Morning! As you know, Monday was Matt’s 30th birthday! He requested a home cooked meal for the occasion and I set to planning a cozy dinner for the two of us to enjoy upon arriving home from our workout at Crossfit Dupont.
First up – wine, of course! I picked out this Kendall Jackson Chardonnay and we both loved it.
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Matt hung out in the kitchen while I cooked, enjoying his wine and these fancy olives I picked up as a little appetizer.
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Our first course was salad! Just a simple combination of mixed greens, heirloom yellow tomato, green pepper, avocado, and a homemade balsamic vinaigrette (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, lemon juice, salt, pepper).
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Enjoyed on the porch with our wine. Beautiful night!
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While we enjoyed our salad, part of the main course was roasting away in the oven – asparagus!
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I used my usual plastic bag trick – just throw the veggies into a ziplock bag, drizzle in some olive oil, salt, and pepper, then shake the bag up to evenly mix it! So much easier (and more effective) than trying to drizzle on the oil when it’s already on the tray.
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I roasted them at 350 for about 20 minutes.
For our main course, Matt requested my Almond Encrusted Tilapia (click for recipe)! Coming from a guy who used to hate seafood when we first started dating, this was a huge victory. Try this recipe – it’s a winner! The key is toasting the almonds in the pan after the fish is done. SO good!
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Dinner is served! Almond Encrusted Tilapia, roasted asparagus, and some of my quinoa and lentil salad from Sunday. Yum!
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Then, of course it was time for dessert. You can’t have a birthday dinner without dessert! I picked up an assortment of mini desserts from Whole Foods – an apple tart, a fruit tart, and in the back on the left is a cookies and cream cheesecake. Our favorite was the apple tart – it was awesome.
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Such a fun night. We followed dinner with present and card opening and the birthday celebration continued last night because my parents took us out for a fancy dinner at Ray’s the Steaks! Yum.
Time to get back to the grind – work awaits! Have a good Wednesday, everyone!
What’s meal do you request when it’s your birthday? I usually ask for some sort of fancy seafood dish!