An Anniversary Lunch at Farm Bloomington

Today is our 29th anniversary

and the Foodie Husband and I had business

in downtown Bloomington today.

We decided to have lunch together afterwards.

I gave him a choice of three restaurants

and he decided on Farm Bloomington

since it was the closest one.

 Can't say I can blame him as it was cold and snowing.

 Not many people are out today because of the weather.

 The decor is interesting.

 Those are bedpans on the wall - between the bathrooms.

 Old quilts act as room dividers.

After perusing the menu, we ordered.

My husband ordered the omelet special of the day.

This had cheddar cheese, chorizo and ham.

It came with fries.

He liked the omelet very much.

 I ordered the Jim's Pork Burger.

This was a "house-made Pork Patty with Apple Butter

on Pullman Bread."

The server suggested cheddar cheese and bacon

and a side of Farm fries.

That sounded good.

 This is one tall sandwich.

 I cut the sandwich in half.

The pork patty is filled with peppers.

It was nice and juicy and slightly spicy.

The apple butter was made in house,

and the bread was artisan-made.

The fries were hand cut and

even the catsup was made in house.

But in the end I had to take half my food home with me

as I was full after just half the sandwich.

  

I will definitely come back here.

Chef Daniel Orr

has written two cookbooks.

I may have to see about getting them.

My wonderful husband

even brought me flowers.

Thank you dear!

Happy Anniversary 

and thank you for a lovely lunch.

A Special Dinner Out

Since my husband had to be at a meeting on our anniversary earlier in the week,

he made it up to me by taking me out to eat on Friday evening.

He even let me choose the restaurant.

That was nice because he would likely have picked Red Lobster.

I, however, chose Chapman's Restaurant and Bar.

We got to sit right next to the fireplace.

And look at that wall of wine.

I think I am in love.

My dear husband chose to start his meal with the Caesar salad.

The Foodie Daughter and I had eaten lunch here last week

and we had each enjoyed this lovely salad.

I decided to go a different direction and ordered the Mixed Greens Salad

with toasted almonds, sun dried cherries, Roma tomatoes,

hearts of palm, basil infused olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

The meal came with rolls and butter.

My husband also decided to order the 6-oz. Grilled New York Strip Steak with

shiitake mushroom butter, spice roasted sweet potatoes

and fresh vegetables.

He did ask to have Yukon Gold potatoes substituted for the roasted sweet potatoes.

The nice people at Chapman's were only too happy to oblige.

The dear husband was a very happy man.

He enjoyed his meal very much even though he generally doesn't like veggies.

I of course had earlier perused the menu online and already had a selection in mind.

I just hoped that they weren't out of it this time.

I was in luck.

I ordered the Sautéed Breast of Indiana Duck

in caramelized berry sauce

with potato lorettes

and fresh vegetables.

I had never had duck breast before and was anxious to try this new dish.

Honestly, if I didn't know it was duck, I wouldn't have guessed it was duck.

But it was tasty, tender and succulent.

The vegetables were good,

with summer squash, mushrooms, onion, cherry tomatoes, and carrots.

And as promised, they were fresh, not frozen.

The potato lorettes were essentially deep-fried potato puffs.

Sorry, Chapman's, but mine are so much better.

I would be willing to sell you my recipe.

Have your people call my people.

All in all, this was a lovely meal.

Truly, Chapman's is a gem in the vast culinary landscape of our town.

An Anniversary Dinner

Tuesday happened to mark our 27th anniversary

and as the dear husband had to attend a function in his duties as president of his

chamber of commerce,

I was forced to rethink our anniversary dinner.

What to make,

what to make?

What would Rosie Hawthorne do?

To start with, I went to the grocery store with the idea to let the sales guide me.

Somewhere along the way I knew I would find a beef roast of some sort that would be on sale.

And I had the feeling that a beef bourguignon was on the menu.

Now I just had to find a recipe.

Of course I Googled it and found a recipe from Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa.

With apologies to Ina,

I then proceeded to butcher the recipe.

My mise en place:

thick-sliced bacon

beef roast

onion

mushrooms

carrots

celery

beef stock

kosher salt

black pepper

dried thyme

Shiraz wine

flour

garlic cloves

tomato paste

After frying the bacon lardons, I seared the cubed beef roast.

