Wonderful Six Year Wedding Anniversary Celebration!

First, let me say that I am so sad that I couldn't make it to Chicago.  I have been reading all about the fabulous weekend you all had.  In fact, I was going through some Facebook pics last night and I cried like a little bitch!  I cried for a few reasons:  1.)  I am a baby.  2.)  I am sad that I wasn't able to meet all of you and that I missed out on the good times.  3.)  Your pictures are filled with beautiful ladies!  Ladies that are in different stages of this journey but somehow understand each other perfectly!  That is wonderful!  I hope that some day we can do it again, only this time in NY!

So, other than not being able to bond with all of you - I don't regret a minute of this past weekend - not even the gain of a pound!  It was for a good cause - my marriage, which has been a little neglected due to my insane work schedule.  With last minute travel plans to be made we didn't have much to pick from so we decided to make it a staycation.

There is this incredible market/cafe'/restaurant thingy here in NYC called Eataly.  It is one block from my office and Dan and I have been there several times since it opened a couple of weeks ago.  We decided to go all out and  make a killer meal on Friday night, which was our actual anniversary.  So, Monday we went and scoped it out to get inspired, while of course ordering some delicious treats and wine as we moved along.  We were definitely inspired so on Thursday Dan returned to purchase the goodies for our dinner.  Everything we used was from Eataly and well worth the pretty penny we spent!

Warning - lots of food porn!  You may wonder where the pics of me and Dan are...  I never took any pictures of us!!!!  Friday we were just hanging out and my face was pretty red from all the cooking, eating and drinking!  It was hot in that kitchen!  Saturday was insane!  As usual the weekend trains are a hot mess - and I mean HOT!  They do construction on the weekends and the train was running every half hour, so I was rushing around like a maniac.  We wanted to have enough time to get a few drinks before the ballet.  I finished my makeup and hair on the train!  I had to keep fixing my makeup because it was hot and we were running!  I do wish I had a picture of me in that dress, though!

First course was a bruschetta that I made from diced heirloom tomatoes, red onions and garlic.  Then I sliced (chiffonade) the beautiful, fresh basil, mixed everything together with some amazing olive oil, salt and pepper.  We put some of the olive oil on a few thick, rustic pieces of freshly made olive bread and threw them on the grill.  Once grilled to perfection we topped it with the bruschetta mixture, yummy!  I forgot to take a picture of this one, but it was gorgeous!

Grilled octopus salad was next.  Dan actually bought a whole octopus, which the gentleman at the counter was nice enough to remove the beak for us.  Dan basically did all the prep work on this one while I was out getting my pedi and mani, so I missed the whole process.  By the time I got to see the octopus it was cleaned, skinned and put on skewers for the grill.  After it was grilled we put it over a frisee salad with roasted red peppers and fresh shaved percino.  Dan made a wonderfully fresh lemon vinaigrette to top it off with.  Here is a picture...

We enjoyed these two lovely dishes outside by the fire pit with some amazing white wine.  It was such a beautiful night!

Then we moved back up to our apartment for the rest of the feast!  The next goodie was actually inspired by a little snack I had at Eataly.  Mushrooms with polenta "crackers".  This is a picture of Eataly's - so heavenly!

 At home I tried to recreate this and made an earthy combination of shiitake, oyster and porcini mushrooms sautéed in butter, olive oil and shallots.  Once everything was crispy and started to stick to the pan I deglazed it with some of the killer red wine we were drinking.  I wasn't feeling ambitious enough to attempt the polenta crackers so we bought these little blue cheese biscuit/cookie thingys.  I toped the mushrooms with some fresh sage that was sautéed in butter until just crispy and then put the lovely mixture over the cookies.  Not a great picture, but it was so good!

For the main course we made lamb chops and roasted veggies.  The veggies pretty much took the longest so they were roasting in the oven while we were enjoying our little plates of heaven!  We had baby brussels sprouts, gorgeous French breakfast radishes, baby carrots and fingerling potatoes, which we drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper.  Here is the finished product...

The beautiful lamb chops...

We put some olive oil on the chops and covered them in a sage/salt rub and threw them on the grill.  Just three minutes on each side and they are perfectly medium rare.

This is a picture of Dan's plate - he was so impatient with the picture that he didn't let me officially "plate" it and make it look pretty!  It really doesn't do it justice...

And of course, dessert.  I am not much of a sweets person so we just bought these.  I had a couple of bites and they were okay.  These were the only things we didn't buy at Eataly...

So, there you have it!  A wonderful feast with an equally wonderful guy!  Saturday night we went to the NYC Ballet, so amazing!  I was so happy to be able to wear one of my pretty dresses that I bought for my cruise back in April.  I never wore it on the cruise - it was a little too tight but my friends said it looked good.  I just wasn't comfortable in it.  But Saturday was another story - I didn't want to take it off!  After the show we were trying to figure out what to do.  We were so excited to be back in our old neighborhood (Upper West Side), there were so many choices!  We decided to go to Landmarc, one of our favorites!  As usual we ordered the Smoked Mozzarella & Ricotta Fritters, amazing! 

This would not be complete without an order of their perfectly cooked and seasoned fries!

Sunday was pretty quiet, we went to the beer hall by our apartment and watched some football.  We returned to our apartment and ended the staycation with some wonderful Chinese food and wine.  Then basically passed out by 9!  What an exhausting and fabulous weekend!