sun in my belly

we enjoyed an amazing night out last friday night...a date night!  we conversed with adult company and lingered over a 3 hour dinner including 5 courses and plenty of wine.  it was wonderful.  thank you to karen, mike and laura for tag teaming on the babysitting so that we could go out and enjoy ourselves!  and, thanks to reid, kirk, jack, and hailey for a super fun evening at sun in my belly! here is what we had for dinner:

cocktail and appetizer course ~ blood orange bellini; southern pate crostini with lady apples + cheddar cheese and apricot on herb crostini (delicious! great start!)

first course ~ spaghetti carbonara with caramelized ham and fresh asparagus tips with aged parmesan (glorified mac and cheese...good, but i am glad it was just a small bowl)

salad course ~ early spring salad of watercress + ruby red grapefruit + marcona almonds + tarragon vinaigrette (the tarragon vinaigrette was amazing!)

entree course ~ beef bourguignon + rutabaga and roasted cauliflower mash + grilled wild ramps drizzled with walnut oil (superb.  this course was by far everyone's favorite.)

dessert ~ pistachio + honey pastry torte with black pepper creme anglaise + stewed apricots (this was so disappointing.  i love my desserts and this was frozen!  they said it was supposed to be that way, but that is hard for me to believe since all you could taste was freezer.)