This is important:

When searing meat in a stainless steel or cast iron pan,

let the meat "tell" you when to turn it.
When it releases from the pan, it is time to turn.

And not a moment before.

After the meat was seared and removed to the slow cooker,

the vegetables were then cooked in the same pan.

Then the red wine was added and the pan was deglazed.

Remember, we are fond of fond.

I chose to finish this dish in the slow cooker since my husband would not be home until late.

Towards the end of the cooking time,

I sauteed the mushrooms and added those along with

the beurre manie (butter and flour mixture)

to the slow cooker.

Can't you just see all the flavors?

This was delightful, served along with some buttered noodles.

And as a bonus, this dish was even better the next day.

Happy Anniversary, Dear Husband

It's hard to believe it's been 27 years.

And while we are at it,

why don't we celebrate by finally opening that bottle of fine Kentucky Bourbon we purchased last June?

Cheers, my dear.

And here's to another 27 years.

Twenty-six Years

My husband and I have been married twenty-six years as of today. It seems as if it were just yesterday that I stood wearing my borrowed wedding dress in my church's ladies' chamber, nervously tearing apart the ribbon wrapping the handle of my bouquet while waiting for my soon-to-be husband and his family to arrive for our wedding.

Twenty-six years, two children, a daughter-in-law, a grandchild, a cat, three houses, nine cars and six jobs later and here we are today. How very far we have traveled the winding roads of life together.

Happy anniversary, dear husband!

A Special Day, Continued

As promised, I am reporting the events of my 25th anniversary and the remaining surprises my husband had for me.

Once he returned home this afternoon, I presented him with the gifts I had gotten for him. Our town has an Arts Festival every year on Labor Day weekend. I try to find unique and special items each time I go. This year I found an artist from Floyds Knobs, IN, who had some lovely water colors and signed and numbered prints. Her name is Cathy Hillegas and I will be looking for her and her work at the next Arts Festival. I bought a couple of signed and numbered prints from her as well as three note cards, which I then transformed into a framed montage. I later found some frames for the prints and finished the gifts for my husband. He will have to decide if he wants to hang them here at home or in his office at the bank.

I had been told to dress up as we were once again going out to eat this evening. My daughter took it upon herself to supervise my wardrobe selections, since she didn't want me to wear my usual black. She then applied my makeup and curled my hair. I was ready just in time, as our ride arrived: a black stretch limo. It seems that one of the perks of purchasing a large diamond for an engagement ring (or to set in an existing ring) from this particular local jeweler is a complimentary dinner at a local restaurant, complete with an evening of being chauffeured around in a limousine. Our daughter Kelley rode with us up to the restaurant and then was driven back home while we dined in style. We started off with salads, and then my husband had a Maytag blue cheese filet while I had a Hawaiian rib eye steak. Each dinner came with garlic mashed potatoes and another side item. Once we were pleasantly full, the limo whisked us back home. What can I say? It was wonderful and I will remember this weekend for a very long time. As my daughter would say, not a bad investment for 25 years of marriage. Thank you, dear, and thank you, Kelley, for your help!

A Frosty Morning and a Special Day

I woke up to a beautiful, if cold, morning. Camera in hand, I set out to attempt to capture some of the beauty around me.

A tangle of barberry and a prostrate azalea are transformed by the heavy frost.



Part of the beauty of a heavy frost is its ability to alter our perceptions and seem to change the very nature of ordinary objects.

A view from my front porch. The concrete silo is the only sign that this neighbohood lies on an old farm.

Another view from my front porch.

And a hint at why this is also a special day. Today is my 25th anniversary. I am not sure the nervous bride-to-be ever expected the life that lay ahead of her that day so long ago. My dear husband managed to surprise me (no easy feat) and bought me a dozen red roses...

Before presenting me with my original wedding ring set (he and my daughter had convinced me that I was only getting the ring resized and the setting repointed), complete with a new, much larger diamond.

Then while we were waiting for dinner at our local Red Lobster(tm), my husband gave me a box containing my original diamond that has been put into a setting for a necklace. My understanding is that the surprises aren't over yet, though. I will report on that, as well as my less than stellar presents that I will be giving to my husband.