Friday, April 23, 2010

1st Anniversary Getaway

Time sure flies when you are having fun! It's crazy to think that a year ago, we were returning from our honeymoon in St. Augustine, FL and settling into our first week of life as newlyweds.  Now, a year later, we have moved out of our apartment into the home we purchased in November 2009 - and are happily working away on projects and building our life together!

For nostalgia's sake...

So this past weekend, we celebrated our first anniversary in Alexandria, VA - a city that we know and love - for its historical feel and main street with shopping/antiques and good restaurants. We found a great deal on a four-star hotel on Priceline.com (shout-out to William Shatner!), that was in walking distance of King Street.

One of the highlights of our quick getaway was getting gussied up and going out for a really nice dinner - something we don't do very often, but were able to swing thanks to a generous gift from my grandparents.
VERMILION, owned and operated by Dave Hammond and Executive Chef Anthony Chittum, was an excellent blend of innovation, fresh and seasonal foods that come from local farmers, and deliciousness.  We sat at a cozy table for two right in front of the middle window on the second floor of the restaurant - dimly lit with brick exposed walls, and had a great view overlooking King Street at night.  Rob and I shared Steak Tartare and a Pork Belly Salad for starters, Rob ordered for his entree the grilled berkshire pork loin cajun boudin croquette, spiced rapini & green garlic pomme purée and I ordered the pineland farms beef striploin with “smothered” brussels sprouts, fingerling potato confit & black truffle. The hint of truffle perfectly complemented one of the most tender pieces of beef I have ever eaten.  For dessert, we had a really hard time choosing between the ricotta pound cake with mascarpone and citrus three ways and the chocolate bar (layered dark chocolate cake) with almond brittle, fleur de sel & evoo ice cream. Yeah, vanilla ice cream drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and sea salt. We chose the ricotta pound cake, and were pleasantly surprised when our waiter also brought out the chocolate bar - on the house for our anniversary!  If you're ever in Alexandria, make reservations for Vermilion. SO GOOD!

On Sunday we went to the Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. because we're just cool like that. But that's for another post on another day...

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