Bona Terra anniversary dinner

To celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary, we dined at a favorite restaurant, Bona Terra, in Sharpsburg.

Sharpsburg is off Route 28, just east of Pittsburgh, and across the river from Lawrenceville. It's a 15 minute drive for us.

Chef Douglas Dick shops daily for local, largely organic food and presents it fairly simply, allowing the natural flavors to shine.

Despite it being a busy Friday night, we were granted a tasting menu, allowing Douglas to send us whatever he wanted to. The only thing I requested was lamb, Susan's favorite. Chef Douglas knows us well, and we've never had a bad bite at his restaurant. It was a delightful meal from start to finish.

Bona Terra is BYOB. I brought a split of Mumm's for the first course, and a bottle of American claret (Ramey) for the rest of the meal. Fortunately we skipped the usual cocktail before leaving the house. We don't bounce back like we used to.

First course: Foie gras, onion relish, cherry gastrique

Second course: Seared Dayboat scallop, sweet white corn, lobster meat, tomato broth, atop truffled mashed potatoes

Third course: Duck breast, seared rare, with crisply skin and strawberry reduction (yum):

Fourth course: Blackened swordfish, locally foraged wild mushrooms, risotto:

Fifth course: Where's the lamb? In our bellies. I "forgot" to photograph the lamb chops, which were very tender. I once read that it is socially acceptable to gnaw bones in public, which we did. The crispy bits along the bone are so delicious.

Susan had wonderful sorbet for dessert. Douglas has a magical sorbet machine that whips in air, giving it a very smooth texture, like ice cream. Strawberry, mango-champagne, and melon. I had a chocolate-toffee tort with chocolate ice cream.

Six courses. One for each happy year of marriage!