Anniversary celebration

As I mentioned in my last post, Thursday was our 4th anniversary.  Part of me feels like the actual wedding day was so long ago - some of the details that I pondered over and worked on so diligently for the year of our engagement are starting to fade from memory.  But at the same time, the last 4 years have really flown by.  Time just moves so fast, and I'm sure it will only continue to get quicker.

It's been our tradition to take a vacation day on our anniversary.  Since our first was a Monday, we thought that was pretty lame so we decided to take the day off, and have continued it each year.  Some years we've played golf, gone to local wineries, and just spent the 'free' day together.  This year we did the same, but it was a little different.  We signed up over a year ago to volunteer at the 2011 U.S. Open, so we both had shifts on Thursday.

We woke up Thursday morning, and husband had run to the store to get flowers - and he brought home peonies!  Peonies are one of my favorites, and it's what I carried in our wedding!  It was such a nice surprise - and he also took my hints of leaving several internet windows open on my laptop to specific pieces of David Yurman jewelry that I would like, and gave me a beautiful bracelet. 

After opening presents and lounging around with Cady a bit, we headed up to Bethesda for the tournament.  We worked our separate shifts and decided to hang around for a little while and watch some golf.  We caught up with Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy for a couple of holes, and watched a few other groups come through the green we were sitting on.  Then the sky got a little dark and we decided to book it out of there, just in time before the rains started.

Dinner was a the newest Michel Richards' restaurant Michel in Tysons Corner.  We've been to Central downtown and loved it, but after being at the tournament all day, we knew we didn't want to mess with driving into the city.  Michel proved to be a wonderful choice!

In an attempt to branch out (and not spend $100+ on a bottle of wine), we asked for a French wine recommendation.  The sommelier suggested a couple and we selected the 2009 Mercurey, La Perrière Michel Sarrazin for $65, which was really wonderful.  We started with the Japanese Eel Carpaccio.  It was very different - extremely thin slices of eel with a very light sauce on them.  Husband loves things like this - it was good, and only enough for a couple of bites so not too rich.  Their bread was amazing - big, rustic pieces.  I had the braised lamb shank with flageolet beans and rosemary.  It was delicious, the meat was extremely tender.  Flageolet beans are found in French cooking and typically served with lamb.  They were delicious. 

Matt had the onion carbonara and a side of macaroni gratin with prosciutto.  The onion carbonara is a starter, but he had it for his meal.  It's delicious - it looks just like spaghetti but it's steamed onions with cream, bacon, parmesean, and some herbs, topped with large, beautiful slices of parmesean.  The macaroni was to die for - the crusty top was so delicious.

Please excuse the dark, grainy cell phone pictures.  I'm not usually one to take pictures in a restaurant, but we decided it would be a nice blog addition!

We opted to not get desert as our last few desert experiences haven't been the greatest.  You're already full, and rather than over stuffing yourself and spending $15 on something you don't really want, we decided that a Ghirardelli chocolate square (or 3) at home would be just enough.  I highly recommend Michel if you're looking for a nice place for dinner.  We had an amazing dinner, and it wasn't crazy expensive like some places can be.  Plus it's right in Tyson's, so you're not treking into the city for us suburban folks. 

It was a great day overall getting to spend time together!  Here's to many more anniversary celebrations in our future!