My Golden Year

On December 29th I turned 29.  That's right, this is my golden year!  And it's going to be the best year I've ever had, I just know it.

Mark and I spent my birthday at Toasted Oak in Novi.  We stayed at the restaurant for just about 3 hours!  Luckily it's not the type of place that rushes you out after an hour.  Or at least I never felt rushed.  Maybe I was just drunk.  Anyway, their charcuterie and cheese boards are amazing, so of course we had to order both!  We also had steak tartare as an appetizer, the Farmhouse Lyonnaise salad, which has fried pig ears on it, and chocolate mousse for dessert.  To drink we ordered a Spanish wine flight and another bottle of Malbec, hence the drunk comment earlier.  Mark's a crazy dude and actually wanted to order a steak after all of this food, but I talked him out of it.  That boy's eyes are wider than his stomach!  We love ordering a few dishes and sharing them, so we always get a big variety of things.  It works out so well, dining with this guy.

After dinner, we bought a bottle of champagne and took it up to our room.  We were smart and thought to get a room at the hotel attached to the restaurant, The Hotel Baronette.  It's super swanky with a really modern decor and interesting details.  Just the kinda thing I love!  And about that bottle of champagne...I was poured a glass of it...I may have had a few sips of it...It was gone by the morning.  My guy sure knows how to finish what he's started.

The next morning we went back down to the restaurant for Pajama Brunch.  They clear out their private dining room and turn it into a slumber party for all the kids.  They play a kid-friendly movie, have bean bag chairs, blankets, a pancake stations with all kinds of toppings set out on this giant credenza.  Obviously we weren't invited to that party, so we sat in the regular old dining area.  I ordered the Chicken & Waffles and Mark got the Israeli Shakshuka.  Both were pretty delicious.  I think mine was better though.  The waffle was cornbread, for crying out loud.  C'mon, man.

(The first image is from my instagram, the bottom two are from Toasted Oak's website.  The restaurant was too dark to get any decent food shots.)