Our 1st Anniversary Dinner

Its hard to find a place to eat here, there's no place here that excites my taste buds, neither are there any places that spells romantic. The best foods around here, are the fast food restaurants. On days I don't cook, and we stay in MH, I'd rather just grab a Mushroom & Swiss from McD.

Since our anniversary fell on a weekday, and my hubs is working morning shift. I decided to prepare a "surprise" romantic dinner in our own home for him. So he can just come back from work, bath, eat, have some wine, and laze on the couch with me. Perfect isn't it?

The menu of the day:
-Potato Salad topped with raisins.
-Filet Mignon with sauce
-Strawberry Cheesecake

All paired with Parma Ridge Sweet Blush Wine 2005.

I have no idea how to put romance in our dining area, based on the fact that the weather has been cold, and walking to buy decorations and carrying them back is not gonna be an easy task. I used what I had on hand.

The plastic wine glasses are from Dollar Tree's Valentines Day sales. I did up the potato salad in the early afternoon, and left it in the fridge to chill. Next, I prepared the sauce for the filet mignons. I had no idea how to prepare it, as the commiss had ran out of red wine, which was what I intended to use initially. I searched for some recipes online, but decided to replace the red wine with shaoxing rice wine, and added a little sugar instead. 

Here's how I set it up. I even wiped the dripped sauce off the plates. Must be watching too much Gordon Ramsay's shows. Sigh. 

I warmed up the sauce that I prepared, and drizzled it over the filets, and topped it with lots of onions. The sauce was fantastic. I loved it. Hubs raved about it. He said it was the happiest day ever since we got married. ;)  

I thought we could have a good sit down dinner, and talk and romance over dinner and wine. However, the meat was still quite raw in the center. The recipe recommended to cook the meats for 6 mins on each side, which I followed to the second, for medium rare meats that the Hubs liked. However, it turned out to be too raw. Had to run back and forth the kitchen to refire the meats to make them slightly less red and more edible. I would reccomend to cook them for around 12 minutes on each side and that should make it more edible. 

Candlelights, and wine.. What more could I ask for in a romantic dinner at home, for less than $20. ;) 

Happy Anniversary Hubs, love u always. Recipes on how to prepare the food step by step... Coming up next!