The Birthday Dinner That Almost Wasn't

So Hubby is a great cook. He's been pondering and searching the internet for ideas to make me the perfect birthday dinner unbeknownst to me. He had a plan. Which I must say is highly unusual. Everyone who knows us knows that I'm the planner and Hubby is more the fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants kind of guy. I always grit on him for waiting until the last minute for absolutely everything. In fact, most details, if not handled by me, are not handled at all. That's just how it is in our family. So for him to go to great lengths to plan something makes for a unique occasion. So inside I was really tickled that he had gone to so much trouble to plan for a nice birthday dinner for me. So my birthday is today, as it is now after midnight. But he was planning for my birthday dinner for last night (or several hours ago).

Its been raining for two days. It is part of a hurricane system or something of the sort that is coming up the coast. Well the bad weather made for bad driving conditions. Due to these conditions there was a traffic accident nearby that caused a power and cable outage for us. This outage occurred while Hubby was in the middle of the dinner preparations in the kitchen. YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! So, FINALLY he makes quite the effort to plan a dinner and has even been making little preparations for the last couple of days - shopping for ingredients, chopping vegetables, etc. - and there's going to be a power outage right in the middle of the actual dinner preparations?! Yup - there you have it. I just have to shake my head in disbelief.

We have the two youngest at home with us - the two older boys are with their dad tonight. So Mia is a little scared. It isn't dark outside yet but she's a bit freaked out that the electricity is off. She keeps talking about being scared. Little Silas, well he's just taking it all in as he often does. Of course when this kind of thing happens you assume that it will be taken care of pretty quickly and the electricity will be back on in no time and life will continue as planned. So you do creative little things to pass time that you think will entertain the little ones. We read a story by flashlight - Mia thought this was cool. We play games with the flashlight. We look out the front door and talk about the rain. All the while time is passing and we're starting to think, "Hmm, maybe this isn't going to be a quick fix after all". So now, its dark outside and still no electricity.

We've all been camped out in the Living Room this entire time. And currently I am listening to Hubby recap an earlier event of the day. And then I hear it. It sounds like a splash of some sort coming from the kitchen. I immediately look at Hubby and utter, "What was that?!". We both turn our heads and realize that Mia had left the Living Room and was obviously in the kitchen and was the culprit behind the splash sound we just heard. So Hubby goes to investigate. I hear, "Oh NO! Oh NO!" and some lamenting and more "Oh NO!"s Come to find out, Hubby had a large bowl on the counter full of thinly sliced potatoes that he wanted to use for part of the meal and that bowl full of water and potatoes is what "splashed" onto the floor. So now not only had the electricity gone off in the middle of Hubby preparing my birthday dinner, now part of what was to be my birthday dinner was splashed all over the kitchen floor - IN THE DARK! Hubby was cleaning water and potatoes from all over the floor and under the appliances by flashlight!

When he was done cleaning up the potatoes from every inch of the kitchen we were still in the dark and by now the children were antsy and none of the little creative things we were doing were much fun anymore. So I told Hubby we may as well load them up in the van and take a ride. So we did. And while we were out we hit up McDonald's for a few dollar menu items as we thought dinner was probably a wash.

It was pretty late by the time the electricity came back on. But I told Hubby if he still wanted to make dinner a go I would be up for it. We finished just a little bit ago. And it was AMAZING! (See Picture above). He made me a Mediterranean Swordfish dish. Swordfish is my favorite fish. And this meal was delectible. I was exhausted (and looked it). I yawned throughout the dinner. But his planning and preparation was so sweet that even though we shared it incredibly late, I will always remember it fondly as the Birthday Dinner that almost wasn't!