(no subject)
Last night, equusregia and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. Looking back on it, I'm very grateful to have a wonderful lady who is a loving wife, partner and mother. My wife has posted about our past anniversaries here so I want to describe what we did this year. As with every milestone anniversary, we decided to make this celebration a bit more extravagant.
It starts of with getting a room at the Grand Floridian hotel in front of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. We normally wouldn't have an opportunity to stay here, but by volunteering for some New Year's Eve overtime, I managed to snag a complementary night's stay. We not only did we get a free room, we got a surprise upgrade to the concierge level and got some extra pampering, a better view and some other cool amenities.
Then for dinner we dined at Victoria & Albert's. This is the best restaurant on Disney property and is the only one that has a dress code and does not allow children under 10. The restaurant is a fine dining experience. The meal is a prix fixe menu of 6 courses and takes about 3 hours to enjoy.
The meal starts of with you being handed a personalized menu. The six courses consists of the amuse bouche, the cold appetizer, the warm appetizer. the fish course, the entree, a cheese course and of course, dessert. Also, since we didn't want to just stick to a single wine, we opted for the optional wine paring where we were presented with glasses of wine chosen by the sommelier for each of our courses. (Personally, I was disappointed that he did not choose a fine fortified wine or some Schlitz Malt Liquor, but his palate may not be as sophisticated as mine.)
For the cold appetizer, Equusregia had the Jumbo Lump and Dungeness Crab with California Asparagus Salad, while I chose the Tamarind-Ancho Marinated Gulf Shrimp with Heirloom Tomato Vinaigrette. These were cracking good starters. I liked the bit of tartiness of my dish and she remarked that she liked the saltiness of her's. This course, as with all the later courses, had exquisite presentation and the flavors were delightfully complex. We both spent each course analyzing and comparing the flavors. We were also very happy with the way the wines mixed and complimented the tastes of the food.
We both selected the Long Island Duck with Roasted Beets and Sherry Bacon Vinaigrette for the warm appetizer. Equusregia thought this was the highlight of the meal and I am inclined to agree. The duck breast was tender and was served with some duck sausage and greenery. I was not as agreeable with the wine pairing. The wine was very good with the duck, but on it's own as a bit too bitter for my taste.
We chose the same fish course. It was a Lock Duart Salmon with Torpedo Onions and Demi-Tasse Cup of Smoked Scotland Salmon. This was a little disappointing. The dish came out with a fillet of salmon and the smoked salmon was served in a cup floating on a creamy celery puree. The fillet was poached and a bit bland and the celery puree was just not hitting it for me. The puree was just a hint of celery and I ended up feeling that the dish didn't have the intensity nor complexity of tastes that the other courses displayed.
The entrees we had were the Kurobuta Pork Tenderloin and Belly with Artichokes and Florida Corn and the Marcho Farm Lamb with Fresh Morels and English Peas. She had the pork while I had the lamb. I found the lamb extremely pleasing. The meat was perfectly seared and cooked with a pleasant layer of seasoning. The mushrooms were nicely sliced and seasoned the sauce was a red wine reduction that worked with the meat. Equusregia was not as pleased with the tenderloin. She and I thought that the sauce was overpowering the meat. A shame since the meat was perfectly cooked.
The cheese course cleansed our palettes and consisted of three cheeses: A Monte Enebro goat cheese served with a fruitcake like bread, a Thistle Hill Tarentaise cheese which was accompanied by champagne grapes and the Colston Bassett Stilton with a cherry chutney. We both agreed that the Stilton was the best of the three when accompanied by the chutney. As Lenny Henry in "Chef" described, "a fine marriage of milk and bug." (Or something like that.) A fine port accompanied the cheeses.
Finally, we had coffee made at the table on a glass or pyrex percolator and dessert. The percolator was a piece of art consisting of a small coffee pot on the bottom and an top percolator vessel resembling an inverted bulb. It was a fascinating device and made a darn fine cup of joe.
Dessert consisted of a Carmelized Bannana Gateau for her and a Grand Marnier Souffle for me. Both were exquisite. The Bannana Gateau was wrapped in a praline shell of crushed macadamia nuts. The souffle was served with both a vanilla ice cream and a creme anglaise.
The meal ended with a rose for the lady and after some pictures to remember the night, we went outside to walk off the meal.
