love at 500'

I woke up to a text message on my phone, "Happy Valentine's Day, Babe" which brought a huge smile to my face as I got out of bed. It was going to be a good day. I had no idea what was in store, but for weeks I could tell that Rick was planning something special for us for Valentine's Day.

As soon as I got to the office, there was another surprise waiting for me in my in box, a Hallmark e-card telling me that he was looking forward to seeing me that night. Hmmm. I'm not sure what he has planned. I assumed it was dinner somewhere. Halfway through the day, I got a voicemail from him saying that he was going to meet me at my house at 4pm so we would have time to get over to Seattle. I needed to hightail it out of the office as soon as my meeting ended just to make it home in time. Oohh...Seattle....

I walked in the front door to find Rick standing in my livingroom with his shirt off, fussing around with a bag. "Oooh goodie, is this my Valentine's Day gift?" :) He pulled out a newly purchased red shirt from the bag and put it on. "You look really nice, sweetie." I walked into the kitchen to see a small vase with three bright red roses and baby's breathe. Next to it, a card that read "Babe." I opened the card, his sweet tribute to me for Valentine's Day -- "I like my Valentine and martinis the same....dirty." He laughed and said that he was having a hard time finding a good card and thought this one would do. Yes, this would do nicely. Especially with the thoughtful message that he wrote inside.

I made sure I had his Valentine's Day card and gift -- a punchcard for golf balls at the driving range -- tucked into my purse.

Traffic across the 520 was terrible, and with dinner reservations for 5:45 pm, I opted to help him navigate on surface streets to avoid some of the unnecessary congestion. My plan worked and we made it to downtown in record time. Along the way, Rick mentioned that the restaurant was at 4th and Broad. I wasn't sure where we were going, and he said he'd never been there before.

As we drove into downtown and we got closer to the street coordinates, I looked to the right and saw the Space Needle. To the left, not really anything, just a sports bar. Still trying to keep me in suspense, he said we'd just go ahead and park valet at the Space Needle. By then it had dawned on me that *this* is where we were having our Valentine's Day dinner. I can't believe that he actually got reservations. But come to find out that he'd made reservations more than a month ago.

Rick had never been up the Space Needle and it had been many, many years since I had eaten in the revolving restaurant, now called Sky City at the Needle. We were led to our table next to the window. A vase with a single red rose sat there. I looked at the other tables and noticed that they were void of flowers. "Did you arrange this ahead of time too?" He smiled with affirmation.

The menu was made just for this evening and we had a four course meal ahead of us, complete with dessert. Just eyeing the options, I knew it was going to be a tough decision. After a half hour of debating, we finally narrowed down our selections.

I opted for the Morel and Goat Cheese Tart with fire roasted bell pepper coulis for my first course. Second course would be the SkyCity Greens made with bio greens, Braeburn apple slices, Oregon Rogue blue cheese and huckleberry vinaigrette.

Rick went for the Lobster and Shrimp Cocktail with wild flower confetti, and the Petite Marmite "Champ Elysee" -- a double consumme with duck, beef and truffled foie gras in a seasoned pastry.

Topped off with a glass of wine, we enjoyed our first two courses, talked and looked at the views of the city as the fog rolled in and out, and as the sky turned dark. Our intermezzo came shortly after...an Orange-Mango Champagne Float...quite the palate cleanser.

We realized that by now we'd been there for a while. Couples who had been seated when we first came in were already leaving. And we hadn't even gotten to our main course yet! And no sense of urgency from our wonderful wait staff for us to hurry up and finish so they could turn the table around for some other celebrating couple.

Some time during the meal, we heard some clapping for a couple two tables behind me. Apparently it was a proposal, and she must have accepted. I looked around and it seemed that most of the couples dining there were in their twenties. Interesting.

My entree was delectable. Tournedo "Rossini," named after a famous Italian composer who liked his filet steak with foie gras and a rich flavorful truffle sauce. Complemented with baby cauliflower, turnips, kohlrabi and purple mashed potatoes.

Rick went for the Lobster "Thermidor." One and a half pounds of lobster cooked in a dry sherry wine and brandy with Grey Poupon, mushrooms and cheese sauce au gratin, saffron pilaf rice with green peas and baby vegetables.

All said and done, we both liked my choice much better.

And for dessert (since it was a special occasion), I selected The Adams Apple choc full of carmelized apples in a honey crusted phyllo crisp with indian cinnamon ice cream and merlot cherry sauce. Can you believe I didn't go for the chocolate?? Rick chose the Chocolate Carree Sarah Bernhardt, a chocolate square filled with praline mousse, California red wine peaches and fresh raspberries.

We were stuffed! So to walk it off after we finished dinner, we took a stroll up to the observation deck. The information lady really wanted to "babysit" my rose while we went outside into the wind. I couldn't handle it for too long and we rushed back in to retrieve my rose from Dee Dee, who seemed pretty reluctant to stop chatting our ears off.

Back down to the bottom of the Space Needle we went, stopping in the lobby to view and purchase some 5x7 photos of us at the restaurant. Happy Valentines' Day February 14, 2007 inscribed at the bottom of each.

By the time we made it down to valet to get the car it was 10 minutes to 10 o'clock. Holy cow! We both busted up laughing when we realized that we'd been there for well over four hours.

And so I leave this year's Valentine's Day with happy memories, photo memorabilia, a menu memento and a very happy tummy. How on earth did I get so lucky to find such a sweet, thoughtful and romantic guy like Rick? This was my best Valentine's Day ever.