A Decade Together Gets You A Yummy Steak (aka. funny things heard at Jim's Steak House)

Having already gone out for our 10th Anniversary Date last weekend while the kids played at Victory Academy, we ventured out last night en masse for our actual anniversary dinner. We ultimately settled on Jim's Steak House, one of the oldest and nicest restaurants here in Bloomington. Old enough and nice enough to have figured out how to make a damn fine steak, might I add.

After rolling in from the frigid winds outside, we only had a short wait - maybe five minutes - before we were seated on the main floor right next to the fireplace. The inside of Jim's is exactly what you would imagine a Mafioso's favorite steak place should look like - lots of dark woods, subtle, indirect lighting and fine artwork adorning the walls while snappily dressed waiters and hosts flit around the multiple-level eating areas like checkerboard butterfiles, lighting from one table to the next.

We ended up ordering the same steaks - the 10 oz ribeye, one for both the missus and myself and one to be split between the punkins. The first course was a hot, fresh loaf of crusty bread, which our ravenous progeny gobbled up before it had barely had time to settle on the table. Next came our salads with homemade dressings. The kids have actually started to incorporate salads into their diets, which we'll encourage as much as they want to eat. They're both lettuce & cheese kids at this point, and whereas Sissy likes to dip hers into ranch, Alex likes to roll it into mini Alex-wraps. But at this point, we don't care - they're eating vegetables!

When our steaks came out, they brought out a separate plate for Alex, as we were just going to halve it. They had already adorned the plate with a layer of au jus, so when they put it in front of the boy, he looked at it for a second, then lifted his eyes up slowly, and with just a hint of poutiness in his voice, he said, "My steak melted!"

Needless to say, that got a round of the gigles going, not only for us, but for the waitstaff that brought the food. However, once we actually got the steak halved between the two kids, it didn't take more than a bite to prompt this from Jeannette: "This is the best steak I've ever put into my mouth."

It wasn't long before they had completely Hoovered their respective dishes, and we even left a little room for desserts. Alex got a brownie-pie with ice cream and honey-roasted walnuts, whereas Sissy's got the mini-chocolate bundt cake with raspberry coulis drizzled under it. Mommy and I were more than happy to help them finish them off, of course.

Sure, it was a little expensive. But then again, how often do you get to celebrate your 10th Anniversary? We came away happy and satisfied, and we even got to be entertained by the house piano player who had broken into peppy renditions of Abba's "Dancing Queen" and Toto's "Africa" while we were enjoying our meals. Really - you can't beat that!

And since the kids hit their sugar cliff on the way home, we were able to get them right into bed without too much of a fight, and we did the same not too long thereafter. :)

Happy Anniversary, Honey! I love you!

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[John Memmer]

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