A blog by Cameron and Shannon

I’m something like 6 weeks late telling you about this, which is a shame, because it’s awesome.

Shannon and I aren’t big fans of Valentine’s Day. Granted, back when we were dating, I used V-Day as an opportunity to flawlessly execute all sorts of fabulously romantic plans with … wait, actually, we started dating in June and were engaged by December, so February as a whole never really came into play until she already had the ring. So, never mind.

Last year I got us a reservation at the ridiculous 2-story Maggiano’s in West End, where we had to wait 30 minutes for a table anyway and turned out to only be 1 story (the bottom story is restrooms and a VIP something-or-other).

The point is, Valentine’s is lame. Not that I don’t like arranging romantic evenings or whatever, but I feel no need to time my romantic arrangements on some sort of a national scale with the rest of society. Plus, all the good restaurants are crowded.

This year, Shannon had a brilliant idea. She offered to fix us a seven-course dinner. I was speechless. Seven courses! Even better: She wanted it to be a surprise! (Translation: I didn’t have to do anything!)

Seven courses, by candlelight, for me … I mean us.

Ultra-brilliant! Smashing! Awesome! Here’s how it went.

(Please note: I have no pictures because I was busy eating and not thinking about blogging this later. Also, these aren’t the official course names — Shannon will probably bug me later if I get something wrong. I’ll doing my best.)

Course 1: Roe on Blini with Crème fraîche; Fresh Olives

First off, you have to understand that Shannon did a lot of research in preparation for this meal, and all courses are based on a real seven-course dinner plan from back before people biggie-sized a combo when they were extra-hungry.

Apparently a standard opening course in a seven-course meal is something light, and we’ve both wanted to try salmon roe for a while, so she served salmon and some other roe (trout? I forget, it was red) with a dollop of Crème fraîche on a blini, which is like a tiny rich pancake. If you watched the second episode of Top Chef this season, you’ve learned that you have to cook blini right before serving it, which she did. They were fresh and light and tasty, and the roe was a little salty but not too fishy.

This course was served with a glass of vodka, because that’s apparently a classic accompaniment to roe as it keeps your palate cleansed. Bonus! It also helped to clear my palate from the olives, which were delicious in the opposite way of the roe - strong and biting. She mixed assorted black and green olives together with some olive oil, fresh garlic and herbs. I love olives, and they were definitely enhanced by the garlic. Yum.

Delicious! Fresh! On to the next course!

Course 2: Crab Bisque

Shannon read that the traditional second course should be heavier than the first course, and is typically a soup. I love bisque, so she fixed bisque.

It was great. Not too much to describe here, as you probably know how bisque rolls, but it was tasty and definitely restaurant-worthy. She served it with a very light sauvignon blanc that helped counteract the spiciness of the bisque (it had a little kick). A nice warm heavy change after the light opening course.

Course 3: Crab & Shrimp Salad on Avocado

This course kept with the crab theme, but lightened it up a bit. The salad was light, creamy, and mild, with more crab and also tiny shrimp (there’s a term for them) mixed in. It was served on sliced avocado, which added to the creamy goodness.

Along with the salad came more sauvignon, which is never a bad thing. Onward!

Course 4: Lemon Sorbet

So far, the courses had gone light/heavy/light, and this course was an ultralight palate-cleanser in preparation for the main course. Shannon said she bought the nicest sorbet at Whole Foods, and I could tell - the stuff tasted like fresh frozen lemons. Delicious and refreshing!

Keep in mind that each course was reasonably sized, as to give you a satisfying serving of each item without going overboard. The non-Cheesecake-Factory serving sizes, along with the course order, is all designed for you to be satisfied but not feel gross by the 7th course, and it’s definitely effective. I wasn’t even feeling remotely full.

Course 5: Balsamic Red Wine Glazed Filet Mignon with Asparagus and Potatoes

Ah, the main course. Shannon disappeared into the kitchen to do the final cooking of the filets, which had apparently been marinating for the past 24 hours or so. She then seared/broiled/somethinged them in our cast-iron skillet and served. (If you’re curious I’m sure she could go into more effective detail.)

Now, I’ve never had marinated, pan-cooked filet before, but it’s obvious that there is simply no other way to have filet. Longhorn or Outback will grill it up like a sirloin, and that’s just a shame, because the marinating really brings out the creaminess of the meat. Filet is made to soak up flavor.

Plus, she cooked it in the cabernet that she served alongside, which did wonders to enhance the taste of both. I’ve never had a meal served with the same type of wine in which it was cooked … it was delicious. Amazing. Restaurant-quality, easily. Best filet I’ve ever had.

There were also fresh potatoes and asparagus. They were also delicious. Just so you know.

Course 6: Cheese Course

I was excited when I saw the cheese plate. I’m a big fan of trying new cheeses, but it’s so expensive and inconvenient to buy nice cheese that we hadn’t done it on this kind of scale before. Shannon did it well, however: this particular course was comprised of 5 cheeses and then some sliced baguette with which to serve.

Shannon’s research on cheese plates revealed that a good cheese plate should be arranged from softest (in this case, a brie) to hardest, and should end in a bleu of some sort. I’m not a big fan of bleu cheese, so she found a mild one, which was delicious. Also, a good cheese plate should have all 3 animals represented: cow, goat, and sheep. I don’t remember which was which — I don’t know anything about cheese — but they were all delicious.

Course 7: Pots de Crème

Before I had this meal, my favorite dessert was crème brûlée. Emphasis on before. Let me just tell you this now: If you haven’t eaten chocolate in the form of a pots de Crème, you haven’t eaten chocolate. It’s that good. A pots de Crème is essentially a rich mousse, and these particular ones were dark chocolate. Fantastic.

This final course was served with champagne - perfect for counterbalancing the rich, dark chocolate, and also perfect for toasting a fabulous meal.

In Conclusion

The entire meal was an amazing experience. Shannon was prepping this meal for two evenings before the actual execution, and all the work definitely paid off. Ingredient-wise, the meal didn’t cost any more than a standard Nice Restaurant Out with the boring old appetizer/entree/dessert format, and it was far more special (and fancy).

Shannon did an amazing job in putting it all together, and every course was of restaurant quality or higher (see: filet). Now I just have to prepare myself for next year … when it’s my turn.