Dinner for Two...

Growing up in a big Greek household, I never understood the "table for two" concept. What do you mean JUST two? Umm, you mean TWENTY-two?! Anyways, I've always loved dinner in my house because it's the time our whole family sits down and enjoys each others company...or each other's chaos. Either way-you can see how it would be a huge change for me when BFdeLuxe suggested we do "Dinner for Two" a few weeks back to welcome in the new year.

What will our menu be? How do we even cook JUST for two? Will it turn out good or are we going to end up ordering chinese delivery? I don't even know how to turn on the grill!! Eeek!!
Fear not, my friends. Not only did we pull of NYE dinner without a flaw, but the food tasted SO good that it leaves me wanting more of it almost 3 weeks later.

Please, grab a glass of wine, kick up your feet, and join me while I take you through our first Dinner for Two...

The day began with an early trip to Starbucks for a couple of lattes to-go. It was a perfectly sunny, crisp winter day. Blue skies. Rolling country landscape. Air that smells so fresh with a hint of "cow".

From there we went to the loveliest little gourmet shop in Charlottesville, called FEAST!

FEAST mainly carries locally grown products but also some amazing meats and cheeses. Here we stocked up on a few things we'd need for our feast:

-Organic ground bison & 80% lean ground beef

-Sweet italian sausage

-Blue cheese

-Medium soft Brie

-Prosciutto

Let the cooking begin...

Organic bison, beef, sausage + an egg, chopped onions, parsley, S&P, and a wee bit of Panko.

BF was gracious enough to let me stay inside the perfectly heated house while he grilled outdoors in 20degree weather. That's love. Since I got to stay nice & warm I took the liberty of pouring a couple glasses of these incredible wines:

Slightly sweet with a bubbly feeling...SO good!

This is one of Unicorn's award-winning wines. One sip and you'll know why!! It's extremely light and smooth with fruity notes.

Time for the appetizers!!!

Are you catching the drift here?! Fresh prosciutto + Medjool dates stuffed with Brie + a drizzle of the only olive oil I use = Perfection!! The sweet and salty mix will send your tastebuds on a roller coaster ride!!

This olive oil has an extremely low acidity percentage & is completely unblended leaving your food tasting like you put butter all over it...except it's SO much healthier!!

At this point, time for another glass of Unicorn Traminette and time to make an amazingly savory BLUE CHEESE topping for half of our sliders...

This "Roaring 40's Blue Cheese" is actually much milder than your traditional blue cheese. The other topping was a bit more on the sweeter side using these ingredients of choice:

You can see large pieces of the figs in here!! Seriously, this is so versatile. I won't lie...I may (or may not have) taken a spoonful straight out of the jar and into my belly. Oops! Hey, I did it to make sure it wasn't toxic.
We then placed fresh spinach, bella mushrooms, and shallots in a pan with a liberal amount of Laconiko olive oil & sauteed into a heavenly little topping for the FIG burgers.

The Final Result...

And last but not least, ending the night perfectly...

BF taking charge of lighting a crackling fire...

and finger-lickin'-good Chocolate Dipped StRaWbErRiEs!!!

In all honesty, this was one of the most delicious meals I have had in a long time. For the last 2 years, BF & I have tried going "out" for NYE but this year we changed it up by staying in. The night couldn't have been better. We had so much fun getting ingredients, planning, and prepping this dinner for ourselves. And best of all?? We were in pajamas warm & snug watching the ball drop on TV.

I hope you ALL have been doing great 13 days into this new year. May it bring you lots of happiness, health, and blessings.

The End.