Happy Anniversary to Us!!!

Well, a little something different for you all today. Today is actually our wedding anniversary, but since it's Monday, we celebrated yesterday. We knew that we were going to be having a luxurious dinner out, so we went easy on our bellies for lunch.

That's right !!! Costco footlongs. $1.50 includes a drink. Can't beat that. Then, later in the day, I got dressed for our night out at The Hobbit.

I wore my trusty silk sheath dress with an elastic waist and a waterfall cardi. This is me, in the foyer of our house, just before driving out to Orange, the city where the Hobbit is located. I don't look too happy here, but I was later.

 

 

 

I wore my pink pumps with this dress, like I always do. For my necklace, I jimmied together a matching Joan Rivers number.

 

 

It was very warm here yesterday - shorts and T shirt weather - so my jewelry had a springtime feel, like my outfit. On my left arm,

My wedding set, a diamond dust bracelet, and a multicolored gemstone bracelet. On my right,

A pale amethyst ring that Doc had made for me, another gold bracelet, and a darker amethyst bracelet.

So now, onto The Hobbit. Here is our menu for the evening.

First, Doc took a picture of me in front of the sign.

 

 

Then we got a picture of the beautiful stained glass window in the patio. All parties are seated and served at the same time. So while you wait for everyone to arrive, you go upstairs to the very top of the house, where the cocktail lounge is located. The house was built in 1930, and you move from room to room during the dinner.

 

So we'll start at the top of the menu. You go down stairs to the wine cellar, where you have champagne and hor d'oeurves. Here are two pictures of the spread that they put out - there was caviar, artichoke dip, shrimp, oysters, many many tiny unknown things on toast, poke, pate, and too much more to mention. We had a lot, because it was all scrumptious. The big flat thing is called a French Sandwich - it's puff pastry with a savory creamy cheesy filling.  This is where you also select the bottle of wine that you want with your dinner. We didn't get wine, since it seemed like champagne was enough and we had to drive 25 minutes home. About half of the tables got wine.

 

 

 

We had our picture taken, but it's very dark down there. I included it anyway.

Those blobs are me and Doc.  After the appetizers, you go back to the lounge to finish your champagne. Then we went back down to the dining room for our first course.

The dining room looks like it used to be the parlor back in the day. Here's a photo. Our table was the right rear one. I am standing just to the left of it. You are both seated so that you face outwards to where the photo is being taken from.

 

 

Here is a picture of our table. There's a little place card done in calligraphy and a GIANT rose made out of butter.

 

 

 

 

Here's a better look at the place card.

The first course was a seared diver scallop on a bed of red quinoa and golden raisins in a seafood broth. We also had popover style rolls throughout the dinner.

 

 

The scallop was big, but the entire dish was about a half cup. It was delicious. Then we had duck confit on a bed of braised leek risotto with parmagiano reggiano sprinkled on the risotto. I didn't know what confit was, but it seemed like shredded duck meat. Doc loves duck.  I forgot to get a picture. This was also about a half cup serving. Then we had our salad .

 

 

It was baby Lolla rosa (a type of lettuce) with Roquefort dressing. The square thing is a very crispy piece of prosciutto. The slices were pears that had been reduced in some kind of syrup. Then the long things are some sort of sprout. The round things are pomegranate seeds. This was likewise very delicious and all the dishes were very rich.

After the salad, you have a choice of going back up to the lounge, out to the patio or into the kitchen to observe the operation. I went to the kitchen.

 

 

The gentleman facing the camera is the executive chef. He and his concierge circulate through the tables all evening long to ask if everything is good. When I got up to use the ladies room, I came back to a new napkin all folded back up like a rose, new silverware, and a full glass of water. All the attention made Doc nervous - he's pretty shy as a rule. Now for the entrée.

Garlic crusted lamb. Yum. The square thing in the upper right is butternut squash that was so sweet and tender that the fork cut it. The lamb is served on a bed of absolutely awesome mashed potatoes. There are also some green beans and some braised miniature apples. The sauce is a demi glace.

So obviously, we were full to the gills after this. We took our dessert home with us. It was a pecan layer crisp and a chocolate mousse cake , both served with strawberries and strawberry sauce. Birthday folks got a whipped thing served in a martini glass with a sparkler, and anniversaries got either a special mix of liquors, or some chocolate truffles. We chose the truffles and took those home too. I am still full this morning. Once a year for this type of food is enough for us. But it sure was elegant and fun, and something nice to do for our anniversary. In a couple of years a big one is coming up, so that will probably be the next time we go all out. I hope you enjoyed seeing this. If you guys have done something similar, I would love to see the pictures and hear about it.

I am still going to participate in Patti's Visible Monday at www.notdeadyetstyle.blogspot.com. I will use my outfit as my entry. I must say that after eating all that rich food, I do feel quite a bit closer to death, but not dead yet!!!! See you all later!!!