Moo Moment: D. and Moo's Anniversary with Outback Steakhouse and Sage French Cake

I know, I know, first Cheesecake Factory, now Outback Steakhouse? Sheesh, right? Well, Outback is a tradition for us. Back in the day, we realized our first anniversary (March 20) fell during finals week. Obviously, there was no time or energy to enjoy a fancy meal, yet we wanted something that was a little more than our usual fare. Outback, with its steak-dominant menu, was still reasonably-priced, but with a little more fanfare. Hey, we were college students on a budget!

Today, Outback is no longer "fancy," but as D. pointed out, "It's still a tad expensive." More like overpriced. We eat there once a year on our anniversary and, while we've bandied around the idea of changing venues, it's not the same without the Bloomin' Onion. Speaking of...

In the past year, they've revamped their menu to offer a variety of different portions. My usual prime rib now comes in three weights, so I opted for the 8-ounce. Perfect for me. I'm not eating a lot of meat nowadays, so excessive protein tends to sit like a brick in my gut.

Part of the meal was two choices of sides, instead of the old salad-or-soup-plus-one-side. I chose the Asian chopped salad, which must have originally been called the Wasabi chopped salad because our waitress called it that. Guess wasabi didn't appeal to their customers. It was a mayonnaise-y and slightly spicy mix of chopped iceberg lettuce and the occasional cucumber. It wasn't very good.

For dessert, I picked up some goodies from Sage French Cake. It's a great bakery in Kearny Mesa, but the two times I've been there, they've run out of pastries long before closing time. I find that to be excellent, actually. That means they don't make more than they need and the pastries are always fresh. The first time, the case was completely empty by 7:15pm. This time, we were down to a handful of cake slices, so I picked three: strawberry shortcake, chocolate raspberry mousse, and caramel mousse.

The strawberry shortcake was the classic Asian interpretation with eggy and moist sponge cake with fresh whipped cream and strawberries. It was fantastic.

D. loves raspberries, but the chocolate raspberry mousse cake wasn't quite what we'd hoped for. The flavors weren't balanced very well, so it was tart and bitter at the same time and not in a good way.

The caramel mousse cake was really good. It had a burnt sugar crust a la creme brulee.

One last thing... when we arrived home from dinner, we were greeted by Bear playing the St. Bernard stereotype. Interesting bit of useless trivia... the classic image of a St. Bernard isn't true, they never carried brandy around their necks. Well, Bear did have something around his neck.

It looks like D. is going to become Mr. Moo! It is 2008, after all. Hehe.