Surprise Anniversary Dinner

As I mentioned here, Alex and I have gone to the Cheesecake Factory every anniversary except the first.  This year, we decided that we wanted to do something different since it was a semi-big anniversary :)

In a moment of insanity, I told Alex that he should plan it and surprise me.  I am the resident planner of the two of us, so not sure what possessed me to say this (maybe because I’ve got way too much on my plate as it is :)), but it was sort of nice not having to do anything but get dressed (although I wasn’t too comfortable with the loss of control :)).

Anyway, he ended up taking me to the Melting Pot, which is a really cool fondue restaurant in Birmingham.  I had mentioned that I would like to go here and as usual, he didn’t listen and thought it was his own idea, but we got to go nonetheless :)

They were doing what they call the “Alpine Big Night Out” which has a pre-fixe menu and you just choose what you’d like.  We did this when we went to Kozy’s on Valentine’s Day this year and it is good for us because we get to try things we normally wouldn’t order (we’re bad about ordering the same things every where we go!) and this was no different!

When Alex called to make the reservations, he told them it was for our Anniversary so they put us in a private booth in the back of the restaurant (we were practically had our own hallway!) and they were super nice!

Alex and I waiting for dinner to start! :)

    First course:  Alp and Dell Cheese Fondue - White wine, garlic, whole grain mustard and nutmeg, with Gruyerre, Raclette, and Fontina cheeses.  We had 2 kinds of bread, apples, sausage, caulflower and pickes for dipping.

This was amazing!  I could have dipped anything in this and it would have been delicious.  It didn’t take us long to finish it!

We really tried to pace ourselves because we knew we had more yummy courses coming up like this one:

Second Course:  Alpine Ridge Salad – Mixed greens topped with Gruyere, Raclette, and Fontina cheeses, hard-boiled eggs and honey roasted almonds with a shallot vinagrette.

This was easily one of the best salads I’ve ever eaten.  Even Alex, who is NOT a salad person, couldn’t get enough!

While waiting on the next course, we snapped our traditional “table” picture.  I hate not being able to sit beside him, but it will do :)

Yes, we matched.  I went out and got my top this past week and picked out the shirt for Alex and gave it to him for his anniversary present from me.  Plus, he needed a new dress shirt :)

Then came the main course.  I will say, it was probably my least favorite course of the entire meal.  Not that it wasn’t yummy (because it definitely was), but since you cook it yourself, it is obviously not going to be the best pieces of meat you’ve ever tasted.  It was fun though!

Third Course – Entree – Garlic Crusted Chicken, NY Strip Steak, Filet Mignon, Shrimp, and Bratwurst with various sauces for dipping

The vegetable portion – broccoli, mushrooms, and potatoes

 

We chose the coq au vin cooking style – fresh herbs, garlic, mushrooms, spices, and burgundy wine

It was quite entertaining because they tell you how long to leave each item in there.  So, Alex and I were both determined not to get sick so we made sure to stick to those times.  We had his watch, my watch, and stopwatch on my phone going just to be safe! :)  We overcooked quite a few of them and we never could get the potatoes to cook correctly, but it was entertaining to say the least.

Then, came my favorite part of the meal:  dessert!

The dessert that was on the pre fixe menu was a white chocolate apple cobbler fondue with spiced apples.  I would have been perfectly happy with that, but the waitress told us we could substitute anything on the dessert menu.  As soon as I opened the menu and I saw this

I love Turtle candies (I’ve loved them since I was a kid and I always got them for Valentine’s day from my parents and Alex has started buying them for me as well) so there were no other options for me when I saw that.  Even better, I didn’t have to say anything before Alex said “Let me guess, you want the turtle thing right?”  I of course nodded, and that’s what we got :)

I’ve decided that this is my idea of heaven, because they bring you this tray of goodies…

and give you this to dip them in…

This is the look on my face when they brought it…

I was a happy girl!!

Even Alex who is not a big “sweets” person couldn’t wait to dig in :)

    

I don’t even have the words to describe how yummy it was.  I will say that that dessert should not even be legal…it is seriously that yummy.  We tried all of the dippers and although I had my favorites, I think I could have dipped anything in it and I would have been perfectly happy!

We weren’t able to eat all of the fondue, and I tried to figure out a way to bring it home, but no such luck.  Alex did let me know that he this would be our new B’ham dessert place (sorry Cheesecake Factory…you’ve been replaced!)

We snapped a couple of self-portraits to wrap up our amazing dinner

and we headed on our way!  I had to snap a picture of my matching accessories on the way home though!

  

  What a great way to spend our anniversary!! I couldn’t have planned a better anniversary date!  Thanks babe! :)