Our anniversary is April 1st (hehe) and this year, I decided to celebrate by making a surprise visit to Santa Barbara! Tuesday night, I drove straight to Santa Barbara from my short trip back home in Danville. I got to Jenna's apartment at around 9 pm and she wasn't there because she was partying it up with some friends! haha jk. But actually, she was out which gave me the perfect opportunity to set things up and catch her totally by surprise. I had bought a bouquet of flowers, which I set on the dining table, so it would be the first thing she saw when she walked into the front door. I also decided that I wanted to make dinner but... would save it for Wednesday which was supposed to be the 1st (according to the calendar in my head).
As Jenna was coming home from her dinner, she called to make sure I had safely made it back to LA.
Jenna: "Hey, where are you now?"
Me: "Oh, I'm just hanging out at my apartment. Where are you?"
Jenna: "I'm almost home from happy hour."
Me: "ok good. Well....I'm gonna go eat something or go shop for some groceries. I'll call you later"
Jenna: "ok bye bye"
A few moments after hanging up, Jenna opened the door to her apartment and found me sitting there on her couch watching TV! haha! It's so funny seeing someone's truly confused and shocked face! It was pretty cute though and I think she was pretty surprised. I did feel bad about lying to her about my whereabouts but I think this was a good exception.
The next day, as Jenna went off to work/school, I told her that I would be going back to LA sometime during the day. But again, I fibbed and decided to stick around to have a home cooked meal ready for her when she got home from work/school. Apparently I thought that this idea would be really cool because 1) It would be another surprise that I was still there and 2) It would actually be on the day of our actual anniversary: The 1st. Well apparently I can't read a calendar right and Wednesday actually ended up being the 31st of March! haha... dang. Oh well. It's the thought that counts.
I went out to Albertsons and bought a schmorgishborg of ingredients to make homemade Coq Au Vin, Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Baked Potatoes. The recipe was from The Pioneer Woman and it seemed like a pretty safe and easy choice for a mid-level cooker like myself.
I started off by chopping all the veggies and aromatics. Onions, Carrots, garlic, parsley, mushrooms and BACON!
The fresh chopped parsley was more for a garnish at the end when the dish was done. And shoot! I forgot to take a picture of the BACON. It was the tastiest smelling part of the dish and is always a welcomed addition to make a dish more delish.
Once I had all my stuff chopped up, I proceed to fry the bacon (not pictured) and sweat the vegis. The instructions from the recipe told me to use the fatty goodness from the bacon to cook the vegetables and the chicken. SO I DID.
Even though I despise mushrooms, the Pioneer Woman included them into her recipe and so I decided to keep them in mine. Plus, Jenna is quite the fan of the gross little Fun-guys...
Next came the chicken. I only need to brown each side because I was supposed to throw everything into a dish and stick it all in the oven for an hour or so. Again, I used the bacon fat as a lubricant.
One of the best parts of the dish was the sauce. Alls I had to do was take that skillet, that had all the burnt pieces and bacon fat, and deglaze it with a couple cups of red wine! Who doesn't love red wine?! When I was at Albertsons looking for wine, I wasn't really sure which one to get so I just looked at the labels. One of them said that it had been ranked high (in some category) and went well with meats... so that one was the winner. See how much the design and appearance of a product effects a consumer's choice! Must remember this when designing.
I believe the wine was Barefoot something. Maybe Barefoot Sean...haha jk.
The whole thing bakes in the oven for a little over an hour and comes out looking like this! Its super funny how the chicken turns purple because of the wine. Still tasty though.
To go along with the Coq Au Vin, I made roasted brussel sprouts with bacon and baked potatoes.
Here's the brussels sprouts, which were ridiculously delicious, and I don't have a picture of the potatoes because they took too long to cook...
Here's the meal.
And here's the eater!
Happy 7 Year Anniversary Jenna! Love you lots and hope for another great year of fun times and happiness. We will continue to cook and design and hopefully, one day, live in the same zip code!
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