Nine years and tapas.

Simon thinks he has a pretty rough life. I beg to differ.

And the photo has nothing to do with our tapas dinner, it's just what I have.

Yesterday was the day that I met Will...nine years ago. Perhaps not a true anniversary, but it is always a happy day for us. A happy memory. Will is incredibly awesome and I am a very fortunate woman.

To celebrate, we went out to a local tapas restaurant, La Boca. We've been meaning to go there forever because Will got a bonus from a gig that he did in February and said bonus was a gift certificate to La Boca.

It's located in downtown Santa Fe in a fairly tiny unassuming space. But it was comfortable and the service was great. I threw my digital point and shoot camera in my bag just in case, but alas, I did not take any pictures. I will share what we ate with you though because I know there are one or two of you out there who like to hear about food!

We ordered a bottle of Tempranillo which sadly is not listed on the online menu and I can't remember the brand. (Found it on the receipt, Araca.) It was a 2004, that I remember, and it went quite well with all our food. (It was also the cheapest bottle, but hey, you know how it is.)

We shared tapa de la casa while we studied the menu. It included catalan olives, mracona almonds and manchego cheese. All delicious.

Next up, the arugula salad with drunken goat cheese, avocado, lemon, olive oil and roasted peppers. I have no idea what makes goat cheese drunken, but it was really good. Totally different texture than regular goat cheese.

The next tapa was one of the specials so let's see if I can get it right. Crab croquettas with morcilla sausage and spicy red pepper sauce. Amazing. And not too spicy for me.

Tapas are small portions, but for some reason, after the crab, I was already feeling totally full. And usually I have quite the hearty appetite. (I suppose it might have had something to do with the leftover chicken friend steak, scrambled egg and English muffin that I had as an early lunch.)

No matter, we had to try a few more things.

The crab was followed by a grilled Moroccan shrimp tapa that isn't on the online menu so I don't know what it was exactly. It was served with some sort of blended avocado something or other. The shrimp was grilled to perfection, but I let Will eat most of it because it was SPICY.

Last up was the grilled hanger steak with smoked sea salt caramel or cabrales butter. Our waitress recommended trying both sauces so of course we did. The cabrales butter is all about blue cheese which neither of us like so we stuck with the smoked sea salt caramel which was AMAZING. Unlike anything I've ever dipped my steak in before. Loved it.

And okay, at that point, I was REALLY FULL. But skip dessert? Never.

We shared a chocolate ganache-custard with polverone cookie and a glass of port (I think it was the 1982 Toro Albala, Pedro Ximenez). I'm not big on dessert wines, but I'm trying to have an open mind since I love wine with chocolate. The wine was super syrupy and figgy and I definitely couldn't drink it all the time, but it went well with the chocolate dessert.

The entire meal was delicious all around.

And the rest of the week? Super busy! Will and I are both totally exhausted. On nights like these, we both wish we still lived in Brooklyn where we could order take out from any number of places. In Santa Fe...mmmmm...not really any choices for delivery besides pizza.

Tomorrow...Harry Potter!!