Happy 23rd Navy Anniversary!

Last night we celebrated Vic's 23rd Navy Anniversary.  23 years ago, Vic reported to Navy Recruit Training to begin what has been an amazing career that has taken us up and down the East Coast, over to the Midwest, and to the Pacific Northwest.  He has visited five out of the seven continents during seven deployments and has a chestful of medals to commemorate outstanding service.  I am so proud of him!

I decided to start a series of themed dinners to celebrate the remaining anniversaries.  They will be in the form of country themes, a retrospective of the liberty port countries he visited during his career.  First up was Spain (England was actually his very first liberty port country but I wanted to do an afternoon tea for that one so we'll have to wait until July 11th falls on a weekend - 2021 I think!).

I was fortunate to have a spouse in our group who is from Spain and she pointed me in the right direction for some of the ingredients.  The appetizer and main course were from a Spanish-themed luncheon put on by the local international spouses' group that I attended last time we were here in Virginia.

The menu

Table centerpiece in the colors of the Spanish flag

I sourced the dinnerware and place mats locally - I thought they looked quite Spanish - and found the green-tinged glassware at the Dollar Tree - red napkins completed the place settings

Trio of Spanish cheeses and olives for a starter

Pollo al Chilindron, a delicious tomato and chicken dish, with rice and steamed green beans

Tarta de Santiago, a Spanish almond cake, with the traditional decoration of the Cross of St. James

Cava - a perfect wine for a summer's evening

Has it really been 23 years that we've been living this Navy life?