December marks a milestone for both Dan and I, as we’re both turning 30 later this month! (Dan on December 13, myself on December 25 — we are only a couple weeks apart in age.) The thirties sound a little daunting but mostly exciting — we can’t wait to see where it’ll take us in both our family life and professional careers — our twenties were memorable, but we have a feeling our thirties will be just as, if not more, wonderful. As I wrote before, I’m dedicating my 30th to charity: water and so we have no plans to have any big birthday party for ourselves, but Dan still wanted to take me out to a nice dinner to celebrate what is a big milestone for both of us!
Dates are hard to come by when you’re parents, so we were really grateful that my parents volunteered to watch Mio while we got to get a little dressed up to enjoy the evening as a couple. Based on several friends recommending 2941 Restaurant in Falls Church to us, we decided to go there for our celebratory dinner.
The handsome hubby, who will turn 30 this week!
Loved the decor inside the restaurant!
It’s nice to carry a simple clutch instead of a huge diaper bag for once!
Getting started with some small plates and appetizers.
Spiced duck samosa with honey and harissa
American wagyu steak tartare with parmesan cheese and peanut vinaigrette and crostini.
Crispy pork belly with black garlic aioli and celery-pear salad.
All of the appetizers were delicious. The steak tartare was some of the best I’d ever tasted, the duck samosas had just the right amount of kick to it, but the crispy pork belly was definitely our favorite! It was so rich and flavorful, and practically melted in my mouth!
Dan had venison loin with smoked heirloom potato, Savoy cabbage, and juniper jus.
Ready to eat!
Ever the seafood lover.
And of course, there’s always room for dessert with us! 😉
We shared a chocolate Napoleon with huckleberry compote, Manjari panna cotta, and coffee gelato.
Happy early 30th to us! Here’s to another great decade together.
Koi in the pond outside 2941.
By the koi pond. Part of me wishes we had gone when there was still daylight so we could see the beautiful landscaping around the restaurant, but I guess we’ll just have to go back another time! 😉
It was the perfect romantic evening, and the dining experience at 2941 was both delectable and unforgettable! Thank you to everyone who recommended it to us. 🙂 It was a lovely way to celebrate this special occasion, and we’re feeling great about turning 30 in the coming weeks! 😀
Our wedding anniversary is July 26th, but because we’ll be on a plane to Hawaii that day, we decided to celebrate it early this weekend with a dinner date at La Fondue in Saratoga. We drove down to the South Bay and dropped Mio off with the grandparents (since they live in San Jose now) so that we could enjoy a lovely evening to ourselves. It had been a while since we’d had a date night, so it was so nice to just have that time together as a couple, knowing that Mio was in good hands.
Friends had told us about what an amazing dining experience La Fondue was and how it was the perfect restaurant for a romantic dinner and special occasions. I’d been wanting to go for years but we hadn’t because it’s kind of far from the East Bay where we live, and it was too fancy for us to just swing by on past occasions when we did happen to find ourselves in the area. But this year, since we needed to drop Mio off in the South Bay anyway, we decided that it was the perfect opportunity to finally visit what is easily the best fondue restaurant in the Bay Area.
Outside of La Fondue in Saratoga
The decor inside the restaurant was very retro and artsy… I loved it!
Each table had one of these cool lamps, which feature a gold gun as the handle.
We opted for the punsch cooking method, which is spiced red wine with cloves and rosemary.
It was very flavorful, with no fat or broth.
The hubster enjoying the dinner. All the meats were wonderful.
Ever the seafood lover, my favorites were the shrimp and sea scallops!
Dan is overwhelmed by all the options and possible combinations for the chocolate fondue.
After much deliberation over which chocolate fondue we wanted, we decided to go with The Decadent One, which is a dark and milk chocolate bowl, mixed with espresso, kahlua, and creme. The array of desserts they brought for us to dip into the chocolate was very impressive! There were strawberries, bananas, grapes, apples, marshmallows, cream puffs, wafer cookie sticks, cream cheese balls, cookie dough, pound cake, and even Snickers chocolates! And you request extra of your favorites afterwards. (I was too full at the end, but Dan requested extra strawberries.) Even Dan said that as much as he hated to admit it, the dessert was his favorite part of the meal!
A heavenly selection of desserts!
I tried the strawberry first…
…because there are few things that are sweeter than a chocolate-covered strawberry!
marshmallows + chocolate = always amazing!
Our waiter even brought us some champagne on the house for our anniversary! 🙂
Anniversary champagne! The strawberry was a nice touch.
Cheers, hubby!
It was such a memorable, romantic, and delicious dinner! The ambience, the food, the service… everything was so perfect. We both agreed that this was probably our favorite anniversary dinner yet. It’ll be hard to top this one, but we look forward to many more anniversaries together.
