Bonjour everyone and Happy Bastille Day! If you’re not sure what Bastille Day is, it’s the French Independence Day. Celebrating Bastille Day in the US is easy – just do something French! At the very least, you could order a French café and listen to French music on Pandora 🙂

Last night after work, I met my sister-in-law and mother-in-law for dinner at a fabulous local winery – Cooper’s Hawk. Although located in the Midwest Cooper’s Hawk makes all of their wines and has designed their restaurant and tasting room to have the same look and feel of a traditional winery – dark colors, wood floors, and walls of wine…

They have sooo many wines to choose from but I went with my standard – a fruity chardonnay which was just lovely – very cool and crisp, which was perfect because I was sitting directly in the sun! For dinner, I had the penne in a lemon cream sauce with asparagus and chicken – plus I added a little spinach for more veggies…

‘Twas delicious! But with such a huge portion, there was no way I could finish it all! When dessert came around, I contemplated skipping it because I was fairly full. But I had checked out the menu ahead of time and noticed they had Banoffee pie on the menu – I’ve never had it and it sounded SO good! It is seriously the first time I have EVER seen it on a menu – anywhere! We decided on the pie and a peanut butter ice cream cookie. The pie, which is a mix of toffee and banana, was amazing! It really gives my current favorite pie – banana cream – a run for it’s money.

Overall, we spent 3 1/2 hours eating and chatting. Some would even say we closed down the restaurant, which is probably easier to do on a Tuesday night. What a perfect way to spend a summer evening. Can’t wait for the next girls night out!

Last night, Scott and I had the “night off” from parenting. We took advantage of our time alone and headed to a local French bistro. Although I love going out for French food, I don’t usually stray too much from what I normally eat – salad, chicken, fruit, etc. Of course, we started with drinks – mine being an awesome French sangria made with a splash of Grand Marnier – that’s what makes it French. The GM made all the difference in the world with this drink – fabulous! Who knew French restaurants offered Sangria? Notice the plate that Scott strategically placed behind my glass.

When you’re drinking, it’s good to soak up some of the alcohol with food – I think that’s what French bread was made for and this was some of the best I’ve had! I am sooo glad that they did not put a big basket of this bread on the table – it was delivered in individual pieces by a “bread server” – I seriously would have eaten the whole basket, complete with the olive and red pepper tapenade that it came with.

I was going to pass on the appetizer but then I saw this cute little cone-shaped holder on someone’s table – ahh French Fries! Yes, I did get them, but only because they were served in the traditional French metal holder with a piece of “newsprint” to soak up the oil.

I was not in the adventurous mood (no cow tongue or snails for me!) so I opted for an eggplant and goat cheese crepe. Not gonna lie to you, it was just ok – rather uninteresting and blah by crepe standards. I decided not to waste the calories and only ate about 1/2 of it. Last but not least, Scott and I shared his dessert fave, chocolate mousse. The mousse was divine and I kept my tastes to just two bites – that’s really all you need with super rich mousse.

The best thing about this dinner was that I did not have to eat it with a 2-year old sitting on my lap. I’m all about sharing the love but not when I’m eating!