Short Pump & Tuckahoe, Virginia

New Year's Eve

Short Pump

It seems fitting for Sadie to begin the last post of the year, she has appeared on this blog so many times.  It's my birthday and Sadie seems to sense something. She has shadowed me all day.

Tuckahoe

Texas de Brazil is a great place for a birthday celebration. Sam, left, Farris, center, and Alison, right, reflected in a mirror in the reception area of the restaurant await seating.

At Texas de Brazil waiters wander with hot skewers of meat — chicken, lamb, pork, sirloin, flank and filet mignon — carving off portions as they pass by. Sam samples flank steak, which was the favorite of the evening.

When you've eaten enough, you turn the token next to your plate from green to red. The tablecloth bears evidence of an exuberance evening.

Short Pump

Copperas Creek

Chef Farris, foreground, promises a special dessert for my birthday ...

... and delivers a delicious puff pastry with homemade chocolate pudding, fresh whipped cream and strawberries.

Midnight — the beginning of a new year, new decade — left to right: Farris, Sam, Dianne, Alison and Jenine celebrate the clock striking midnight.

Jenine made it past midnight, a worthy goal for a seven-year-old.

Photographs taken with a Leica M8