A great night out and do you know what the best part was? The kids were at out neighbor's having a sleepover. Woot! Adult night out!
It starts of with getting a room at the Grand Floridian hotel in front of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. We normally wouldn't have an opportunity to stay here, but by volunteering for some New Year's Eve overtime, I managed to snag a complementary night's stay. We not only did we get a free room, we got a surprise upgrade to the concierge level and got some extra pampering, a better view and some other cool amenities.
Then for dinner we dined at Victoria & Albert's. This is the best restaurant on Disney property and is the only one that has a dress code and does not allow children under 10. The restaurant is a fine dining experience. The meal is a prix fixe menu of 6 courses and takes about 3 hours to enjoy.
The meal starts of with you being handed a personalized menu. The six courses consists of the amuse bouche, the cold appetizer, the warm appetizer. the fish course, the entree, a cheese course and of course, dessert. Also, since we didn't want to just stick to a single wine, we opted for the optional wine paring where we were presented with glasses of wine chosen by the sommelier for each of our courses. (Personally, I was disappointed that he did not choose a fine fortified wine or some Schlitz Malt Liquor, but his palate may not be as sophisticated as mine.)
For the cold appetizer, Equusregia had the Jumbo Lump and Dungeness Crab with California Asparagus Salad, while I chose the Tamarind-Ancho Marinated Gulf Shrimp with Heirloom Tomato Vinaigrette. These were cracking good starters. I liked the bit of tartiness of my dish and she remarked that she liked the saltiness of her's. This course, as with all the later courses, had exquisite presentation and the flavors were delightfully complex. We both spent each course analyzing and comparing the flavors. We were also very happy with the way the wines mixed and complimented the tastes of the food.
We both selected the Long Island Duck with Roasted Beets and Sherry Bacon Vinaigrette for the warm appetizer. Equusregia thought this was the highlight of the meal and I am inclined to agree. The duck breast was tender and was served with some duck sausage and greenery. I was not as agreeable with the wine pairing. The wine was very good with the duck, but on it's own as a bit too bitter for my taste.
We chose the same fish course. It was a Lock Duart Salmon with Torpedo Onions and Demi-Tasse Cup of Smoked Scotland Salmon. This was a little disappointing. The dish came out with a fillet of salmon and the smoked salmon was served in a cup floating on a creamy celery puree. The fillet was poached and a bit bland and the celery puree was just not hitting it for me. The puree was just a hint of celery and I ended up feeling that the dish didn't have the intensity nor complexity of tastes that the other courses displayed.
The entrees we had were the Kurobuta Pork Tenderloin and Belly with Artichokes and Florida Corn and the Marcho Farm Lamb with Fresh Morels and English Peas. She had the pork while I had the lamb. I found the lamb extremely pleasing. The meat was perfectly seared and cooked with a pleasant layer of seasoning. The mushrooms were nicely sliced and seasoned the sauce was a red wine reduction that worked with the meat. Equusregia was not as pleased with the tenderloin. She and I thought that the sauce was overpowering the meat. A shame since the meat was perfectly cooked.
The cheese course cleansed our palettes and consisted of three cheeses: A Monte Enebro goat cheese served with a fruitcake like bread, a Thistle Hill Tarentaise cheese which was accompanied by champagne grapes and the Colston Bassett Stilton with a cherry chutney. We both agreed that the Stilton was the best of the three when accompanied by the chutney. As Lenny Henry in "Chef" described, "a fine marriage of milk and bug." (Or something like that.) A fine port accompanied the cheeses.
Finally, we had coffee made at the table on a glass or pyrex percolator and dessert. The percolator was a piece of art consisting of a small coffee pot on the bottom and an top percolator vessel resembling an inverted bulb. It was a fascinating device and made a darn fine cup of joe.
Dessert consisted of a Carmelized Bannana Gateau for her and a Grand Marnier Souffle for me. Both were exquisite. The Bannana Gateau was wrapped in a praline shell of crushed macadamia nuts. The souffle was served with both a vanilla ice cream and a creme anglaise.
The meal ended with a rose for the lady and after some pictures to remember the night, we went outside to walk off the meal.
A great night out and do you know what the best part was? The kids were at out neighbor's having a sleepover. Woot! Adult night out!