4 Years and Counting

Yesterday was our anniversary and I must say it was possibly THE. BEST. ANNIVERSARY. EVER.

I kicked off the day by making french toast, not normally my favorite breakfast, but with my cinnamon swirl bread, it was pretty yummy.

Just after noon o'clock we headed downtown to see a matinee of Spring Awakening. IT WAS WONDERFUL!!! I hope that it comes back to Chicago so we can see it again, next time sitting onstage, yes they have on-stage tickets. It looked like it would be a lot of fun!

I have to admit that at first glance I shouldn't love this play, traditionally the mixing of popular music with period-setting musicals really bugs me. Especially in shows like Phantom of the Opera. But in S.P. the modern style of music has a purpose. It is more comparable to like of Romeo + Juliet, remember that movie? It came out in 1996 and did a great job mixing Shakespearean with modern times. Like in R+J, S.P. is using the music to relate the coming of age tale of the period teenagers (in S.P. it was Victorian) to modern teens. This is made ubundantly clear, not only by the style of music but by the lyrics. Which when you listen not only used slang like "junk" (meaning the addictive substance) but referances to things like phone calls. It's kind of an ah-ha moment when you realize this. It certainly made me feel better about liking it!
Anyway, so completely happy we went, but we were equally excited to go home and change for dinner.

Specifically into our wedding clothes (we do vary accessories). I love wearing my wedding dress on our anniversary. It is so nice to slip it on and remember and feel beautiful all over again. Although I do feel self-conscious as times, wondering if people think I am walking around in a wedding dress.

So dinner was WONDERFUL!!!!! We had an 8pm reservation at Spring in Wicker Park. And boy was it great. I really liked the idea of going to a fine dining restaurant that wasn't downtown, which are few and far between. And I wanted to have a tasting menu and the website they said they did by request and the discretion of the chef. Lucky us the chef was willing.

Our waiter took great care of us, helping us pick affordable wine pairings and talking over the food components with us.

We started out with a half bottle of Lucien Crochet Sancerre. Maybe a little smooth for mike , but I loved it. Would love to find and buy this wine. And it went very well with our first few courses:

To start raw oysters with cucumber and wasabi. YUM

Cold App was Sashimi of Pacific Whitetail, it had these great chili-pepper pearls, a gastromony invention that have the appearance and texture of fish eggs, but taste of sweet chili-pepper. loved it.

Hot App was a seared Sea Scallop. Mike LOVED IT. His words, "the best thing I've ever put in my mouth." I loved the bed of fresh chickpeas and tahini sauce, delicious. Never had fresh chickpeas and they were yummy.

Fish Course Atlantic Skatewing. Boy was that good too. It smelled WONDERFUL. A bowl of summer I think was what we called it. Prob becuase it had watermelon in it!

Here is where we decided to share a glass of a Pinot Noir to go with the meat course, again taking the waiter's recommendation.

The meat course was a delicious steak, but what was memorable was the bed of oxtail and mushrooms.

Then we were treated to the most delicious sparkling/effervescent wine I have had. I wish I knew which it was either a Moscato Rosato, or Moscato D'Asti. It was YUM-MY

We had a dessert teaser that was a bite of honey marscopone foam. mmmmmm....

Then fresh made doughnuts with peach ice cream.

Oh it was heaven. I wish we could go every month.

But our night wasn't over it was home to change again before going to the music box to see a friend in a burlesque/vaudville review at midnight. A fun way to end the night, but boy was it late when we got out. And I was glad to splurge on a taxi home, after a day of trains, busses and walking at 2:30am I was ready to take it easy.