Week 32: Beers for the Bakers, Broilers, and Barbequers

My boyfriend Mark made a reservation for us at The Regional in Fort Collins, Colorado last week Friday for an early Valentine's dinner since we're 1,000 apart today. 

We got a little bit dressed up (easy for two people who live primarily in sweats and gym clothes 😅), left the dog with lots of good boy treats, and headed down the mountain, into town. The parking saint was with us; we found a spot just around the corner from the restaurant. If you've ever been to downtown FoCo on a Friday night, you know what a miracle that is. 

We arrived 30 minutes before our reservation to sit at the bar and have a cocktail. Instead of the main bar in the larger dining room we found seats at the smaller bar overlooking the kitchen and its hard-working staff. And voila! Last week's Kindness Countdown activity was inspired. 

As we sat at the bar sipping our cocktails, we watched the staff prepare our appetizer, then we enjoyed it tremendously as we observed them cooking and plating everyone else's dinner, before we switched seats to our table and ordered our next course. 

The entire dinner was fantastic! The service was top notch while being relatedly friendly, the food was elevated but not so much it couldn't be personalized (I'm a vegetarian who ordered the scallop gnocchi, "hold the scallops and see if they can maybe work cauliflower or broccolini in there somehow?"), and the atmosphere was like most places in Colorado: dress as you're comfortable and you're A-OK. I always love that.

When it was time to order dessert, I asked the waitress a quick question: How much would it be to buy the kitchen staff a round of drinks? She said she'd get our Amish cheese cake order in and come back and let me know. 

We agreed to the price, asked to have it added to our bill, and enjoyed the last course of our amazing dinner. 

When the waitress presented our check she said, "I loved that you bought a round of drinks, I haven't had anyone do that in a long time. I bought you guys your dessert." What a lovely thing for her to have done. 💖

I hope your day, your week, your year, your life is full of love. 

The best way I've found to ensure it is is this: love others. It will come back.