This is a little late because I had some trouble figuring out how to edit movie files in Vista (thanks Microsoft). Anyway, I was finally able to splice together a few clips of Riesling’s adventure at the dog park on January 20th when Durham received a rare 3 inches of cold powdery white stuff.

Film footage courtesy of my brand new (orange!) Flip camcorder.

Three months into our relationship Leandra made me these cookies:

How could I not be smitten?  Neither of us are big on Valentine’s day, but we do like an excuse for a special meal. ToniteLeandra is making her famous cheese fondue that we’re pairing with a Veuve Clicquot champagne. A bit fancier perhaps,  but I’ll always appreciate cookies!

Eric has been wanting to try Revolution for weeks and after a little scheduling drama and realizing on Thursday that we should probably make reservations for a Friday night, we finally made it over there last week.

We sat in the back right corner, a table for two in a quiet spot all to ourselves. The attention from our waiter was immediate and friendly and he was good natured about our typical wine menu negotiations. :)  We decided on a Sauvignon Republic sauvignon blanc from Stellenbosch which we originally tried at Hope Valley Bottle shop last December. It was a great value here at $30, and all our dishes went spectacularly with the slightly creamy and peanut-y flavor of the wine.

I probably could have picked anything on the menu and been delighted, but I since I had to choose something, I went with the beef tartar with rosemary crisps, fried capers and roasted garlic as my starter. I enjoyed my tartar but wondered about the need of additional red onions on top when they were already (nicely) added to the beef mixture. The fried capers were a unique salty addition. Eric sampled the romaine salad which consisted of a romaine spear lightly coated in dressing and sprinkled with tomatoes and roasted peppers. He thought the dressing was a bit too sweet, but the presentation was lovely.

For our main courses, Eric ordered the pork chop with sweet potatoes and I got the beer-braised mussels with tomatoes and basil. Upon checking the menu online (which is out of date), I discovered that this dish used to come with frites… wonder why they were absent last week? Our waiter did mention that the chef revamped the menu that afternoon, so hopefully the online version will be changed soon.

Eric thought the pork was delicious on the outside but lost a bit of flavor toward the whiter interior meat. The sweet potatoes in a tomato sauce were very unusual and tasty. All I can say about my mussels is that I would have bathed in the broth had it not seemed rude to do so at such a nice restaurant!  Instead,  I soaked some of our bread in the delicious liquid.

Thankfully, we both left a bit of room for dessert and split a chocolate icebox cake with fresh whipped cream and ginger cookie that was just the right size and sweetness to end the meal.

Throughout the meal, several people were serving us, and all were very friendly and courteous. We really liked the atmosphere, and besides a few minor dings on the food, were happy with our meal. We will definitely be back.