Another year for the ages has passed. At 6 o’clock on the eve of our 6th year together, my partner and I celebrated, French-style, in out-of-the-way Blaricum. Since it was strongly suggested weeks back that I dress up for the occasion and given that I’m a sucker for starched white linen restaurants, my expectations veered a bit on the high side. While I’d never heard of it till then, we did end up in a place that wasn’t just interesting, given the occasion, De Goede Gooier was close to perfect.

There’s certainly something about a weekend dinner date outside the city. Almost like a movie scene, for over an hour we were the only guests in the dining area. The privacy and the quiet, surrounded by some none-too-shabby scenery from our corner window table – there really wasn’t much more to ask for. There was still the question of the food, though.

As far as anniversary dinners go, this was without a doubt a success. Unbelievably, my extremely picky eater of a partner ate everything – raw fish, duck, and what I’m sure was liver mousse, all in one sitting. Even more incredibly, he seemed to actually enjoy it. We’ve certainly come a long way from the early days of just keeping up with normal life, schat. Here’s hoping life just keeps getting better.