Wedded Bliss

This weekend, my husband and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary. It's funny, so many of our friends commented how they couldn't believe it had already been a year. Dave and I pretty much couldn't wait for the year to be over!

They say your first year is your hardest, and I think we were dealt some pretty difficulty challenges these past twelve months. Between Dave's back injury and losing his job, and me taking a temporary pay cut in order to gain some sanity in our lives, coupled with my dad getting hit by a car, my mom changing jobs and having surgery, and all the stuff going on with friends and people close to us, this year has not been easy. We toasted to a Happy New Year, hoping that the next twelve months (and the many years to come) will be easy in comparison. In fact, one of the biggest things I'm looking forward to this year is spending Christmas with Dave, something we couldn't do last year since he was injured and couldn't travel with me to Pittsburgh. (I had to go--children were counting on me.)


Saturday night we had reservations at Gibbet Hill Grill. We'd been there once before for a friend's graduation party and every once and a while would mention that we really need to go there for dinner. Taking advantage of a special occasion, we decided to go. When we arrived, the place was pretty busy, with a full dining room and filling bar area, as well as a wedding about to begin outside. The reception was to be held in The Barn, a separate building across from the main Grill restaurant. Our table was in the back at the windows, so I was able to see a little bit of the ceremony once it started. (We didn't crash this one either. Although we were appropriately dressed, alas we did not have a gift.)

Our waiter was great--very fun and attentive. And the food. Oh. My. God. I had been planning all week what I was going to have, doing extra workouts to accommodate all the yummy goodies I wanted. But words really can't describe it (not that I won't try!) Much of the food featured on the menu is grown either right on the farm or is local to the area. It's so fresh and the flavors are perfectly melded together with other fresh ingredients.


We ordered drinks, and looked over the menu, for Dave's benefit since I already had it figured out. Dave got a gin and tonic, and since I was getting steak and I am my mother's daughter, I ordered a Maker's Mark Manhattan. (And about halfway through the glass, I was finally able to taste the ice! I'm just saying, that was one drunk cherry, totally unfit to drive.)

As an appetizer, we ordered the Farmhouse Grilled Cheeses, made with local cheese and bread from a nearby bakery. This included a wonderfully sharp cheddar on a perfect sourdough bread, and a yummy goat cheese and roasted red pepper spread on a crusty french bread. They were gooey and warm and paired with a fresh tomato soup for dipping. Well, they called it soup, but it was really more like a thick marinara sauce in texture, but tomato soup flavor all the way. I could have licked the bowl, it was that good.

Dave had ordered a cup of New England Clam Chowder, which he said was perfectly creamy without being too thick. My meal came with a house salad, with all kinds of fresh greens, local goat cheese and a tangy chardonnay vinaigrette.

But really, we came to this place for the cow. And it was excellent. Dave had the Prime Rib Au Jus with garlic mashed red bliss potatoes and citrus-honey glazed carrots. I thoroughly enjoyed the Sirloin Steak Tips with a perfect baked potato. We figure they do a lot of wood-fired cooking there, because while the food wasn't necessarily smoky, there was a slight flavor to it that could only come from a wood-fired oven. The steak was so smooth--an intense flavor and a soft, butter texture. The most perfect steak tips ever.

Of course, I was celebrating and knew I was having dessert. I had a little bit of convincing to do for Dave, but he humored me and joined it. Gibbet Hill actually serves Milk and Cookies on their dessert menu (come on, how often do you see that?), and I pondered that option. Our waiter told us the cookies were Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Cranberry, and I was almost hooked. Two of my favorites. But I decided against it because those are also two of my best cookie recipes and I wanted to try something unique. In the end it was Chocolate Pots de Creme with salted caramel, while Dave chose the Peach Crisp.

Ok, so I wasn't actually certain what Chocolate Pots de Creme was, but the waiter sold it by saying "silky smooth" and "chocolate" in the same sentence. It arrived in a mug and the top layer was smooth caramel, topped with just a little bit of cream. A-maze-ing. It was the silkiest of chocolate mousse, with an intense chocolate flavor, almost like hot cocoa in taste, paired with an oozing pool of caramel with a salted kick to cut the chocolate back a little. I could have licked the mug. And almost did. The Peach Crisp was huge, topped with almost two scoops of vanilla ice cream (the waiter told us later that he put more on it because he didn't think there was enough when he picked it up from the kitchen). The peaches were perfect and the cinnamon-y, nutty struesel topping was delicious.

We so rarely go out and get drinks, appetizers, and dessert with our meal, but celebrating "New Year's" seemed appropriate. We went home, snuggled on the couch, looked at our wedding album and digested.


Sunday, our actual anniversary, Dave's parent's came over to have lunch and celebrate with us. Dave and I popped a bottle of champagne for breakfast and toasted to a less chaotic year. After lunch with Madaline and Ernie, they gave us presents. A couple of entertaining dishes, since we have people over often, and a very special gift from Madaline.

Madaline is a quilter and an incredibly talented one at that. For our wedding, she made us this:


It's a king-sized quilt (her first) in beautiful colors. The picture doesn't do justice for the pattern or the quilt work she did, so trust me when I say it's gorgeous.

So I was quite surprised to open our gift yesterday and find this:


A beautiful "snuggling"quilt in our wedding colors. I swear, she picks the best fabrics. The border has hearts looped all the way around it and it's just lovely. Madaline commented that she didn't know our wedding colors when she started the bed quilt, so she had to make us another one! I don't think that was quite necessary, but it was very thoughtful.

So one year down, we spent the rest of the day watching football and it couldn't have been more perfect. I'm so lucky to have married such a wonderful guy that has been supportive and positive in a year that has been challenging and difficult. I think I'll keep him.