Tuesday, April 23, 2024

A Break to Celebrate Our Thirtieth Anniversary

I love Midwestern skies during storms. It was sprinkling a bit when we went out today for an early dinner around 3:45pm. Off in the distance we could see the rain coming down, I tried to capture it in this photo.


Hom Furniture delivery staff brought our bedroom furniture today at 8:00am. The two young men demonstrated pride in their work and were conscientious in asking me to check that they did understand how I wanted the rooms laid out. Truthfully, there wasn’t a lot of layout choice. In the end there was only one viable layout. I thought the rooms were bigger and look a tad bit crowded with the furniture in them. It made me realize that items appear smaller in the showroom! Without walls there is extraordinarily little frame of reference. Live and learn.

We decided to take a break from packing to go to Costco and get our shopping done. We got to Costco at 11:30 am and left at 1:30pm. We have a freezer in the garage which allows us to buy meat in bulk and then vacuum package it in portions for two, We bought walleye, ground beef, beef sirloin for stroganoff and stews, chicken breasts, chicken thighs, pork tenderloin roasts, pork loin chops, bacon, and hot dogs. There may have been more. While Joe went to Cub to get the items we don’t purchase in bulk, I repackaged the meats. It took me an hour and a half, but the good news is that I won’t have to do it again for months.

Today is our thirtieth wedding anniversary and we did not want to work the entire day away. We decided on an early dinner at The Hen and Hog. During my volunteer stint at the thrift store volunteers had shared that they thought it was great food and they thought I would like it. They were sure right! The prices are extremely reasonable, and our food tasted incredible. Joe is not a bacon fan, but he loved their hog belly bites as a shared appetizer. The description “slow roasted duroc pork belly, maple bourbon glaze, tart cherries, crostini” should have included “mouth watering and decadent.” We agreed the flavors in our meal today were among the best we have ever eaten. I told Joe it reminded me of my all-time favorite restaurant, Tazzina’s Bistro in Woodland, which went out of business in June of 2012.

Joe ordered a wild mushroom and Gruyere burger which the menu describes as two ground chuck and brisket patties smash seared with wild mushroom truffle confit, gruyere cheese and garlic aioli on a brioche bun. It was a lot of sandwich, the photo below is after he had taken several bites. He was in seventh heaven. I selected a dish that does not show on their current online menu. Pappardelle pasta with Wagyu steak bites, bleu cheese, and mushrooms in a crème sauce. Think first-class stroganoff. I brought half of my meal home as it was very filling and there had to be room for dessert! The Crème Brule was divine. Great anniversary meal.

After dinner we came home, and I spent an hour transferring spices from the original packaging to our spice jars for our one-of-a-kind Ginger Burden designed spice rack. We love the spice rack as almost every spice we use in cooking fits on the rack, in alphabetical order.

Tomorrow we will get back to unpacking. It is going to take us awhile to get the house settled. I am still hoping to have it done by the end of April. That may be a tad bit unreasonable but hey shooting for bug goals is what I am all about. 


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