A Very Special Occasion!

 

NOTE: I’m teaching this weekend, so no newsletter again. Sorry!  I will be back on it next week, but will not blog or send a newsletter Christmas week.

This year marked our 40/70 – our 40th Anniversary and our 70th birthdays! We have a slew of family holidays in November and December and this year, we celebrated it all at once. Hubby and I met in Houston, Tx while on Audit staff at what was then Arthur Anderson, one of the “Big 8” accounting firms. We had a very modest wedding and only got proofs of our photos, so this is a photo of a proof. How very mid-80’s is that dress?

We considered a variety of choices for our celebration ranging from a nice dinner at home, dining at a posh restaurant or….. (Hubby came up with this brilliant idea) hire a Personal Chef to come to our home. Given that our grandson is almost 4 and our granddaughter is a wee 6 months old, we opted out of the posh restaurant experience.

I had no idea how to find a Personal Chef; I never knew anyone who hired one. The only person I thought might know was our designer, Laura at Pepperjack Interiors. She works with all kinds of clients. Sure enough, she had the name of Chef Drew at the ready, and he was available with only 10 days notice! Our oldest son worked Thanksgiving and the day after, so our Thanksgiving time started on Saturday. We chose Monday for the special dinner.

I worked up a menu with Drew Schultz of Clover Valley Culinary. I was thrilled with the choices:

It was so much fun to have Drew prepare our dinner. I told him right away we didn’t know how to behave; should we leave him alone or engage? He was delightful company and happy to engage. I was all over his cooking gear:

Personal Chefs do not travel light, just like quilters! I wanted to see his knives and cookware. This particular piece caught my eye:

It was about 9″ across and bit under 3″ high, with those straight edges. It was very heavy, as it was made of nickel. The brand, Paul Bocuse, is no longer made, so this piece is rare, a gift from a special cook to him.

We had this bottle since 1999 when we first moved to California and Hubby got a big promotion. We were concerned it might not still be good, so we had a back-up bottle.

We were in a little bit of angst at this point, would it still be good? Indeed it was!

Okay, so I hardly drink; I just asked for an inch or so and yes, it was goooood! See my BERNINA 125th Anniversary flute? How cool is that?

The Polenta with Ratatouille was fabulous! But the Sourdough Focaccia Genovese with marinated cheeses was amaaaaaazing! We could not get enough.

Youngest son provided the center piece for the table. Isn’t that sweet?

The intangible part was how lovely it was to chat with Drew, hang out with each other, joking and reminiscing. It was so relaxing and enjoyable.

Youngest son is a hard core fidgeter and always has something to fidget with. This is not a chain, but individual magnetized balls. It took him a while to create this shape, which he was superbly proud of. Of course oldest son and Hubby were intrigued. I am surrounded by fiddlers; help me! This was part of our evening entertainment😊

This showed up on my Facebook timeline a few weeks back. It was a lot of fun and we learned things about each other that were both small and significant. It’s a conversation starter for sure!

My grandson entertained himself too. I love “toddler debris”. Maybe I should call this “Toddler Still Life”? If he has trucks/cars and books, he’s good to go.

Now, time to eat!

Chef Drew plated up our dinners and DIL plated up our grandson. I chuckle at this photo! Grandson eventually was plated with his own Ribeye. I enjoyed the salmon and forgot to take a photo. The steaks were dry aged Organic, which is hard to find; they were spectacular! And the sauce was almost as good as the steak. Yes, I asked for a Twice Baked Potato. I’m from the Midwest where potatoes are worshipped; no apologies there.

Hubby pronounced dessert “the best he had ever had”. The Creme Anglaise was so yummy as well as the pastry. I requested a petite dessert; I did NOT want a heavy finish and this was just. perfect!

My oldest son and family took a pre-dinner walk. I love this photo!

And did I take a photo of the two of us? NO! We were so enjoying the moment that I forgot to take a photo.

I hope you vicariously enjoyed our dinner and our experience. Chef Drew made the day for us and it was more of an experience than I expected. We are supremely blessed: 40 years of marriage and 70 healthy (so far) years.

I’ll be linking up:
Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday