A Valentine's Celebration

Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!

I hope your day is filled with love, happiness, and lots of pink.

Last night Derek and I celebrated a combination of my birthday (which was last Monday), Valentine’s Day, and our one year anniversary by painting the town red with a fancy dinner and Wicked.

We had early dinner reservations at Mise En Place – a modern american cuisine restaurant just outside downtown tampa.

The restaurant was gorgeous inside. It was quaint and romantic; the perfect spot for a candlelit Valentine’s dinner for two.

Derek and I began with a lovely bottle of cabernet sauvignon.

The two of us managed to consume the entire bottle during our two hour dining experience. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little buzzed by the end of the meal.

It took us a while to decide what we wanted to eat. Mise En Place has a very extensive menu and everything looks more delicious than the last.

While we were deciding a basket of bread was delivered to our table.

I had a piece of the onion covered variety.

To start Derek and I shared the L.A. Pizza plate that was topped with roasted mushrooms, rapini, goat cheese, pine nuts, and white truffle oil.

The crust of the pizza was extra thin and basically melted in your mouth.

For my meal I chose the Bluenose, Pistachio Jasmine Rice, Masala Grilled Eggplant, Coconut Chutney, Tomato Cardomon Sauce, & Ginger Papaya Avocado Salad

The plate was beautifully presented with each layer adding a unique touch of color. The flavor was wonderful as well. I always appreciate dishes that incorporate fruit for a touch of sweetness.

I also had a couple of bites of Derek’s Grilled Beef Tenderloin, Butternut Squash Ravioli, Pancetta, Grilled Asparagus, Creamy Fregola, Black Trumpet Madiera Jus.

When his meal was served, Derek looked like a little boy who was just an unlimited bowl of ice cream. He was actually jumping up an down in his chair as he was saying “Babe, you have to take a picture of mine too. This is f-ing amazing.”

I agreed the plate was gorgeous and the couple of bites I had were very tender and bursting with flavor.

We were both very happy with our choices and would love to come back again to try the other amazing meals we were drooling over on the menu.

Of course the night would not be complete without a great dessert to go with our great meal.

We couldn’t decide which dessert we wanted, so when our server suggested the dessert sampler to share we immediately said yes.

The sampler consisted of a Milk Chocolate Brownie with Crunchy Peanut Butter Ice Cream, Croquantine Flourless Cake with Toasted Macadamia Nut Ice Cream, and a Raspberry Shortcake.

Derek and I easily cleaned the plate. Our favorite was the flourless cake with the macadamia nut ice cream.

After our meal we headed to Tampa’s Performing Arts Center for Wicked!!

Derek had actually purchased the Wicked tickets as my Christmas present and it just happened to fall on the same weekend as Valentine’s Day.

I had read Wicked a couple of years ago and loved it, but found the book to be very dark. I’ve always been curious to see how they had transformed the dark book into a broadway musical. I was giddy in my seat counting down the minutes to the opening number.

My opinion? Wow!

I am pretty sure I had a goofy smile on my face throughout the entire performance. The musical stuck with the basic principles of the book, but quite a few details were either left out or reformatted. I actually enjoyed the musical storyline more than the book with the majority of the darker material having been removed.

My favorite change from the book was the rewritten love story between Elphaba and Fiyero. It was a happy love that felt right and had the audience rooting for them. In the book their love was hidden and almost felt wrong at times.

I also enjoyed the happy ending! Who doesn’t like a happy ending?

In closing I give Wicked two big thumbs up! I would happily see it again and again and again!

When we got back to the apartment Derek couldn’t wait to dig in to the GIANT Reese’s I had bought him in NYC for Valentine’s Day.

Each cup weighed half a pound!

I had 1/8 of the cup.

Tasted just like a regular Reeses, but with a whole lot more peanut butter filling.

This morning Derek presented me with my own Valentine’s Day chocolates.

He gave me the exact same box a year ago today!

Derek also got to work in the kitchen making Valentine’s pancakes.

I had three pancakes topped with yogurt, mango, and a sprinkle of random cereal on top.

All the was missing was pink yogurt and to have the pancakes shaped like hearts.

Delta informed me today that my bag is in Tampa and it is suppose to arrive on Derek’s doorstep before noon today. Yay!

As soon as my bag arrive we are going to hightail it to my parents where I need to pick up my car and the beautiful Maddie! I’ve missed my puppy. I’m also going to attempt to get a 16 mile run in sometime this afternoon. With my marathon only 2 weeks away I really, really need to get this run in.

WIsh me luck!