Birthday dinners and sickness

Last Sunday was my birthday. To celebrate, Andrew had reserved a fancy restaurant for Saturday night and we were to have a five course dinner with wine pairings. On Tuesday of that week, I decided to get sick again. Well, actually, I went to the farm for a week and my mother thought that a good going away present would be a fever, chills, sinus pain, headache, and chest cough. So the entire week before this dinner, I felt awful and couldn't eat anything. The most I was eating was Lipton's chicken noodle soup - the best thing to eat when you are sick. I don't know why, but it just seems like good "sick food".

By the time Saturday rolled around, I was feeling better, but still not wonderful. I didn't want to miss dinner, though, so got myself together, put on my Christmas bling (the very beautiful diamond studded heart necklace that Andrew gave me), and we went to dinner.

Dinner was awesome, but I wish I could have tasted it a bit more. Andrew and I each got five courses, unique to us. Six if you count the amuse bouche that we got first. So this is what we had...

Amuse bouche
- Pork tenderloin confit with arugula and a cherry tomato (confit just means slow cooked in duck fat - very, very tasty)

Course 1 - The first appetizer
Andrew - Clams with proscuitto and rosemary
Me - Soba noodles in dashi broth with halibut, scallops, mussels, and crab

Course 2 - Salad
Andrew - Blue cheese from Agassiz, Apple, and Frisee with a sherry vinegrette
Me - Roasted beets, walnuts, and Agassiz brie cheese on local baby greens, with maple balsamic vinegrette

Course 3 - Appetizer 2 (Which I thought was dinner)
Andrew - Duck confit with foie gras on a lentil ragout
Me - Pan roasted sable fish on a sunchoke and brown butter puree in a red wine/sundried tomato reduction

Palate cleanser - a red wine and pear granita (slush) - so tasty

Course 4 - Dinner and by this point I was already stuffed
Andrew - Roasted squab on a mascarpone polenta (and if you're wondering about squab - it's pigeon)
Me - Roasted lamb loin on roasted potatoes, hazelnuts, and prunes in a wine sauce

Course 5 - Dessert - finally
Andrew - Very fancy ice cream sandwiches with chocolate cookies, frangelico ice cream, and crushed pistachios
Me - Warm chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream (By this point I could only eat half of my dessert which makes me very sad, because it was soooo good)

And along with all these courses, there were wine pairings. We started with whites and then moved along to reds, and port at the end. All very nice wines and complemented the food very well.

I would like to do this again some time, but I would like to be healthy when I do. It would be an even better experience. We had wonderful food, wonderful service, and an all around fantastic evening.

Thanks to the Seasonal Experience in Langley for a great time.