Romantic Night Out

Doug and I enjoyed our first night out.....just the two of us! Our good friend and neighbor Esther watched Ella for us while we went out to dinner for a late Valentine's Day/ early 30th Birthday celebration.

We do not go out to eat very often, so we spent the day on google reading restaurant reviews. Since Doug knows how much I LOVE anything italian, he booked us a reservation at "La Rusticana" in downtown Arnhem. This is only 10 minutes from the town of Elden where our house is, but we don't go into what is called "the center" very often. Here there are many restaurants and lots of shopping. On Fridays and Saturdays this is also where the outside market is held. Hopefully as the weather gets nicer we can enjoy some weekend afternoons trying out some of the cafes, since in warm weather, everyone sits OUTSIDE!!!

Before leaving for our evening reservations, we decided it would be best to view the menu online. Since it is very rare to go to a restaurant here with an English menu, we have gotten much smarter before we go out to eat. We download the menu and then enter it into google translate. That way when it's time to order at the restaurant, we are sure we are getting something we will truly enjoy! To our surprise, at "La Rusticana" they handed us an English menu! Of course the names of the meals were in Italian, but their description was in English. It was very hard to choose what to get, and we love to get two different things so we can share. Doug got the "Saltimbocca alla Romana". It sounds so fancy in Italian, but it was veal (and soooo good). I decided on the "Degustazione di Paste", which came in a square dish that gave you a chance to try four different pasta dishes. Both were great and we agreed that we will have to go back again to try something different.



Our night out was so nice. The restaurant was beautiful inside. They took our coats off us when we arrived and put them on us when we left. I guess it really has been too long since I've gotten out because I felt like I was getting the royal treatment with that and the two hours of talking without being interrupted by crying, feeding times, or messy diapers! And to top it off I got a glass of wine with dinner and a delicious desert wine, with my big chocolate dessert!