Our First Anniversary!

Yesterday, September 3rd, was our first anniversary!  Yay!

Originally, we had planned on taking a weekend trip to Asheville, NC, but after surveying how much stuff we have accumulated over the past several years and how much packing we still needed to finish, we decided to skip the trip.  Instead we packed all weekend and made reservations for dinner on Monday night.  We ate at the Island Grille in Atlantic Beach; it was delicious!  Seriously, I highly recommend it!  Carl had a stuffed filet mignon and I chose the shrimp & scallop grits.  Normally I would not chose an entree with grits, but I have seen (insert type of seafood here) & grits on menus all over North Carolina and vowed to try it before we left.  By yesterday, my time to try this infamous dish was dwindling.  So I did.  And it was amazing!  Of course, that may be because they use gouda grits and serve it with shitake mushrooms, spinach, and bacon as well; but hey, it was great, can't argue with that.

Since it was our first anniversary, we indulged in the top layer of our cake!  (Note: I did not actually get a chance to eat any of my wedding cake last year besides the cake cutting, so the next morning I cut into the top layer and helped myself to a piece.  Therefore, I was a bit more nervous than I normally would have been about freezer burn since part of the layer had been sliced into.)

Our cake was from the Chesterton Cake Shoppe and we had two flavors - pink champagne (my choice) and raspberry (Carl's choice.)  Rather than fondant or regular buttercream frosting, we went with a French buttercream, as that has a bit more sugar and we both have a serious sweet tooth.

To get the best flavor a year later, we took it out of the freezer at least 24 hours before we wanted to eat it, unwrapped all the foil, wax paper, cling wrap, etc. and tossed it.  Then we re-wrapped the cake in parchment paper (I didn't have wax paper on hand,) placed foil over that, and put it in the refrigerator.  About 4 hours before we were going to eat the cake, we took it out and let it sit at room temperature.  There you have it!  It was completely edible and just as tasty as we remember!