Jenn and I went back and forth on where we should go out to celebrate our first five years of marriage. We landed on The Melting Pot in Irvine. We've been there a couple of times before and more then the food the experience is always a blast. This would be the first time we've gone there without a Groupon and it didn't disappoint. 

This past Friday marked the end of Jenn's half-day Fridays at Taco Bell. To help ease the pain of a full Friday of work I picked her up at her office and we drove across the street to Irvine Spectrum to get some dinner. In the past couple of months Jenn has finally come around to my way of thinking and has started to fall in love with Sushi. Finally! With her new found love for Sushi we wanted to check out Wasa Sushi which got pretty good reviews on Yelp.

In the last couple of years I've started to fall in love with Mediterranean food. One of my new favorite places to get takeout is Blue Mediterranean Cafe in Newport near the 73 freeway. I get either the Kafta (so good there) and the Beef Kebabs. Thus was the inspiration for our latest recipe to try out Steak Kebabs. 

Its been a couple of weeks since Jenn and I have had a chance to make a new recipe. We just got busy. We had the play in the park and then celebrated our birthdays for two weekends. So needless to say it was time to catch up on some recipes. One of the recipes I've had my eyes on for a while is a crock pot Butter Chicken.

After a couple of weeks hiatus, Chef Joel & Jenn are back in the kitchen, cooking up yet another new recipe. After our very successful BBQ Ribs back in early June we've gotten busy. Sure we've been cooking during the week but just have had no time on Sundays to try out new recipes. That was until this past Sunday where we prepared the Garlic and Lime Shrimp Skewers. 

A couple of weeks back Jenn was surfing the web on a Saturday morning and stumbled upon a Wine Festival taking place in Irvine at the OC Great Park. We both had never been to a wine festival so we decided this would be the perfect first experience. The deal was made even sweeter because we are part of the Captain's Club at Celebrity Cruises. We got an extra ten bucks off each ticket which made going an easy decision.