Happy Anniversary

We celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary this past weekend by splurging on a nice dinner out. If you can't ditch the kids at the Grandparents house and spend a weekend relaxing alone in a hotel, why not just blow the same amount of money on one big meal! Don't laugh, it was close.

But we both thoroughly enjoyed the late, quiet, just-fancy-enough-to-make-it-special-while-not-being-too-fancy-to-make-you-uncomfortable atmosphere of the restaurant. The place was recommended to Phil by a French friend at work. We were excited to try a place the locals enjoy. And I can say without a doubt it, was the best food I've EVER tasted in my life. It was beautifully presented, it was fresh, and it was gourmet.

I chose the three course meal (which included an entrée, plat, and dessert) while Phil went all out and selected the five course meal (which included an soup, entrée, plat, cheese plate, and dessert).

Here are some pictures of the fancy food and tiny portions.

This cold mintish soup was brought out first. I think they said it was to cleanse the palate. Which is good, because the night before I ate at McDonalds with the kids!

This was my entrée. It was a some sort of tomato and eggplant tarte thing with Parmesan cheese. Salad greens dressed with just delicious olive oil are a staple around the Mediterranean. And the cold gazpacho soup was perfectly refreshing.

This is Phil's veal filet. He wanted me to include the picture of the fork on the plate so everyone could have a reference for the scale. Yes, he could have eaten the morsel in one bite, but he slowly savored the tenderness of the meat.

This is the dessert platter for one person. I love that the dessert portions are never small. The glass dish had some sort of creamy, mousse with lemon and berry flavoring. Usually, I don't see the point of eating desserts without chocolate, but this creamy stuff was out-of-this-world.

The exceptional quality of the food, the smooth red wine and my boyishly-handsome husband* sitting across the table from me made for a memorable night out celebrating our marriage.

Happy seven years, honey...you are exposed to, and the recipient of, so much of the selfishness, pride, and moodiness that I work so hard to keep others from seeing. Thank you for being a picture of Christ's love for the church as you daily forgive me for all that ugliness and chose to love me so unconditionally. You are my best friend and I am looking forward to the next seven, and seventy years. ahead.

*When Phil picked up Lily from school on Friday afternoon, one of the classroom aids asked if he was her "grand frère" (older brother).