Dallas Date Night #16 - Fajitas at the Lake
Dating after you're married is a funny thing.
Pre-wedding Danny and I would go on dates simply to see each other. Post-marriage you see each other all the time, unless your husband works at UPS, then you never see each other, but that's another story for another day.
Post-marriage you suddenly find yourself tired after work and because you can cuddle with your husband whenever you want, not just on Friday night, you find yourself having less energy to "go out." And so, date nights are the preverbial tug-of-war.
Do we want to go out, do we want to stay in? More often than not, a movie from Redbox and take-in from Boston Market wins the draw, and we spend Friday night on our couch, simply recovering from the work/study week.
Sometimes though, we hit the date-night ball out of the park. Usually, it's Danny's brilliant ideas that breathe life into our Friday evenings and rescue me from having to tell my co-workers that I did nothing all weekend.
Fajita night at the lake was just one such date. It was perfect. The food, the weather, and the company. No arguments, no business, just relaxing together.
Another side-note about dating after marriage: it's easy to turn date nights into "let's handle business" night. Danny usually has to ban me from talking about the budget or the schedule or the weekly dinner menu on date nights.
On this particular Friday night we stopped by the La Michoacana market and bought Fajita meat from a tub. Yes - there was so much raw chicken in this tub at the Mexican meat market that it just turned into a disgusting mess right in front of my eyes.
Brian and Elizabeth had assured us that it was the best fajita meet around, but buying meat from a tub was like living life a little to close to the edge for me. At least it was putting my stomach on edge just watching him scoop 1/2 pound of marinated chicken from behind the counter.
And trying to tell the poor Spanish speaker that we wanted ONE-HALF POUND was like trying to teach a cat to fly. We would have walked out of there with our weight in meat had Danny not mustered everything he had him to tell the meat man "No" put all of that back but a handful. Apparently 1/2 a pound in English sounds like three pounds in Spanish, or he was just trying to dupe us.
After our meat market adventure, we headed down to White Rock Lake to enjoy the fresh air and the sunset.
Danny worked his magic on our food. It seems to be the rule in the Stiller family that when we eat outside Danny cooks . . . and it always seems to taste better.
Of course, put cilantro in anything and it tastes like happiness in my mouth.
The knife below is the gift my brother, Matthew, gave Danny for our wedding. My other brother, Jonathan, gave us our cutlery block/set. Either they were trying to send Danny a message or they just wanted to make sure we had enough knives to get us through life.
Danny insists on using his big knife when he cooks - says it works better or something.
We won't talk about what he uses this knife for in between the outdoor cooking sessions. I'm positive that it has ever only been put to clean and sterile tasks.
Gotta love a cooking man with his knife.
Despite the breeze, he made fire.
The fajita-tub meat (both chicken and steak) grilled to perfection. Add a little cilantro, red onion, lime, and salt and we had the tastiest fajita picnic.
I really didn't mean to get that knife in every picture. If it makes you feel any better Danny sleeps with it under his side of the bed . . . along with a baseball bat and a gun. Apparently he got the message from my brothers.
The view of downtown Dallas over the lake.
Here I am, the not so photographed photographer, with my Rihanna haircut ready to chow down.
Danny enjoyed the fruits of his labor and the results of his excellent welding of the biggest knife ever.
We ended the night watching the sunset and the sailboats and went home full and relaxed.
Score one for the married date night.
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6 comments:
So...does Danny seriously sleep with a knife and a gun and a baseball bat near his bed?
Greetings from Alaska,
You don't know me but I am embarrassed to say that I sorta know you. Now don't freak out, I am not a stalker or anything. :) I amonly a housewife in Wasilla, Alaska who follows your blog. I stumbled upon it when doing research on the marriage conference "Weekend to Remember". Your blog entry about it popped up on Google and led me to you. I want to tell you both that your lives are living testimony of what christian living and christian marriages should be. I had been following long enough and I thought that it was due time to introduce myself and to let you know that your testimony and witnessing travels further than Dallas! Have a great day!
Danielle Pepperd
ps... I love the date nights and your photography is brilliant.
Laura...how cool that you have a new friend from Alaska. How neat!!! Love the hair cut.
Lorie
I think you need to put a book together on how to have date nights with your husband! Of course, we would love to have date nights like yours, but with 4 children, it makes it a little trickier.
I think the only spontaneous "date" we have had recently was a lunch picnic at the waterfall in Richardson near Jon's work. I brought a blanket and lunch from Central Market and my camera. My pictures weren't as dynamic as yours, but it sure was fun to spend some time under the trees with our shoes off just being together.
Thanks for the inspiration Laura!
Angie Stueve
I absolutely love your blog!!!!! Thanks so much for making my day.
You're so right about dating while married! It can get tricky at times! Sounds like a winner with the picnic at the Lake. I am still on the hunt for good Tex-Mex here in NC. Hope you all are doing well!
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