More quail eggs...

Recently, I celebrated that dark day when you officially become a year older. Jim had taken the week off work (husband of the year!) and took me and Charlie out on the town. First stop, Carytown in Richmond...a cute little stretch of boutiques and restaurants. We had been meaning to go for years, but never found it. This time, we decided to actually bring directions. What a difference that makes! After walking the strip and browsing some of the stores, we had a lunch at a little Asian Fusion joint called Moshi Moshi.


The food was great. We had tenderloin "tartare" (quickly seared), a spicy shrimp salad and pork stir fry. Dessert came later when we wandered over to Maymont park right down the road. 100 acres right in Richmond, Maymont is a former estate complete with 1890's era mansion. We skipped all that though and just enjoyed the rolling hills, barnyard animals and indoor aquarium. Ice cream cones added to the enjoyment ;)

Exhausted, we drove back to Charlottesville and attempted to get Charlie down for bed while we got ready for dinner. In a fabulous bit of luck, my birthday happened to coincide with Restaurant Week...the perfect birthday gift for a frugal foodie! We were able to snag a nice prix fixe dinner at a place we love, L'Etoile. (A million thanks to Joann P. for babysitting!)

The evening began with an amuse-bouche of deviled quail egg. (I liked this egg much better!) For an appetizer, Jim began with the shrimp & grits and I had the sweetbreads. They were amazing. For dinner, we both had the beef tenderloin with a reduction sauce and potatoes dauphinois. Dessert was peach panna cotta and chocolate fondant...which would have been wonderful on their own but were especially great paired with the complimentary dessert wines our waiter brought over. The bill arrived with fresh chocolate truffles (as if we needed one more calorie, lol). Yum!

I begin my new year officially older, debatably wiser, and happily fatter.