It was my year to plan the adventure, and I had such a great one in mind. We were going to spend a week in Paris, where I had made arrangements for an apartment. However, circumstances resulted in us wanting a place much closer to home. We ended up staying
here.
We just went to
Wakefield for the weekend, to enjoy our seventh honeymoon/sixth anniversary. I had told a colleague that we were celebrating our anniversary, but when I said what we were doing, she called it a honeymoon...and I realized she was right. Every year, this getaway is important to us and we are grateful for the time we have with each other. This year was definitely important. How did the time go by so quickly?
As we often do on honeymoons, we had a discovery meal. This was a many-course tasting menu, and while the food was VERY good, the best part about it was the staff who served it. They were amusing, and they teased us about everything from celebrating our anniversary to mistakes I made in my French. They gave us the best seat--right next to the fireplace. Oh those poor souls who weren't anywhere close to it, for as it was, we were freezing. As usual, the celebration weekend was the coldest of the year so far and the old mill was having a hard time catching up to it.
And what did we eat? We started with an amuse-bouche of foie gras creme brulee. Yes, it sounds odd, but it was lovely. Then we had veal carpaccio, with a spicy salsa to complement it. This was my favourite of the entire weekend. It was followed by a seared scallop with a sweet/spicy rice wine sauce. Then we had dory, which was perhaps our least favourite course. It was served with caper-butter, but the butter part of that took away from the caper part of it. We had seared duck breast, the prettiest plate of the evening, and then when I thought we were finished, they brought out a steak. Okay, I was more than full by then, so Martin ate some of mine too. Afterwards, we had a home-made ginger-ale as a palate cleanser, and finally dessert--a chocolate cup with cream cheese mousse placed on top of honeyed berries. Such a meal requires our attention for several hours, and it is a lovely time to talk and enjoy each other. Although there were a lot of courses, each was small and so while our "sufficiency was sufficiently suffancified"* we weren't over-stuffed.
Our room was quite lovely...I wasn't able to get the one with the king-sized bed on the waterfall side, which would have been ideal, but the room that we had was just perfect. It also had an independent thermostat, which was sorely needed. Did I mention that it was the coldest, windiest, make-your-toes-into-icicles weekend of the year?
On Saturday, we had a lovely breakfast and then I got to see the spa. Ah yes, it's a rough life! While Martin spent the time reading and enjoying the fireplace, I indulged in a facial. After that, we went exploring a little, and I took a few pictures. Not enough, but did I mention the cold? We did see a whole bunch of these...they look so goofy, but I always enjoy when we come across a flock of them. I'm sure that each was about 25 pounds.
For supper, we went to
Les Fougères in Chelsea. There were many things about this restaurant that we enjoyed, but because we were expecting another tasting menu that ended up not being available, we were a little bit disappointed. Martin's dessert however, was amazing. For the first time ever I was sorry to not be taking pictures of food (I always try not to be one of those annoying people who assumes that everyone else in the restaurant doesn't mind if the paparazzi-wanna be's flash their way through dinner).
Martin's dessert looked like an ice cream sundae. There was a lovely fruit compote on the bottom, topped with a generous scoop. It was drizzled with chocolate, and accented by delicate home-made lady fingers. But, it wasn't ice-cream; he had ordered cheesecake! It was beautiful too--lemony, light, and a feast for the eyes.
Back the inn for another night, and then this morning we had a beautiful brunch. Then, poor me, I had to go get a manicure and pedicure. It was a really rough life. A few hours later it was time to go home, though we did make a side trip to the
Chelsea Smokehouse where I practiced my French when I spoke to the owner about what I could do with smoked scallops. YUM I can't wait to try them!
It sounds as though we spent our entire weekend eating--and there certainly was enough of that. But we also did a lot of this by the fire. Let me just say that I think he cheats. I taught him how to play and he won every game since.
We also visited a few covered bridges:
Happy Anniversary husband of mine. Here's hoping that we have many many more honeymoons together!
*Grandma always used to say that...I miss her!
I've been staying at the Doubletree here, and I have had a most pleasant stay. For one, they hand out chocolate chip cookies upon arrival, and they are better than mine. I hate to say that. But it's true, and I am soon going to be on the hunt for a copycat recipe, or to make one myself. I'm so tempted to grab a dozen for when I leave. You know, to test and stuff.
In a couple of hours, I'm meeting up with one of my favourite people in the world, and we are going to a conference together. But when I was researching a place to meet up, I realized that the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is but ten miles away. And I'm a real sucker for zoos. Any zoo. My favourite kind of day is to wander a zoo, laugh at the antics of animals, especially if they are in a large enough habitat, and learn something new.
I'm particularly fond of giraffes, so when I realized that this zoo has a large herd and a feeding station....well, I knew I needed that as much as I need a retreat. So yesterday, a kind gentleman from the hotel gave me a ride, and a city tour, and I spent the day enjoying animals, the mountain air, the sun, a bit of breeze, giraffes and more giraffes, and for lunch....a foot-long dog "ready to party". 
