Four Years and Counting

You know, in some ways it's hard for me to believe that four years have passed since our wedding day. It still feels so fresh in my memory. In other ways, it seems like we've been married much longer than that (in a good way, I promise). To celebrate our 4th anniversary, we had dinner reservations in the city, but nature had other plans in mind. That afternoon, a crazy storm swept through the area that we had no desire to battle on our way into downtown, so we moved our reservation and spent a quiet night at home instead. My husband even offered to cook which is an offer I cannot refuse.

Due to a failed attempt to beat the storm, I got home Thursday night after driving through the worst part of it to find a stunning bouquet of flowers on the counter (because the 4 years is the flower anniversary), a bottle of wine, and a handsome man chopping vegetables. Is there a better sight?  He made us one of his specialties, pasta with bolognese (we love Mark Bittman's recipe in How to Cook Everything) along with Caesar salad and bread studded with roasted garlic.

Saturday we went out for our delayed dinner at FT33. It was, in a word, amazing. By far the best dinner we've had in Dallas (though, admittedly, we haven't tried all that many restaurants yet). We were seated side by side at the chef's table looking directly into the kitchen, which was really interesting (though not exactly a serene spot). We sipped on a barrel-aged cocktail while browsing the menu. The Final Say was a delicious riff on one of our favorites, the Last Word, with gin, Chartreuse, and lime, and for a place seemingly known more for their wine, we were very impressed. We shared a pretty unbelievable charcuterie board featuring seven homemade treats along with pickled okra, green tomatoes, and cucumber and smears of whole-grain mustard and stone fruit jam.

My entrée were two giant pork short ribs along with corn, arugula, and crumbles of dehydrated corn shortbread (it sounds weird, but it was airy and crunchy and very good). The tender, rich meat was even better when swiped through the  puddles of arugula chimichurri on the plate. Our recommended wines were both unique and perfect pairings (though I will say that these are some of the most expensive wines by the glass that I've ever seen). At nice dinners, we usually compete to see who picked the better dish, but this is one of the few times that we felt like we both walked away winners, me with my pork and him with his Wagyu beef. The evening came to a close with a cheese board served on a gorgeous wood plank along with honey, spiced nuts, and some more of that fabulous stone fruit jam. Our favorite was a cheese from Utah with a tea-rubbed rind!

It was an absolutely lovely evening, and even though we had to modify our plans a bit, the weather gave us an excuse to celebrate our anniversary twice, which made for a pretty special way to kick off our 5th year of marriage. I will say that I feel pretty lucky to have found this man, and I look forward to where the coming years will take us together!