Anniversary #9

We've been dragging our feet, trying to come up with one last thing we'd like to do in honor of our anniversary. Which was in March. Given our quest for frugality this year, we've definitely been reigning in spending, but that's left us feeling a bit uninspired.

1// Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus
I won free tickets at work - talk about a frugal gift! - so I surprised Francisco with a pre-anniversary present.  This was one of the last performances of the circus before shutting down for good.

2// 27 Bar+Kitchen 
9 times out of 10, I prefer dining somewhere new, so we settled on 27 Bar+Kitchen in Newport for a Friday night dinner the weekend before our anniversary. The restaurant has a simple, rustic environment. We had Blood Orange Negroni, which we much preferred over a traditional Negroni since this was made with Aperol and not Campari. It had a good balance of bite with the citrus flavor. I had the Strawberry Fields, which was heavy on the ginger flavor, not so much the strawberry.

Of course, we got the Deep Fried Cheese Sticks to start - Monterey jack cheese, wonton wrapped, deep fried golden, then tossed in a blend of Parmesan, black pepper and herb. Delicious. The texture was definitely a little different than what we're used to with a cheese stick because of the wonton wrapping.

Francisco had the Chef's Grilled Cheese, and I had the Tacos. We lucked out in that desserts were half-price that evening, so there was no way we were leaving without getting one dessert [each]. Francisco had the Aztec brownie, a double layer brownie with a sweet and spicy buttercream center. It was definitely an interesting blend of spicy and traditional brownie. I had the Deep Fried Cheesecake Rolls - four wraps filled with creamy cheesecake and deep fried golden. They're topped with a chocolate sauce, a banana rum sauce, and fresh berries. Very tasty.

3// Picnic
The 9th anniversary theme is pottery and willow. We went the willow picnic basket route and had an indoor picnic by the fireplace since it was still cold outside that week of March.

We had picked up some snacks at Jungle Jim's, so we also filmed a video you can check out on my YouTube channel. I'll also include it below.

4// Heart Cake
In perhaps what is the most perfect representation of marriage, we made a heart cake. But, you see, I wanted brownies and Francisco wanted strawberry cake.

So, we made both and put 'em together. The perfect tasty compromise.

5// O Pie O
In case you forgot we like to eat...Francisco surprised me by coming home with a stack of pie slices from O Pie O.  (OK, I regularly stalk Mint.com, so I'd actually already seen the credit card charge go through...) We had lemon, pecan, chocolate, and sweet potato pie.

6// Homemade Pasta
Making homemade pasta has been on our list for a while, but we finally actually tried this. We made spaghetti and gnocchi. The gnocchi was super-tasty!

7// Bauer
It was actually our 9-year 1-month anniversary when we went to Bauer, a European Farm Kitchen with a modern twist. You can read about our dining experience here.

8// Hummingbird Feeder
Apparently, we got rid of our hummingbird feeder last year - neither of us can remember for sure. Either way, we couldn't find it, and we talked about getting a new one for a while. Even talked about making one. Talking wasn't bringing the hummingbirds to the deck though, so I finally went and bought one.

Our hummingbird restaurant had its first customer very quickly!

9// I Give Up
It's August. AUGUST. Our anniversary was in March. The latest I've gotten these recaps posted in the past is the second week of June (read: #6, #7, & #8). So, I give up.

So, um, yeah, happy anniversary to us nearly five months ago. Maybe we'll be more on top of things next year.