Tuesday, August 31, 2021

T Stands for Anniversary Dinner

 

For our 36th wedding anniversary, we decided to go out to dinner at our favorite special occasion restaurant, the UxLocale. Even though it had been hot and humid during the day, the restaurant has a nice patio and as there was a bit of a breeze, we opted to eat al fresco. Since I wasn't driving, I had a prosecco for my beverage. Himself had a ginger ale.


The owner and chef de cuisine, Elaine, used to work at the Worcester Art Museum where I teach. She spotted us and came over to chat. She apologized that she didn't have any clams for my favorite dish, linguine a la vongola. Elaine is so sweet to remember and I told her it didn't matter as I'm sure there would be other delicious things from her menu to choose from.

She showed me the hops she had planted. I asked if she was planning on starting a micro brewery for the restaurant, but she said with the well water, that wouldn't be possible. The hops just looked pretty and unusual.

Elaine then said she almost wore the necklace. When she left the museum, I gave her a small, pearl necklace as a memento, and because she's a pearl of great price. 
 

For our appetizer we had an antipasto so there would be no need for a side salad. I hate making salads, but enjoy a salad when I go out to eat.


We also had Bacon Crator Taters. Fried Yukon Gold potatoes with bacon and pecorino romano cheese


For my entrée, I had sausage in a vodka cream sauce over penne


Himself had garlic and herb roasted tomato carbonara with burrata and prosciutto


I also had a glass of sparkling water with a slice of lemon


Since it had been so hot, we opted for raspberry and blood orange sorbet for me and pistachio gelato with fresh peaches for Himself. We each had a taste of the other.


The sun set and another year in the books.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang are up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

43 comments:

  1. Happy anniversary!

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  2. Glad you were able to have such a wonderful dinner to celebrate your anniversary. Happy T day, Valerie

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  3. happy anniversary!! A lovely way to celebrate- delicious food and drink. Happy T day!

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  4. A very Happy Anniversary to you!!! Sounds like a wonderful way to celebrate!!

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    Replies
    1. We had been looking forward to getting back to the restaurant.

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  5. Happy anniversary! The food looks amazing and so does the drink.

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  6. Happy Anniversary. The food looks delicious 😋

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  7. That meal and those potatos especially look delicious! Sounds like such a nice place and a nice person. Happy Anniversary to you.

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    Replies
    1. Elaine is a real treasure. I'm happy she realized her dream, but I miss her at the museum

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  8. Happy anniversary to you both! Your meal looks delicious and really special. How nice that the owner spotted you and came over to chat.
    I too like linguine alle vongele. I used to make it a lot when I lived in Italy. Here, linguine are hard to get and it doesn't taste the same with spaghetti or any other type of pasta. It has to be linguine for me.
    Oh I always get confused: in Europe an entree is a first course, followed by a main course and in Italy one has pasta as a first course, with the meat (or fish) being the main course. So I was surprised that that was it! I'm sorry for that but of course it looks absolutely delicious. Your friend is a fantastic cook! I can see it even without tasting.
    And with your bubbly Prosecco, it sounds like a really lovely celebration!
    Happy T-Day,
    Hugs,
    Lisca

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    1. In our Italian household, Ma's special or holiday meals began with her special soup (escarole chicken soup with tiny meatballs (pupetini), antipasto, pasta, meat, salad, pastry with coffee, fruit and nuts. Then everyone would breath and then there'd be sandwiches and cookies.

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  9. Happy anniversary to your both! Your certainly celebrated in style with the champagne and your meal looks so delicious - perfect 😁. Glad you had a lovely time and sending you Happy T Day wishes! Hugs Jo x

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  10. happy belated 36th to you !!!! here's to the next 36 with lots of happy, healthy along the way. vegetarian by choice; the potato's look DELISH; even with the bacon !!! ;) ☺☺♥♥

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    Replies
    1. Elaine has lots of vegetarian choices. She even has a gluten-free cauliflower crust pizza.

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  11. Happy anniversary!
    I love Italian food and now I'm hungry!!!

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  12. How nice to see the hops photo as I have hops growing in my garden also, I must take a photo before they start to fade away. Happy T Day Elle xx

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    Replies
    1. The hops looked very pretty and outside gave the feel of a beer garten.

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  13. OH this is making me sooooo hungry CJ. It looks like you had a wonderful anniversary dinner. And this restaurant looks like it has fantastic food. Thanks for sharing, and hope this up coming year is a very good one for both of you.

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    1. The restaurant is located in Uxbridge. A bit of the beaten path, but so worth it.

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  14. Happy Anniversary Wishes.

    The food looks delicious and your last photograph, that sky is amazing.

    All the best Jan

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    1. The restaurants has amazing views especially at sunset

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  15. Oh wow. What an amazing dinner you two had for your anniversary. I am now so very hungry, since I have not eaten today. The antipasto starter looks delicious, and your dessert looks cooling. I love pistachio, so I would love what your husband ordered. Thank you for sharing your sparkling water (and your earlier drink) with us for T this Tuesday, along with your incredible meal.

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    1. It was humid so the gelato was the perfect ending for the meal. The pistachio was delicious, too!

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  16. Looks like a great celebratory dinner! Happy Anniversary! And Happy Tea Day,
    Kate

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  17. Happy Anniversary, CJ! The food (and drink) looks fun and the outting sound pleasant and fun. How great you know the chef. Lovely sunset. Fun to share a bit of your anniversary dinner with you.

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    1. It's fun when Elaine gets to come out of the kitchen. She makes all her guests feel so special

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  18. Happy Anniversary. Our 55th is coming up this Friday. I wish we could go out and get wonderful food like that somewhere here. It all is wonderful! Our kind of food!

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    1. I usually don't like going out for Italian food as it's never as good as what I got growing up. Elaine's family must come from the same region of Italy as my family so her cooking is what my father would call "our food" 😺

      Happy 55th to you! 💐🥂

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  19. Happy belated (T-Day) and anniversary!!!
    The hops look pretty, sad they wont go into a beer!
    Yum food. Great life!

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    Replies
    1. Danke. With all the iron in the well water, the hops wouldn't make good beer. Though maybe it could be marketed as fortified with iron! 😺

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  20. Happy Anniversary! Such a beautiful day out, with great food! Big Hugs!

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  21. What a wonderful celebratory outing :) Happy Anniversary!

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