Recent events

The dishwasher is fixed. No new dishwasher needed. Condo did not burn down. What more can I ask for?

Brad's birthday present:

Bradley purchased this map at the swap meet many months ago ... I think it was when his mom was here. We'd been putting it off framing simply because we're lazy. But when his mom asked what he wanted for his birthday, he decided now was a good time to get it framed. She sent a check, we took it to the fine folks at Pictures Plus, less than 2 weeks later, it is home again and ready to be hung somewhere. This picture was taken while it was still wrapped in plastic, so it is bit blurry.

Our anniversary:

Everyone knows by now that Brad and I will be married 9 years Wednesday, aka 9/9/09. We both have to work that day, so we decided to pretend that Sunday was our anniversary. Brad slept until 11, I made breakfast, we went to the beach, then to the Four Seasons for beverages and sunset (photo above), then to Cuatro (apparently a top 3 finalist for best new restaurant in the upcoming Best of Maui special section, according to the matre d' guy) for dinner.

Brad and I have been to Cuatro now 3 times since it opened in April. Apparently that makes us "regulars" because everyone there remembered us. And we're not memorable people. I love me their roasted stuffed chicken (see photo for leftovers). Brad has a foodie friend on the Mainland who has a theory about chicken: It is boring and good chefs won't put it on their menus unless the are doing something amazing with it. Cuatro's chicken definitely fits the bill. Brad had the mahimahi roasted rivera style (or something like that). He said it was delicious. I tried it (yes, I really ate fish) and it was too fishy for my taste. We started out with the shrimp tacos and ended with their only dessert right now, which is fresh fruit, two scoops of ice cream (vanilla, chocolate or haupia), chocolate and caramel sauce. It was all so yummy!

We'd "settled" on Cuatro after the dishwasher broke and we thought our first choice restaurant may be a little too expensive if we had to buy a new dishwasher, too. Plus, Cuatro is so much closer to our house. But in the end, we realized that we really, really love Cuatro.