12 Things
Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary. I was fifteen when I first met Ben, can you believe it? 12 full-of-growth years with this amigo. Of course it's only been 18 months since we were married, so I guess we're going to have to celebrate two anniversaries in the future. You see, August 29th will always be our special date. February 25th, on the other hand, is a good excuse to ask for diamonds and rubies and paper. Paper? Cotton? I really don't get that tradition. Don't even get me started on year 3 - leather. Too far. Here's 12 things I do get.
1. I made a salad for lunch on our anniversary day, and we had ourselves a picnic on the floor. It was a version of this roasted brussels sprouts salad but without the grain. I added roasted cauliflower, radish, baby spinach, bacon pieces and blue cheese to the mix. Hot tip: I threw the craisins into the pan at the last minute while the bacon was cooking. Bacon grease-dressed craisins are a thing of beauty.
2. I made salad for lunch specifically so we would have room for dessert. Usually when eating out, Ben and I never get dessert as we're too full from dinner. We're those people - lame! On this day I was determined to not be those people. Those people annoy me.
3. I made Rachel Khoo's chocolate lava cakes with salted caramel (extra salt) for this special lunch dessert.
4. The ramekins I used were too large (greedy) and I added far too much salted caramel filling, so these rich beauties cooked imperfectly and exploded everywhere upon turning them upside down. They were a delicious mess.
5. I completely adore Rachel Khoo and I'm secretly not-so-secretly hoping for her cookbook for my birthday next month.
6. Our music over lunch? She and Him Volume 3. It's cute and sweet and innocent and delightful. Their Christmas album is my very favourite.
7. I googled "dinner party conversations" and asked Ben a variety of these over our lunch. Random questions are my favourite and he happily obliged as he still seems to love me after these 12 years. I love hearing his answer to questions like "If you could only eat one cuisine for the rest of your life?", "What's inspiring you right now?" and "Describe your perfect Saturday morning..." and see if he surprises me. After 12 years he still does. Sometimes.
8. We enjoyed a local pinot noir over lunch (splurge!). I used the smallest glasses in my cabinet to help with portion control, all in the name of encouraging a productive work afternoon. Workplace safety.
9. That picnic basket above is purely ornimental. I thought it'd be a cute touch for our picnic. It's purpose is storing jars. I have so many jars. Need a toothbrush holder? Use a jar. Oh dear, I'm one of those people. I'm a dessert snubbing jar hoarder.
10. I gave Ben a jar (see?) of Malt'O'Milks as a present this morning (his favourite), as well as a retro batman postcard I picked up when we were in San Francisco this year.
11. I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, just like I did for his birthday last year. We debated going out for dinner but decided to stay in. I'm so pleased we did.
12. One of the "dinner party conversations" questions (see point #7) was "what is your current favourite past time?" His answer? "This, what we're doing right now".
Yes.
Happy 12 years, sweets xo
Heidi xo