WARNING!!! Hedonism next 6 miles! Hot and steamy

To celebrate our 6th wedding aniversary(actually on Monday), Huz and I geared up for a heavy night of sensual delights.

-Cue shameless and gratuitous plug-

You guessed it! We headed on down to
Nino's


We started things off with a glass of my new favorite red, Rodney Strong Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon 2005- a full bodied and richly textured cabernet with intense aromas and flavors of black currant, sandalwood, white pepper and cocoa, with a smooth, lingering finish. But that first caress across the tounge can only be described as "Celebratory". I could distinctly taste each of the above flavors all at the same time-just popping as it hits your pallet. Like going straight to the orgasm and easing into the afterglow . Next we were treated to a a shared appetizer -A combination of chicken, Italian sausage, shrimp, red peppers and perfectly cooked broccoli in some kind of tasty sauce, I don't even know what that was. On to the main courses: Shrimp fettuccini alfredo for me and Baked ziti and meatballs for Huz. Our troughs were placed before us and we enthusiastically consumed about 1/16th of our plates. The rest will be shipped overseas to feed a 3rd world country for a week. Gluttony and sloth, two human traits I deride, describe our dinners. You just want to ease into your trough, like you would a hot bath, and roll around in there. You have to pinch yourself, hard, to keep from devouring the whole thing despite your painfully expanding innards. My dish was yummy as hell, as usual, but Huz’s was crazy good(his main dish always turns out better than mine). Not your run of the mill ziti.
For desert we decided to cross the street for some chocolate hedonism at Modern Dwellers Chocolate Lounge.

You heard me-a chocolate l o u n g e….I hate to sound like your dime-a-dozen chick, but… chocolate. It was almost as bad as the night my friend Deb and I had a chocolate fondue. We ate a whole Sara Lee cheesecake-each pieced dipped in the fondue. We spent the rest of the night speed walking through Missoula, Montana with huge smiles on our faces that made our facial muscles hurt the next morning. Remember, Deb?!?!?
As we strolled (we tried very hard not to run. We did it!) the vibrant display of color inside a new art gallery, Gallery Red, caught our eye. We prolonged our chocolate anticipation and took a look inside. It was the Gallery's grand opening. Huz and I are big fans of First Friday in Anchorage. It’s a great cost efficient(read:cheap)date night! Inspiring new art to be discovered, long refreshing walks throughout downtown, and free food and wine! So this was like a surprise mini First Friday. Gallery Red had some intense stuff, namely this polar bear acrylic by Natalie Parenteau that we both fell in love with(the pic doesn’t do it justice).


I’m not into “Alaskana” at all but I thought this piece was unique, indicative of Native Alaskan art but with an inclination toward the fanciful and hippy-esque. Reminiscent of a 60’s concert poster found on Haight Ashbury. To me, it’s like a gentle reminder of the possible impending doom of this beautiful creature and the impermanence of life on this earth. I think we’ll be considering this one for the new addition.
After our impromptu Second Friday we were back on track to the chocolate awaiting the next door over. We were happy to find that Modern Dwellers is also an art gallery! More great stuff to admire along with the truffles and extensive selection of chocolate. Since it was actually a balmy evening, warm breeze before rain, we sat outside with our unique truffle selections: a Margarita Zing for Huz and a Purple Infusion for me. We split the Silky Dark drinking chocolate.

The Silky Dark is basically liquid sex in a wee mug. I cannot go on.

After this chocolate fix-I’m never eating it again until tomorrow-and the ensuing euphoric chocolate induced coma, Huz carried me home and across the threshold.
Lucky him. :)