Happy Birthday, Don!

Don's 20th was yesterday, and we went out for dinner with his family to Goha Restaurant, which is an Ethiopian place that none of us had tried. I had Ethiopian once before when I traveled to San Diego with my debate team, and really enjoyed it. I have been so excited to come home in the summers and see how much Nashville's culinary scene has exploded. It is really a great city with tons of great food!

Meal from Goha, photo borrowed from Urbanspoon user Brian C.

Ethiopian food is really cool because it typically all comes served on this yummy, spongey, flat bread called injera. You tear the bread and use it to pinch up your food with your fingers- no utensils! Don and I both ordered the vegetable combos since we're vegetarians and enjoyed it so much that I didn't take a picture. It included lentils prepared in different ways, a cabbage and carrot dish, a green bean and carrot dish which was my favorite, and collard greens. It was all super delicious and even though we ate until we were way beyond full, there was still tons leftover.

Don and I in the restaurant.

Then we went back to Don's parents' house for cake and present! Unfortunately, the gift I had been planning to give him for weeks still had not arrived in the mail, so I gave him a consolation gift so he'd have something to open. His iPhone 5 case has been broken for a long time now, so I got him a new black case with shiny silver detail. I think it's super distinguished!

His gift came in the mail today, so I wanted to give it to him ASAP! Tonight I met him after he got off work, and took him out for Birthday Round 2 at Macaroni Grill. Two big dinners in one week is a lot, but I wanted it to feel special and I love drawing on their tables! I made him turn around while I put both his presents in the trunk of his car before we left, but I only brought one gift into the restaurant. I got him Jack White's Lazaretto Ultra LP- a record. If you know anything about music, this record is a huge deal and kind of hard to get your hands on. It has two finishes, plays on three different speeds, has two secret tracks, has one side that plays from the inside out, has a song that sounds different depending on where you drop the needle, and has a FREAKING HOLOGRAPH of an angel when you play side 1. Basically, it is the shit and Don loved it.

Album art from Lazaretto's cover. Stolen from Wikipedia.

Unfortunately, Don does not have a record player. I pretended not to know this all through dinner and acted crushed that I had "ruined" his gift by purchasing a record he couldn't listen to. Little did he know, there was a second present waiting in his trunk- a new Jensen record player! Don was super surprised and excited. I haven't seen him as excited over any of my other gifts before, tehe. I got him a simple player with built-in speakers that was light enough for him to move back and forth from college.

Showing off his presents.

We went home and listened to the whole album. It was just as amazing as I expected, and we will definitely be collecting records from here on out!

Any suggestions for albums we should start our collection with? I know that next on my list is both of the Civil Wars albums!