For my birthday last year, Drew took me to an amazing restaurant. We had the chef's tasting menu, which was six courses of the most amazing food you could ever imagine. It was a wonderful night that left a lasting impression with the both of us. Drew is a phenomenal cook and I've never met anyone who has a greater appreciation for food and wine. It's totally one of the greatest bonuses about being with him - he genuinely enjoys cooking and his creations are outstanding. I've only ever had one thing that he made that didn't make my taste buds dance and sing! I love food but I just can't make it - hence one of my baby gifts. We've since gone back for a cooking class with their master chef - it was our anniversary present to each other.
The night we were there for my birthday, we got a bit of a tour of the restaurant. They have a wine room with a table in it for private dining. I thought that was the coolest thing and I remember telling Drew that we should have dinner in the wine room sometime.
Well, when I was trying to come up with a good place to have dinner, my first thought was of the wine room at Aurora. I called to see if I needed to reserve it months in advance or something and was pleasantly surprised when we were able to get it! I totally milked it just in case - I told the lady that we were coming in for our first dinner as a married couple and would love to dine with them. She was appropriately gushy. :-)
We arrived and were shown to the wine room and Drew was positively giddy. He was so excited because we had both gotten an email advertising that it was truffle month at the restaurant! If you don't know, truffles are a full-out delicacy - meaning they are super rare and nasty expensive.
Given that this was probably the last time in our lives that we would be able to have such a nice meal, we went all out. We got the grand tasting, which was eight courses prepared for us by the chef and since we were in the wine room by ourselves, I got to take lots of pictures!
The pictures are sometimes blurry because of the romantic mood lighting but you get the idea. And no, I didn't drink. That was the same glass of champagne - I just let it touch my tongue for our toast to each other as husband and wife.
Our server was great and we had a total of four people taking care of us. They switched out the silverware for every course - it made me feel bad for the dishwasher. Some of them we didn't even touch but they took them anyway. That was the kind of restaurant we were in!
I have never seen a lovelier sight! I tried to take a picture of my rings but they kept coming out blurry - too much bling I guess. ;-)
Me and my husband (!!!)
The first course was an egg custard with mushrooms and shaved black truffles on top. It was warm and the truffles were divine! Thank God we were in the room by ourselves because our eyes were rolling back in our heads and we were making all kinds of good-food noises!
Next up was an alfredo risotto with white truffles on top. Everything was of course made from scratch and I have so much respect for anyone who makes a risotto. Talk about labor intensive!
After that came the made from scratch capellini with more white truffles - noodles!! I like white truffles better than black ones - their flavor is bit less intense. Aw man, I can't think of what the sauce was! It was so good though! Drew and I laughed about it because they gave us a spoon for this course and it took forever to eat it - I think they did that on purpose.
Next was the Maine lobster and rabbit in rabbit sauce. I'd never had rabbit before and it reminded me of white-meat turkey with a little more 'wild' flavor. I ate it but probably wouldn't order it again.
Then came our ravioli dish. It came out on top of this plate with holes in it and we couldn't figure out what that was about. Drew, ever curious, lifted the plate and found a sort of soup underneath with some truffles and pearl vegetables floating in it. We were totally confused and asked our server about it. Apparently, it was supposed to be a 'surprise' and we ruined it by peeking. The juices from the ravioli sauce were supposed to drip down and further flavor the soup! D'oh!
After that we had the celery soup that Aurora is famous for. The chef wisked it up till it was foamy and then shaved some black truffles on top. I tried not to make slurping noises but it was hard.
The foie gras was next. I don't do well with liver of any kind and my first time having foie gras I almost spit it across the room. This time, it could have been the adrenaline or the pregnancy but I ate it all! It was so freakin good! It came with a candied butternut squash and was in a white chocolate and corn sauce - talk about divine!! This was the dish that gave Drew goosebumps, it was so good. He had the sauterne that comes with foie gras and once again I just let it hit my tongue so my taste buds could dance and sing!
After the foie gras came the palate-cleasing sorbet. It was a champage-grapefruit mix with mint and it was delish! I dug in straight away and didn't realize till I was trying to stick my tongue down the glass that I didn't take a picture of it. Sorry.
And now for the main course! Since we got the grand tasting we got a dish from the land and from the sea. The sea came first. It was a sea bass with julienned asparagus and hearts of palm with a fingerling potato and a basil and paprika oil. The skin on the sea bass was so good I considered asking for two portions from the sea just so I could eat it again.
The dish from the land was a filet mignon. It was the first plate that I hesitated over, as I have not eaten red meat since I was 17. When I was about seven weeks pregnant, I had a craving for a burger and it totally hit the spot but I haven't wanted one since. I couldn't get all the way through this time. Drew happily finished for me.
Dessert and coffee (decaf for me) finished out our first meal as husband and wife. Hazelnut cake with espresso ice cream, flourless chocolate lava cake with a passionfruit creme and a coffee granita with lemon gelee was the perfect finishing touch. Drew informed me that my first task as his wife would be to figure out how to make the hazelnut cake. I'm thinking I could just ask the pastry chef to whip me up a batch and we can call it good. 101 things to do with mac and cheese, remember? That's me.
We were pleasantly full and asked our server to take pictures of us - he was far more impressed with his picture-taking ability than he should have been. But, this is all I got.
WAIT TILL I TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED NEXT!!!!!
You look gorgeous girl! Love your hair here.
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