A Fabulous 30th Birthday Dinner

Well, I survived turning 30.  Not that I didn't think I would ... It's just still a little hard to wrap my head around the fact that I'm 30 years old.

I typically don't do weekend recaps on this blog (mostly because the majority of my weekends are pretty low-key), but I'm going to make an exception this week and at least offer up a birthday dinner recap.

We didn't go out to celebrate on my actual birthday (Friday).  This was my choice.  By Friday I'm usually pretty exhausted, and reenergizing with a yoga class seemed like a better idea than getting ready and going out for a nice dinner (though, to be fair, that's never a bad idea).  We did end the evening with a treat, though: Talenti gelato.  (And no, this isn't a sponsored post.  I just like sharing products I actually really enjoy.)  Eric picked up two pints at Target as a little surprise for me since I've been going on and on about how much I love gelato.  We tried the Tahitian Vanilla Bean and Sicilian Pistachio, and both were delicious (especially the Sicilian Pistachio ... I just kept saying, "Oh my God, this is amazing!" with every bite).  I now want to try pretty much every other flavor they offer.

Saturday, though, was the main event.  Since I surprised Eric with his birthday dinner and had a lot of fun researching the perfect place and making secret plans, I told him I wanted to be surprised as well.  I had no idea what he'd come up with, but, since he loves trying new restaurants as much as I do, I knew it would be awesome.

He did not disappoint!

We ended up at Dario's Brasserie, a local French and Belgian restaurant.  (This is actually perfect because we'll be heading to France, Belgium, and The Netherlands in a few months to celebrate our 1 year anniversary as a married couple!  I don't think I've shared that on this blog yet, but we're both really excited!)

Eric tried a couple of Belgian beers, including the Delirium Nocturnum featured in this picture.  I had two glasses of delicious sparkling wine (according to the menu, this is made in the Champagne style and it tasted almost exactly like champagne.

We kept our appetizer simple with some Belgian Pommes Frites.  We considered ordering a platter of mussels to split and then an entrée, but I was a little worried that the platter would be huge and  we wouldn't be hungry for our meals (or dessert).  These were really good, though, so I'm glad I decided to order them.

Eric ordered the King Salmon.  Unfortunately, they haven't updated their menu online (the one we ordered from was different than the one posted on their website), so I can't give any additional details about the dish.  I did try a bite, though, and it was amazing!

I decided to be adventurous and ordered the Rabbit Roulade (a sausage made from rabbit loin, according to the menu).  I'd never tried rabbit before, and it was delicious.  I don't know what I could compare it to, but it did have a bit of a gamey flavor sort of like venison or bison (which is actually something I really like).

Of course, no birthday dinner is complete without dessert.  Everything on the dessert menu sounded great, but I couldn't pass up crème brûlée.  And this was amazing!

I couldn't get the best pictures in the restaurant because the lighting wasn't really made for picture taking (not to mention the fact that I was using my iPhone).  It was, however, nice for a romantic ambience.  It was perfect for a date, and I'm so glad Eric chose to have my birthday dinner there!

And finally, no recap post is complete without a picture (or two) of the people involved:

Yeah, yeah ... The car picture probably doesn't reflect super safe driving.  Don't worry, though ... He looked over for just a second while I snapped the picture.

There's a reason I've included a picture of a shoe.  Even though I didn't get a good picture of my outfit, I had to share this: I actually wore a dress and heels!  Now for most women, this isn't a big deal.  In fact, I'm sure someone reading this right now is probably like, "Um okay ... I wear that every day."  But here's the thing ... I don't.  I'm a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl.  While I actually do love fashion, I love being comfortable more.  (It probably also doesn't help that I work in an environment where jeans and t-shirts are the norm.  After all, you just cover up your clothes with a lab coat anyway.)  So it was actually a big deal for me to put on a dress and heels!

Eric seemed to love the look too (I got so many compliments from him that night!), so maybe I'll have to incorporate more dresses and heels into my wardrobe.  I'll definitely have to practice walking in heels a little more, though.  The reason my foot isn't in that shoe is because my feet were killing me by the time we got home (we only had to walk maybe 3 blocks to the restaurant from our parking spot, so it wasn't like we traipsed all over town), and I had to immediately remove my shoes.  I can't imagine wearing heels all the time!  (Though, let's be honest ... It would be pretty awesome to become Carrie Bradshaw fabulous and have the ability to run all over Manhattan in 4" Manolos.  Maybe one day.)

Overall, it was a fantastic and relaxing weekend.  Hopefully this is only the beginning of a wonderful and exciting new decade!