Celebrating Love and Life!

L'chaim, y'all! We celebrated 35 years of marriage with an Anniversary Eve dinner on Sunday, February 14th – a most appropriate day for lovers ..... and lovers of fine food. Below is the menu; and what follows is a pictorial description of the process, for the true Foodies in this readership. You must forgive the sloppy pictorial placement; I'm still learning.There were some other good shots I couldn't seem to download here, also. If you would like to se the full photo album, let me know and I'll send you a KodakGallery link.
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Beef Wellington Dinner Soulé (Music: "Die Fledermaus, Act I")

Candlelight Cocktail Hour:
Moet & Chandon Champagne Imperial

Primo:
Steamed Artichoke / Aioli Dipping Sauce
Baguette Slices / Acqua Minerale

Secondo: Beef Wellington (Boeuf en Croute)
with Black Truffle Sauce

Wine: Primitivo Zinfandel '2004, Salamandre Vineyards Santa Cruz
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The artichoke was steamed lightly and chilled the previous day. The aioli sauce was made ahead and chilled also (it is simply a mixture of good mayonnaise, minced garlic, and fresh lemon juice to thin to a smooth consistency).


The Beef Wellington recipe we used was an amalgam of Craig Claiborne, Julia Child, Epicurious.com, Tyler Florence, and Gordon Ramsay.
Here are step-by-step photos of the process:

Searing the meat:





Putting it all together:












A Messy Process:

.... but absolutely delicious and well worth the work.