Anniversary Part II

So, our Anniversary was great!! Everything went wonderfully! It all started, actually, the night before when we went to bed. Mike had made the bed and had a gift on it for me. I thought that was so sweet and a great beginning to our anniversary.

We had reservations at a very fancy French Restaurant called West of Paris. I sold a lot of my baby stuff on Craigslist so we could have enough money to go. It was the best food we have ever had. If anyone has a chance to try French food, do it! There is just something about the way the French make their food. Such elegance, such perfection. It actually reminds me of the movie Ratatouille, the way he described the food! I have always loved Paris and have wanted to go for as long as I could remember and have wanted to try the food as well! So when we moved here and saw that they had a French restaurant we knew we had to go. Plus it was fun because one of Mike's majors is French. It was fun to hear him speak French.



The Chef, Francis Foucachon, and his family grew up in France and he has been a chef for 40 years. I am not sure why they moved to little Moscow, but we aren't disappointed. It is a family owned business. The waiter was the son, and we saw the Chef's wife there as well. It was actually very sweet, because during our meal he made dinner for his wife and then came and ate dinner with her. He was a very sweet Chef..he actually brought out our food and went around and made sure everyone was enjoying the food. Before anyone leaves the Chef comes up to you and makes sure the food was good and that you are leaving satisfied. It was just such a great experience...it really makes you want to move to France. If you want to read more about the restaurant you can read about it here

So, Mike bought the 8 course meal for us to share and I bought my own Entrée. First we had a Pre-appetizer. It was 3 slices of cucumber, then salmon pâtté, then cavier and yes I actually liked it.



Here is proof to my family that I actually ate it! :)



Next was the cold appetizer which I thought was nasty. Some of the foods are definitely acquired taste, and this was definitely one of them. Yuck! I think it was mostly the cheese I didn't like..the croûtons were yummy though.



Here we are eating the salad...I loved the centerpieces!



Now onto the hot appetizer. Mike loved this one! It was artichoke hearts with mushrooms on top of it and the whole thing was surrounded by swiss cheese. I normally despise swiss, but I think it actually made this dish taste better. Too many mushrooms though!



Then we had our Entrées. Mike had duckling and I had chicken. This restaurant is known for the chef's special sauces. Wow...it was amazing. It was by far the best chicken I have ever had. On the side they made this type of mashed potato that was fried. Those were yummy as well!



After that you get a sort of lemon sorbet. It normally has alcohol in it but they didn't add it in for us. That is also one thing about French cooking..they add a lot of wine and drink a lot of it..I think we were the only ones in the restaurant not drinking wine :) But anyways, the lemon sorbet was the the palate cleanser to get you ready for more food.

After that, Mike had another salad, Yuck! and then we were onto the cheese plate, Yum! They let us choose an assortment of cheeses and gave us bread to go with it. I really enjoyed this one cheese, called Boursin, that was almost a dip.. it had a garlicky taste to it. I was so excited, because yesterday we went to the co-op, and I found that cheese so I had to buy it! :)

After the cheeses you get a pre-dessert. It was raspberry mouse with strawberries on top...yum! Then finally came the dessert. You are probably thinking, wow, after all that food, who could have dessert but the portions are smaller than we are used to, and you take it slow. They want you to enjoy the food, so you get it all in stride. We were there for 2 1/2 hours.

For dessert, we had Crème Brûlée Au Chocolat. It was, of course, great as well!



We left very satisfied! After the restaurant we went home. I had had my friend, Michelle, come and decorate our apartment while we were out. We were sad, because we couldn't go to the Anniversary Inn this year, so I wanted to bring the Anniversary Inn to us. I had Michelle put rose petals on the doorway entrance, on the table, and on our bed. She also put a bucket with ice and fake champagne on the table and champagne glasses on it. The lights were dimmed and there was soft music playing. It was funny, actually, because I had told Michelle I was just going to leave the door unlocked, but Mike was acting suspicious and had to be the last one out the door so I just told him to leave the door unlocked and hoped he wouldn't figure out I was doing something. Well, when we got home both of us were hesitating because we wanted the other person to go through the door first. Come to find out there was a huge present on the table next to the fake champagne. Boy was he surprised when he saw what I had done! It was fun!!
He was so sweet..I have been wanting a magic bullet forever and I finally got one!!!



These things are so awesome and I can't wait to use it!



We also rented some movies like you do at Anniversary Inn and I had bought 2 individual cheesecakes at the co-op and put them in the fridge like you would get at the Inn as well. They were yummy!

The next morning, I made breakfast like at the Inn! On Mike's I had a couple of breakfast hot pockets, a raspberry parfait I made, and a blueberry scone. I had bananas, a strawberry parfait, and a blueberry scone. And of course real, fresh apple juice from the co-op!



So, as you can see, we had an awesome Anniversary! Next year will be the big 5 and we are wondering how we can top this one!

Sorry for the long post :) we had such a great experience that I wanted to capture it all!