WORST VALENTINE EVER

Hubby and I decided to celebrate Valentines a little early this year, trying to avoid the the mobs that will be in all the nice restaurants tonight. Since we had a nice fat little gift card for Fleming's Steak House in Austin,  thanks to some American Express bonus points, we decided we might as well celebrate there.

The decor was just about the same as all the fancy-schmancy steak houses these days - lots of highly polished wood. Upon entering they convinced us to go to the bar area first, since it was still "Happy Hour".

We started off the evening with a shared appetizer -- one that I now wish I had ordered as my entree, as I could easily have polished the whole thing off on my own. It was calamari like you've probably never had - lightly crusted and tossed with sauteed red peppers in some kind of chile oil vinaigrette. Mmmmm! It reminded me a lot of a special off-the-menu calamari appetizer we always ordered at our favorite Chinese restaurant in Houston. I've missed it so, so much! Next we shared a Caesar Salad, which had bits of crisply fried prosciutto in it.

After that came the cracked peppercorn steaks, a tiny one with a couple of shrimp in a reduction sauce for me, and a larger one served with their signature F-17 sauce for Hubby. Unfortunately, as so often happens at a place like this, when you are taking your time with a meal, we were already getting full before the entree ever arrived. And, since we were determined to share a taste of something chocolatey at the end of the meal, we ended up taking most of our steak home in this ever-so-elegant doggie bag.

Sooooo, guess what I found the next morning, sitting on the kitchen bar stool next to my purse, right where I left them when I stopped to take off my jacket?

Hubby was really, really looking forward to those leftovers.

I've got to be the worst Valentine EVER!