Our Anniversary

Our first wedding anniversary was last weekend.  We wanted to recreate our honeymoon trip, but didn’t think it was the best idea to try to fit a trip to Hawaii from NC into one weekend, too much air time.  So, we decided just to stay home and then go out for a very nice dinner.

We went Sunday night to the Fearrington House Restaurant.  It’s an amazing place.  I can honestly say that it was the best food I’ve ever had.  Andrew and I ordered different things, and tasted one another’s  meals (so classy).  No pictures of the food, sorry, you’ll just have to use your imagination.

Andrew had:

• Seared Scallops with Vanilla Char Roe and Curry Air Yoghurt, Mango, Carrot, Coconut
• Cured Duck Breast with Chestnut Jam and Poached Quince
  Cinnamon, Red Onion, Lentils, Pumpernickel
• Hibiscus Marinated Venison with Girolles, Port & Red Currant Sauce
  Sunchoke, Chocolate, Purple Brussels Sprouts, Cipollini
• Warm Brioche Pudding and Brown Bread Ice Cream
  Smoked Almond, Honey, Rosemary, Apple

I had:

• Butternut Squash Soup, Pecan Bread Pudding & Maple Crème Fraîche, Cinnamon, Sage, Butterscotch, Beech Mushroom
• Seared Meyer Striploin with Snow Crab and Caperberries, Burnt Butter, Truffle, Fregola Sarda, Hazelnut
• Smoked Vanilla Pheasant with Confit Leg and Toasted Brioche Sauce, Maple & Medjool Date Puree, Baby Parsnip, Baby Green Brussels, Sherry
• Hot Chocolate Soufflé, Hot Chocolate Sauce, Whipped Cream

We also started with a few delicious bites.  One was a creamed Arctic Char stuffed pastry.  Wow.  The second was a rabbit something with cranberry.  That was one of my favorite bites of food all night, I wish I could remember what it was called.

Andrew and I have this little competition between us at restaurants.  I’m generally not competitive at all, but this is the one exception.  We declare “winners” for who ordered the best food.  Andrew usually wins (jerk), but it’s not a competition where there is a non-winner.  In the event that we disagree, it’s an automatic tie.  Usually disagreement means that both of our meals are great, and our personal opinions cause us to vote one way or another.  For this occasion, we decided to declare winners per course.  So there would be 4 “wins” for the evening.  Here’s the verdict:

• 1st course winner: Scallops – Andrew
• 2nd course winner: Striploin – ME!
• 3rd course winner: tie – difference due to taste preference
• 4th course winner: Soufflé – ME!

So yes, I won!  I don’t think that it’s a big win, because even the non-winning dishes were counted in the “best food I’ve ever eaten” category.  But I’ll take any victory I can get.

Happy Anniversary, Andrew.  I love you.

I hope we have many more dinner competitions ahead of us.

These photos are all taken by the fabulous Erica of EL Photography.

Oh and in case you’re wondering, we didn’t save our wedding cake to eat.  Maybe I’ll tell you about that another day.  But no regrets, even though the baker told me I would.