Well, it's our anniversary (9 years). We are going out of town Friday, but to d something tonight I surprised my wife with her favorite soup, French Onion. This was my first attempt. I did lots of research, made French bread for the first time earlier this week, and combined a few tips from different recipes.
The process I used to caramelize the onions involved placing them in the oven for an hour. This seems insane and like it adds unnecessary time. If all I was making was soup, I'd sort of agree, but sitting for an hour wouldn't be bad. But I was preparing three courses. I needed the time.
Anyway, I present to you my dessert-worthy anniversary dinner:
Caprese Salad, French Onion Soup, and Crispy Golden Swai with a Lemon-butter herb reduction spread on the top, and a glass of white zinfandel.
The fish is a recipe I stumbled across a while back and tweaked the herbs to fit our tastes. The caprese salad required a last minute produce and cheese purchase at lunch today (because that would have been obvious if I suddenly picked it up), and I used basil from my own garden.
I was nervous about the soup. It is my wife's favorite soup, and I have only tasted it once. I honestly had no idea how it was supposed to taste and I was making it low sodium. All I knew was that after it had simmered for about a half hour it tasted good to me. When she took her first taste her head shot up and she said, "Oh my god, that is delicious!" She even asked me to pack the leftovers for her lunch tomorrow.