Last night, Candice and I celebrated two years together over dinner at Juniper. On one hand it’s hard to believe it’s only been two years — it feels like we’ve just always been together. On the other hand, yay, two years! There were times when I wasn’t sure how things were going to end up, but now I know I’ve found someone I can spend the rest of my life with. We fit together so well. Things just feel right. I’m a very happy mendel.

Juniper was great. It was our first time eating there, and it’s a little restaurant in our neighbourhood so it’s been on our list to try for a while. It has a great wine list which has won Wine Spectator awards for the last few years. We had a half-bottle of Kenwood’s 2003 Russian River Pinot Noir full of berry and plum but still light enough to accompany a summery meal: scallops in a mango–star-anise glaze and tuna steak with soba noodles, mango salsa and mint pesto for me, and a baby-greens salad and the tuna for Candice. Everything was delicious, although there was a bit too much going on in the tuna for me; the mint pesto didn’t really fit with anything else and leaving it out probably would have made the whole thing seem a bit more composed. Dessert was lemon cake with blueberry and raspberry sauce for me, and vanilla-bean creme brulee for Candice. Definitely one of the nicer restaurants in Ottawa (especially with that wine list — note that the list and menu on their website is out of date) but I still prefer the menu at the Urban Pear where we traditionally went to celebrate big events.

I think I’m still full.