Anniversary Trip: Day Two.

Day two began with a delish breakfast at Ca.Fe.Zn. (Cafe Zinc) at the H. May I just get it out in the open right here and now that I am basically obsessed with fancy things...especially dining? I was truly spoiled on this trip and it's hard to go back to my old pals Jimmy and Papa (as in Johns). Le sigh.

Continuing on...we ate our breakfasts and ordered lunch to be picked up later. Lunch was consumed at the gardens at The Grand in Essexville, because my husband is that awesome. I wish they had a website so I could show you how absolutely amazing it is, but the few pictures from my wedding will have to do it justice for now.

After lunch we popped into Target for a few odds and ends. As Joe would say, "It's not a VW vacation if momma can't get her Target time in." True story.

Then we went back to the hotel for our 3 p.m. massages. Glorious. But much to our dismay, only 1 therapist showed up. So, Joey was an ever-gracious hubby and let me take the appointment. The flip side of this coin is that they didn't charge us for my massage AND gave us $50 off the hotel bill. Score!

After a brief stint in the hot tub, we got ready for the big night out at Table restaurant. Oh. Mah. Gawd. We were definitely fish out of water for the entire experience, but it was awesome. Everyone should do something like this in their lifetime. We were waited on hand and foot by the most attentive, knowledgeable staff - my favorite was Rudi, the flamboyantly gay maitre'D who treated Joe and I as if we were royalty...amazingness.

A lowdown of the meal:

1. Amuse bouche, courtesy of the chef: a smoked salmon patty, of sorts, topped with perfectly julienned granny smith apples and a sprout salad lightly tossed in EVOO. I don't even like salmon and ate every single bite.

*enter waiter* --> total change of placesetting, fresh bread and water

2. Appetizer: an heirloom tomato salad with some type of cheese I can't pronounce and a little salad on top. It was so pretty I didn't want to eat it. This was paired with a delicious white wine. I could have stopped here and died a happy woman. But wait...there's more!

*enter waiter* --> total change of placesetting, fresh bread and water. This time, he placed a silly looking spoon next to the plate that looked like the state of Michigan, only with the thumb chopped off a little bit. Feeling retarded, we asked one of the waitresses what it was...apparently, it was a sauce spoon. Yeah. IDK either.

3. Main course: Australian Kobe beef (like a giant steak of it) atop a cheesy potato cake with shortribs. Like Joe said, I've never had meat on top of meat before, but it was uh-may-zhing. The sauce...oh, the sauce. I still have dreams about it. This was paired with a red wine that we actually wrote down to buy again because we liked it so much.

*enter waiter* --> total change of placesetting, fresh bread and water. No foreign objects this time. Dodged that bullet.

4. Dessert: I got the chocolate lava cake and Joey got the.most.amazing strawberry creme brulee I have ever had. Honestly, I ate most of his dessert...and mine, too. :) It was a "deconstructed" creme brulee, with the creamy, strawberry goodness on the bottom, then a sweet, flat filo-like cookie topped with more creamy goodness, another cookie and fresh whipped cream on top...all drizzled with dark chocolate sauce. I wish I could eat it every minute of every day. This course was paired with a dessert port wine, which I have always likened to sweetened poison. Ugh. So, the waiter brought us some "iced" wine...which is essentially a really sweet ice cold white wine. It was awesome. Way better than the port. Yuck!

After that fabulous meal, we went to the adjacent bar, Oxygen (are you beginning to notice a periodic table of elements trend at this place?) for an after dinner drink. The bartender had the personality of a mossy rock, but boy did he know his booze! We were entertained by some fascinating couples at the bar (one glued to their iPhones, the others drinking until they liked each other) and a 40th birthday party of drunken, hilarious women...they even gave Joe one of their gift bags! What can I say, he's a hit with all the ladies!

I had far too much to drink (cilantro lime margarita...my new bff) so we stumbled our sinfully stuffed selves up to the hotel room and let Jimmy Kimmel put us to sleep. Ahhh, sleep...