Wonderful Weekend

Derek and I had an absolutely fantastic anniversary celebration on Friday. He had been in Chicago all last week for work and just returned home on Thursday night, so it was great to spend some time together.

He sent me flowers on Friday, and then he surprised me with some beautiful earrings from Tiffany & Co. Just the pretty blue box alone would have been a gift enough! Ha! They're gorgeous, and I'm one happy girl! :)

We headed downtown for dinner at Parlor Market. We had yet to try it, but we had heard amazing things about the place, so we decided our anniversary dinner would be a perfect time to try it. The atmosphere was really cool, and the owner brought us out complimentary champagne in honor of our anniversary. Perfect way to start the evening... we ordered a bottle of wine, then the Fried Oysters Rockefeller as an appetizer were DELICIOUS.

For our entrees, I ordered the braised pork belly, which was so good! It came with a poached quail egg on top (yes, I know, this from chicken finger girl) and some kind of delicious sauce. Derek ordered the wild game special, which was ANTELOPE with refried black-eyed peas and some sort of Mexican street corn/pop rocks-like side dish. It felt like we were on Iron Chef! And for dessert... french toast souffle with a strawberry bourbon sauce and bacon ice cream. In case you're wondering how bacon and ice cream go together, I asked the same thing. Derek simply told me that bacon goes with everything, and I now officially agree. So good!

Anyways, if you're ever looking for a Food Networkish restaurant to try, check out Parlor Market. You will not be disappointed.

On Saturday I woke up with a teeny bit of a champagne headache, but it went away pretty quickly when I realized what a gorgeous day it was outside. We met Drew and Kristin at the Crawdad Hole to enjoy the beautiful day (they ran out of crawfish - boo!), then we headed over to Sportsman's for "LodgeFest", their outdoor music and crawfish festival. It was so pretty outside and I finally got a little bit of sun, so now I don't feel so Casper-like. :)

The best news of the weekend came from Japan. I finally got to talk with Cassidy on Saturday night and learned that they are safe and sound and were hardly affected by the earthquake where they were. That being said, I think it's safe to say that our trip is still on! I'm sooo relieved on so many different levels, and we're still watching the news to make sure traveling will be safe, but talking with her made me feel so much better. My prayers are still with all of those who were affected and continue to try to recover. Maybe our little boost to the economy will help, you never know.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend our way. Happy Monday!