Yes! The title, in that order. This makes me thankful and ever so happy this New Year.

So I went away (from the blog) just before Thanksgiving. It was on purpose.

You see, we were planning a trip to Florida for Christmas.

And there were many guys in the family (my brother, dad, nephew and more) who had the beard swagger going on. My brother has had a beard for years, but my pop was sort of doing it for me. That’s another story, not for today. But I finally got to see pop with a beard. That was really special.

I had never seen the hubs with a beard.

I like beards.

Beards are not the hubs thing.

But he decided to grow one and surprise the family for Christmas. See where this is going?

That said, back to Thanksgiving. I stopped the blog just before this post. The hubs was looking good with his beard, but didn’t want any spoilers before surprising the fam.

This was our special little selfie before we left the house for our Thanksgiving date. The hubs beard was not even a month old.

Another special selfie.

Onward to our little Thanksgiving dinner for two. We decided to try a (new to us) fancy place that we’ve heard good things about. So Vintana Wine and Dine it was.

This is a fun little vignette near the entrance.

From the menu – We Had several choices to choose from. From the first course to the dessert, our dinner was amazing.

This bread…let me tell you…or popover as they call it is something I’ve never had. This Yorkshire pudding popover was goodness I will never forget.

They are crispy on the outside, with an airy, tender and slightly chewy inside. So Yummy! And with a dollop of the sweet warm butter, made this a winner.

The hubs started with the lobster bisque, no photo of the goodness, but he enjoyed.

I started with the farmers market greens candied walnuts + blue cheese + marsala dried figs + pickled red onion + toasted walnut-champagne vinaigrette

Next up, the hubs had the diestel farms organic roast turkey buttermilk mash + cranberry apple relish + wild rice chestnut stuffing + lemon-herb root vegetables.

I went non-traditional Thanksgiving. I didn’t have turkey, shocker!  I had a craving for the macadamia and coconut crusted sea bass served with crispy sea beans + roasted pineapple salsa + mashed sweet potatoes + lime + ginger-lime beurre blanc

Delish!

For dessert, I had the pumpkin cheesecake. The perfect Thanksgiving touch. No photo to share the amazing visual of the sweet goodness.

The hubs enjoyed his key lime tart. It looks amazing! It agreed with him too.

The views were magnificent from the 3rd floor.

But this guy was the absolute best part of my day.

Our meal ended with full tummies and a happy note. Our evening was spent digesting, kicking back, watching a movie and chilling.

It truly was a Thanksgiving to remember.

This post will not be complete without a Happy New Year! Finally, now that we are home from our Christmas trip, I can start blogging without the concern of leaving the hubs out.

Cheers to getting on with the New Year!

Blessings – Debbie