Another One Turns 30

We gathered last night to celebrate our good friend Brandon's 30th birthday.

We road tripped to this little 'grill your own steak' place.

We took several wrong turns, but finally made it there just in time to surprise the birthday boy.

Here you see Hubs grilling my fillet to perfection.

It was some good eats.

Ann, Me & Amy are supervising the grilling process. (Ryan, Amy's hubby is in the background...he had to get in on the action)

Blake & Ann are getting their grill on.

They are having a baby in November.

9 months of having a designated driver. Wonderful.

Early on in the night: Jodie, Me & Amy

Later in the night.

After a few cocktails.

Out. Of. Control.

Hubs & me.

He never did tell me I had to tone it down last night.

After almost 7 years of marriage he's learned just to let me be me.

However, he did tell me to put my camera down when I started doing my investigative work. (see below)

Now although we had a blast with our friends, I do have a few issues I need to discuss with the Black Hawk Co. Public Health Dept. First off, these signs (below) are in the two restrooms I visited; however, one restroom didn't have any soap. I know, NO SOAP??!!! The other restroom did have soap, but no paper towels, the hand dryer didn't work, and there was what looked like a nasty bar rag sitting on the counter.

Are we supposed to dry our hands with that scroungy thing?

(should have taken a picture)

GROSS!

But, this doesn't even compare to the second issue I had with this place.

So at this particular establishment, all this meat sits in these big coolers. The customer picks out the piece of meat they want and then they go grill it. Well apparently at the end of the night the waitresses put all of the meat that is sitting in the cooler in plastic baggies.

OK, no big deal.

Well, in order to get that vacuum seal (of course to ensure the freshness of the meat & prevent freezer burn), the staff puts their lips on the baggies and sucks all of the air out.

Yikes!

Is this really common practice in restaurants?

I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures, but you can sort of see the lady bending down to suck the air out of the baggie. We watched in horror as she did this with probably at least 10 bags of meat. Amy was trying to capture to disgusting act on her Blackberry, but the lady wasn't showing up in the pictures. By the end of the night we had determined that she is most likely a vampire.

That was the only logical explanation.

I think she saw that we were staring at her and started taking the bags of meat into a different room.

At least we cooked our meat well, right Honey?!

Very Nasty.

Here are just a few things I learned on this little trip:

Blake is a poor navigator...and not much of a DJ....but always a good time.

I have absolutely no bladder control. Maybe it is time for some Depends.

We all LOVE Texas Toast and don't know why we don't eat it more.

Ann is a stupendous driver.

Chad & I both think I Am Legend is a VERY scary and realistic movie.

Jodie, Amy & I did some good sleuthing last night. Nancy Drew, eat your heart out.

We probably won't be returning to that restaurant/bar for fear of the vampire, plus no sense in making that trip again because after 48hr, 20/20, or Dateline get a hold of these pictures, that place will surely be shut down.

Above all, being with friends is the greatest thing.

Happy Birthday Brandon!

(Fun Party Molly)