Celebrating 3 years of marriage!

December 29, 2009 marked our three year anniversary. It is hard to believe that Joe has already been my husband for three years! These past few years have been eventful, with a move to Chicago, the purchase of a condo, trips to Europe and Mexico, and traveling around the country to see family and friends. There have been some lean times, too, first as Joe was laid off, then when I decided to go back to school. Our marriage was easy right from the beginning, and things have only gotten better. The first year or two could have been attributed to a "honeymoon phase", but that time is long gone and things are still so easy and wonderful around our household!

We debated on how we would celebrate our anniversary this year. Our first anniversary we went all out, with an extravagant, amazing dinner at North Pond, and a stay at one of the nice hotels off of Michigan Avenue. Last year, Joe was laid off, so we made a nice dinner at home. This year we were hoping to strike a balance, and figured we would go somewhere for a nice dinner and a few drinks. At the last minute, the guilt of holiday spending caught up with us, and we decided to scale down a bit.


We ended up having dinner at Anteprima, an Italian restaurant in Andersonville. We lived in Andersonville during our first year in Chicago, and we had frequently talked about trying this restaurant that had received great reviews. But it was a bit too nice for an average dinner out, and less fancy then we wanted on our big nights out, so it always got the "maybe next time" treatment. That made it perfect for our anniversary, when we wanted to celebrate another wonderful year without blowing our budget.


We were quite pleased with our experience. The starters got the meal off to a grand start-- grilled octopus and sweet potato caponata both surpassed our expectations. We nursed a bottle of Colosi throughout the meal, and had pasta and duck breast for our main course. Nothing was excessively rich and heavy, so we had room left for some lemon panna cotta for dessert. It was a wonderful meal, and we enjoyed looking back at the last three years as we feasted. We left with satisfied stomachs and an intact wallet, and agreed that this was not our last visit to Anteprima.

Grilled Octopus for a starter

Pancetta Ragu with fresh pasta

Duck breast with wild mushrooms

Thanks to everyone who has supported us and been with us to experience the first few years of our marriage! We couldn't have done it without such wonderful family and friends!