Yesterday was the 31st birthday for one of my dearest friends, Kelly. We have literally known each other our entire lives, growing up just a few houses apart. We were maid-of-honor in each other’s wedding and are both high school teachers. Last night we went out to celebrate at one of our favorite restaurants, Tuscarora Mill. It has kind of become tradition for Greg and I to dine at Tuskie’s with Kelly and her hubby, Matt. We have yet to have anything less than stellar food and service there, and the menu uses a lot of local and seasonal organic ingredients.

Last night’s meal was certainly no exception- it was phenomenal as always (and the company only added to its greatness)!

When we were seated, we noticed that our menus had a special little message on top for the birthday girl!

Just a note- we were working with very low-lighting, so the pictures are generally a little out of focus and the color is a bit off in general. Use your imagination.

A little posing before dinner:

We split three apps: The lobster medallions, meat sampler, and white bean truffle hummus (that was my pick, of course!)

All so good. And perfect sizes for starters (although I think Matt would have been just as happy with a few baskets of bread )

For the entree, I ordered the fish special (BIG SHOCKER) which was grouper with olive oil poached tomatoes on top of a bed of spinach.

I was much more interested in the sweet potato polenta with Parmesan as a side than the orzo that came with the fish, so the cook swapped it out for me.

I am totally going to make this at home. It was unreal (though I think I’d top it with goat cheese- or nothing at all!)

The birthday girl got lamb with brussels sprouts and goat cheese mashed taters (“what’s taters, precious?”)

And both boys got roasted duck medallions.

There was a lot of sharing going on. And we did manage to save room for dessert!

A special chocolate trio for the birthday girl:

And simple vanilla ice-cream with cranberry biscotti for me and Greg.

PERFECT way to end a meal.

We posed for a few more photos:

The birthday girl couldn’t manage to shoot a photo of me and Greg that wasn’t beyond blurry, but that’s okay. The boys had fun holding our purses and leftovers while we posed.

What a great night! I definitely love going to dinner with another couple that loves food and appreciates what we have to offer here locally.

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We’re off to DC today to grab lunch at a restaurant I’ve been dying to go to for a long time and to just walk around. The weather is beautiful and it should be a perfect day!