Anniversaries

Day: 366
High Temp: 102F

Yesterday Tom and I celebrated two rather momentous anniversaries. It was exactly a year ago yesterday that we arrived to Austin, Texas to begin this crazy adventure. Coincidentally (and more importantly, I think) it was also our 7 year dating anniversary. We figured it would be the last dating anniversary we ever observe (given that soon we will have a wedding anniversary to celebrate instead) so we wanted to do it up right.

We headed down to our old neighborhood to have a celebratory dinner at South Congress Cafe, a hip fine-dining place that we happen to have a gift certificate to. (My co-workers at TimeLine gave us a generous gift certificate to this place as a going away gift, along with a membership to AMOA which I have gushed about here.) We had a fabulous meal, and spent the time reminiscing about our past, talking about the upcoming wedding, and marveling at the fact that moving to Texas had neither killed us, nor our relationship.

Oh, you want me to tell you what we ate? Well... okay, if you insist!

We started with the special appetizer of the night, Escargot. It was a huge portion (like a dozen at least), well presented in a puddle of melted butter, with a thick dusting of some sort of strong, dry cheese over top (it was an off-the-menu special, so I cannot recall exactly what type of cheese, but think of a really good parmesan or pecorino.) It also had red pepper flakes in it, to add some heat, and a ton of garlic.  It was Tom's first escargot experience, and he liked it. It makes me so happy that he is adventurous when it comes to food and is willing (and often excited) to try something new. 

Tom ordered the Bacon and Goat Cheese Stuffed Quail, and I had the Pan Roasted Duck Breast with Chipotle Cherry Sauce.  The quail was great, and the stuffing was amazing.  It was served with a blackberry gastrique that Tom found a bit too sweet, and was over fingerling potatoes and Brussels sprout hash. I thought the brussels sprouts were a little under cooked for my taste, but over all it was a really nice entree.  My duck was incredibly smoky with a sweet cherry sauce over the top. Again, I think this sauce was maybe a little too sweet (I couldn't detect any chipotle in it at all) however the mashed potatoes it was over were really lovely and spicy. When I got a bite with everything, it was a great balance, and reminded me of a fancy Thanksgiving dinner.

We ended the night with the Dried Cherry and Pecan Bread Pudding. Don't worry, it was served with Amy's Mexican Vanilla Ice Cream AND a bourbon creme anglaise-type sauce. It was delicious, and a very large portion. Happy anniversaries to us!