Marriage is not always easy — in fact, it can be a pretty bumpy ride and at times unbelievably trying — but it’s been a wonderful journey thusfar, and we wouldn’t change a moment of it. We’re not perfect and don’t pretend to be; marriage is a constant work in progress, but I believe that’s what makes it so exciting and worthwhile. There’s no better partner I could imagine weathering life’s challenges and experiencing all of its wonders and joys with. I’m so thankful every day to have Dan by my side, knowing that he’ll be with me wherever life takes us. Happy (early) anniversary, Dan — I love you! ♥
A couple weekends ago, we attended a Valentine’s Dinner party with friends in Berkeley the evening before Valentine’s Day. We had a great time with our couple friends — the catered food was amazing, the games were entertaining, and the decor was so cute! A big thanks to Ann Helen and all the other ladies who organized it. Here are some photos…
The lovely table set-up.
Dinner from Ann's Catering - it was so good! I took advantage of some furikake that someone snuck in.
Red velvet cake with ice cream for dessert!
For one of the games, the gentelemen had to get blindfolded by their partners, and the girls each threw one of their shoes onto the floor. The boys had to then crawl around the floor, trying to find their partner’s shoe relying on touch alone. It was pretty hilarious to watch….
Poor Dan… It took him a while, but he eventually got it. haha*
But then the tables turned, and it wasn’t so funny anymore when it was the girls’ turn to find their partners’ shoes.
Crawling around with the weight of my big belly did not help in the search for Dan’s shoe. And mens’ dress shoes seem so similar; I think the ladies definitely had a more difficult time with it. I think someone ended up having to hand me Dan’s shoe because I was one of the last ones left searching for the shoe. Major wife fail….
We also played a couple rounds of what was sort of a spoof of The Newlywed Game. 🙂
They even had a little photo-taking area set up! :) I was a little self-conscious about having photos taken with my now-giant baby bump (“bump” is no longer an appropriate name for it… it’s more like a mountain!), but I’ll leave you with this one of us, taken in our typical dork fashion:
Happy (belated) Valentine's Day from Dan & Misono ♥
On Monday, Dan and I celebrated our two year wedding anniversary! We of course both had to work since it was a Monday, but we went to dinner at the world renowned Chez Panisse. Located in the “Gourmet Ghetto” of Berkeley and founded by the famous Alice Waters, it is credited as the birthplace of California cuisine. It frequently makes it into the ranks of the top 50 restaurants in the world, and reservations fill up very quickly. Dan and I were lucky to get a reservation in 8:45… pretty late for dinner, but Chez Panisse was well worth the wait!
Dan surprised me with flowers before dinner!
Pretty anniversary flowers.
Chez Panisse! The mecca for foodies in the Bay Area.
The dinner course for the evening.
Olive tapenade before the dinner.
Candlelight dinner. Note the pretty etching on the glass!
The first course.
Taku river sockeye salmon carpaccio with cucumber and anise hyssop
The carpaccio transported me to heaven.
The hubby loved the carpaccio, too! Patiently waiting for the main course...
Wolfe Ranch quail grilled over fig branches with sweet corn pudding and pepperonata
Chez Panisse's dessert drink menu... everything sounds so good!
Pêche Melba: Peaches in raspberry sauce with vanilla ice cream.
A delicious dessert to end an unforgettable dinner!
They gave us cocoa-covered toasted almonds with candied blood orange peel to munch on before we left. These were really good too! (I only remembered to take the photo when we were almost done with it... oops!)
Happy 2 Years hubby! ♥
It’s been an amazing two years, and although this puts a cap on our status as “newlyweds,” we’re very excited for the many more years to come and all the anniversaries that we’ll get to celebrate with each passing year. We are constantly reminded that it is thanks to our family and friends and all their love and support that we are who we are today, and we feel humbled and so grateful for having all of you as such an important, ever-present, and precious presence in our lives. We can’t wait to build more amazing memories together with each other, as well as with you!
My best friend Debbie just got into Santa Clara today for her conference, so we drove down to have dinner with her in the South Bay. Our friend Greg, who also went to high school with Debbie and I, came along and we caught up over stone pot Japanese curry at Curry House in Cupertino.
Me with the bestest!
Greg and Dan across the table.
Saying goodbye to Debbie at her hotel.
It’s been just about a year since I’d last seen my best friend, so it was so nice seeing her again! I just wish we could have spent more time together — if Santa Clara were closer, I’d be visiting her every evening after her conference schedule. It was great catching up, though, and I hope that I can see both Debbie and Greg again soon! 🙂
