My husband and I celebrated our anniversary yesterday. I can’t believe it’s been 13 years. Those years have brought so many trials and tribulations, but I wouldn’t change a thing. We’ve lived through a cancer diagnosis, a MS diagnosis, lay-offs, moves and a career change. It’s been tough, but without those hard times, I don’t think we would have learned as much or have grown as much. We are closer and stronger because of them.
We’ve had so many good times too. Vacations and weeks spent at the lake. Time with our families, nieces and friends. Most of the time though, an ordinary day is good enough for us. A day where we feel happy, healthy and content is the best day for us. We are happiest when we are relaxing at home in each other’s company.
Good food doesn’t hurt either! We celebrated our anniversary this year with dinner at the White Horse in downtown St. Cloud. I’ve never eaten there and I was a little weary of the atmostphere. Although it is in an historic building with neat architecture and an old-fashioned bar, it was loud (it is a bar) and smelled of fried food. My husband said to trust him that the food is outstanding. That it was! We both had the Black & Blue Steak and it was A-MAZ-ING! A perfectly seasoned sirloin, melt-in-your mouth, toppped with crumbled blue cheese. Fabulous mixed drinks and a superb wine-list rounded out our meal. A five-star meal! We will be going there again.
We came home for dessert. I had made a carrot cake earlier in the day. Carrot cake on our anniversary is a tradition. This year I was excited to try a recipe from Elana’s Pantry for carrot cake made with almond flour. It too exceeded my expectations! It was unbelievably moist and flavorful. I’ve made muffins and bars with almond flour, but had yet to make a cake. I did not use the agave since it is high in fructose. Instead I just used plain ‘ol sugar (about 2/3 cup since agave is 1.4 times sweeter than sugar) and about 1/4 cup of water. I used a basic cream cheese frosting recipe, using only 2 cups of confectioners’ sugar to keep the sweetness down. I highly recommend this moist and wholesome cake!
You can really see the carrot in your pictures! Maybe one of the healthier carrot cakes over the past 13 years also? What a fun tradition!