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For her birthday supper, Rachel chose Marblehead Grille and Chowderhouse, which is too be expected. Like most other seven year old girls, she would rather enjoy an evening of fine dining and "New England coastal ambiance" than something far more childish, such as Chuck E. Cheese (which she turned down after some indecision the day before - although she almost did decide to go to the Outback Steakhouse before settling on Marblehead.)

( dinner in some detail )

During our visit there, we discussed, as seems to be our norm, Marblehead, MA, Deb's time working on a lobster boat, and other bits of New England nostalgia. Rachel also determined that the 1'-2' of rushing stream we had to ford to get there (complete with 'ah-oo-gah's and other submarinish sound effects) was done on purpose because it would remind her of the ocean, which she loves so much.

And now for something completely different...

We are about to sit down to our traditional Christmas Eve dinner... stuffed shells!

Justin assisted me with the preparation, so they came out much better than the batch I made last Sunday for consumption at my office holiday party. I tried out an additional sekrit ingredient, so we'll see how it goes! I just pulled the foil off, and this is looking like the Best Shells Ever^TM