My birthday dinner at Blue Agave.

Every year for my birthday Ron and I go to a restaurant we have never been to before. This year we made reservations at Blue Agave. Blue Agave is best known for their selection of tequilas. So in true ditzel fashion Ron and I both started out with a margarita.

I went for the Grandarita: El Jimador Blanco, Patron Citronage, Pomegranate & Fresh Lime. This was one of the best margaritas I have had in a long time. If you ever go to Blue Agave, please do yourself a favor and partake in a Grandarita. 

Ron Decided to try the Prickly Pear: El Jimador Blanco, Prickly Pear Puree, triple sec and fresh lime. If the grandarita is not your style my second recommendation would be the prickly pear.

Just like most Mexican restaurants you receive chips and salsa to start the meal. At Blue Agave you get 3 types of salsa. My favorite was the salsa verde.

Next we decided to split an appetizer and have the Entreme Surtido: chipotle shrimp corn cake, chicken flautas, chile/cheese tamal, queso stuffed jalapeno, shrimp quesadilla, fresh guacamole and salsa. Overall the appetizer was ok. Neither of us were really impressed but maybe a more seasoned Mexican food eater would appreciate it. We found that most of the items lacked seasoning. 

We also split a bowl of their chicken tortilla soup. Ron and I have both had tortilla soup from many places so we figured we would try it at Blue Agave as well. What a mistake, the soup was not good and we were very disappointed. We couldn't pinpoint what we thought was wrong with the soup but neither one of us enjoyed it and therefore we did not finish it. 

Since we had a bad taste in our mouths from the soup we felt it was time to order our second round of drinks. This time we went for the white sangria......Blue Agave definitely got back into my good graces with the sangria.

Now on to dinner. I went with the Burrito de Carne Asada: Grilled skirt steak rolled with black beans and cotija cheese. Served with Agave rice and red chile sauce. YUMMMMMMMMMM. I would totally go back for this burrito. 

Ron had Enchiladas Verde: Pulled chicken with Mexican cheeses in green chile sauce topped with slivered red onion and cotija cheese. Served with Red chile rice and refried beans. Ron loved his meal and would absolutely eat these enchiladas again.

Since we were stuffed we decided we wouldn't have dessert but we would have another drink. May I introduce you to the Iguanarita: El Jimador Blanco, melon liquer, triple sec and fresh lime. It was a great ending to our meal.

If you are in the Federal Hill area you should definitely stop in Blue Agave just stay away from the tortilla soup and head straight for the drinks.

http://www.blueagaverestaurant.com/index.html

My last 20-something birthday.

On February 5th I will be turning 29 and I have to admit I am kind of sad to see my 20's coming to an end. So many things have happened to me in my 20's that only have one more year left in them makes me feel some kind of way. When I sit back and think of all the things I did just from 20 - 28 years of age I can only think that 29 is going to come in and go out with a bang. Let's take a look at some of the great things that happened in my 20's.

• At 20 years old I bought my first new car. Me and Chelly Celica are still going strong.( April 2002)
• At 22 years old I started bartending at SSMC and I met my future husband on my very first bartending shift( Sept 2004)
• At 23 years old I graduted from college(December 2005)
• At 23 years old I starting working my first full-time job(January 2006)
• At 23 years old Ron and I started dating (December 2005)
• At 24 years old I went on my first cruise and flew for the first time (Sept 2006)
• At 24 years old I finally flew the coop and moved into an apartment with Ron( Oct. 2006)
• At 25 years old  got engaged (April 2007)
• At 26 years old bought my first home (March 2008)
• At 26 years old I became Mrs Ditzel ( June 2008)
• At 27 I was a bridesmaid for the first time ( May 2009)
• At 28 I became a godmother ( June 2010)

I know there are probably a ton of things I am forgetting but that is my short list of things that were great about my 20's. I think 29 has a lot to live up to that's for sure. I plan to make my 365 days with 29 great and an all out adventure through life.