Melting Pot

My Dad is the kindest, most generous man ever. He has always been so good to my and my sisters and my mom, but sometimes he just blows us away... like this year for Valentine's Day. He called me up and said he wanted to take all of the married couples who live in AZ (Dad and Mom, Lisa and TJ, me and Mike) to the Melting Pot for Valentine's Day! Wow! That's a fantastic gift! For those of you who haven't been able to go (and it's a great way to spend your Valentine's Day if you're looking for ideas), here's how it went...

First we had our cheese course. We had bread and apples and vegetables dipped in two types of cheese. The first was a cheddar cheese, the second was a swiss with salmon. Both were very good, but the swiss was my favorite.

Next we had a fantastic salad. I know what you're thinking... a salad? fantastic? But yes, it was. It had fresh strawberries and candied pecans and this delicious vinegarette dressing on it. Yum yum.

Then we had our main course. Because they can, the Melting Pot require that you only order from their special Valentine's Day menu on V-day, which is nice in a sense because they force you to eat some of their nicer foods. The plates consisted of raspberry chicken, some type of marinated steak, shrimp, another type of steak, and then your choice of lobster tail or prime rib (I think... it was a nice steak, that's all I remember). Because my dad and I LOVE lobster and Mike and my mom not as much, my parents ordered the plate with the lobster option and Mike and I ordered the plate with the steak option, then my mom and I switched our meats. Anyway, we had two really well-seasoned oils to cook those in and they were DELICIOUS!

And finally, the best part of any meal... the dessert! We had a dark chocolate and a milk chocolate with strawberries, cheesecake, brownies, marshmallows, rice krispie treats, bananas, and pound cake. So good! Not only do you get great food, but they also give each couple a great gift... a $25 gift certificate to the Melting Pot, two pretty nice champagne glasses, a Melting Pot picture frame, and a bar of Melting Pot fondue chocolate (mom, I'll give you my dark chocolate and take your white chocolate since you don't like white chocolate. I asked Mike and he said he'd rather have the white). All and all, it was a fantastic night. You can see a couple more pics on my sister's blog (imagrier.blogspot.com). Thanks SO MUCH Mom and Dad! We had such a great night talking and laughing and just being with you guys and Lisa and TJ. Love you so much!