must have taken this shot since she's not in the picture
Well, I finally made it back to Alabama. I say finally, but I was last here just four months ago. Seriously though, I much prefer visiting here in the winter. I don't have to deal with taking a shower everytime I step out of the door (it's like normally 100% humidity in the summer). So, winter is nice here. The first thing I saw when I got back was a nice Chik-fil-a. Ah, I so miss Chik-fil-a. My second day here, my grandparents brought to the mother of all buffets (aka fat farms, big butt bonanza, gluttony central)... That's right, the Golden Corral. Now, I'm a big guy... weighing in at 255lbs (115kg for you metrics) and it's simply not an encouraging thing when you walk into a restaurant where there are numerous people that seem to have about twice the mass you do or at least surface area :). 
Anywho... I'm having a good time so far. I got greeted at the airport by my cousins that I talk so much about and literally found myself at the bottom of a dog pile composed of my two baby girl cousins. Now, if that could only happen to me at Regent ;)... heh heh, just kidding... sort of ;) anydangway, moving on now...
