Photographic Thursday and Dinner Out ;-)

It was another busy day for us. So busy in fact that I never had breakfast or even a proper lunch. However I did eat. Here is what happened.

Dan had a meeting with DC planning today which meant I decided to tag along because I love DC. He had his favorite green smoothie this morning before heading to the office. His smoothie included all the usual suspects: raw kale, frozen bananas, wheat germ, freshly ground flax seeds, cinnamon, powdered ginger, stevia and water.

Once Dan left for work I quickly jumped on line to read the nutrition and health highlights and posted some quick links to the Facebook page for the blog. I really like that I can post links there immediately after reading the article which makes it very easy for me. That is my favorite thing about Facebook at the moment. Then I needed to start getting ready to pick Dan up downtown at noon. I also had to fill the car with gas, pack snacks, respond to email, clean up the kitchen, etc. It was a busy morning and before I knew it I had to leave and hadn’t had any breakfast.

Thank goodness I had packed snacks because I knew Dan wouldn’t have had lunch (which he didn’t). We both nibbled on the drive to DC. For the trip I had packed: water, dried plums (aka prunes), oranges, Brazil nuts, homemade trail mix, celery sticks, carrots, cucumber slices, reduced-fat peanut butter, sweet tomato pesto and seaweed snacks. While I didn’t have a proper breakfast or lunch as you can see I didn’t starve either.

I was downtown at the appointed time to pick up Dan but he was delayed coming out of his office. I entertained myself by taking photos of architectural elements and juxtapositions to kill time. I have been trying to carry my camera with me when I go out to use it for things other than food since I used to be an okay photographer back in the day. The photos above are some of the ones that I took today.

Dan’s meeting was at 1350 Pennsylvania Ave, NW just down from the White House. For those of you that are local I bet you know what is coming next …. zero parking was to be found. Even though we had 30 minutes to find a parking place all the garages were full and there was nothing available on the street. I ended up dropping Dan and taking the car to find parking. I ended up at the tidal basin since I expected to find something there and fortunately I did. It was a beautiful spring day today.

No surprise I took some pictures of DC while I was there and here are some of them.

After Dan’s meeting there was another impromptu meeting called at different office so we went there next. Thankfully the second meeting was relatively short (less than an hour). After the two meetings we were ready to leave DC until after 5pm. I was a little bummed that we didn’t get a late lunch/early dinner in DC but I was ready to head for home. We decided to go to our usual place and called ahead to warn the kitchen that were coming in. I know that part seems odd to everyone but it isn’t a vegan place so they really appreciate the heads up and the more notice they get the better.

Ian was off today (good for him) but Dani, Will and Vaz had everything completely under control.

We started with Emily’s special green and orange tea. I need to find out what the secret is to that. I am fairly sure it has fresh squeezed orange juice in it and I know she shakes it (like a drink) but I think there may be more to it. I will try to replicate it at home and see what I come up with. It is really tasty stuff. Thank you Emily!

Dani made us the “vegan antipasti” plate. This really never gets old and is incredibly filling since it contains: chickpeas, artichokes, roasted red peppers, olives, cherry tomatoes, house-made sweet and sour pickles, pickled peppers, crispy garlic flat bread and balsamic glaze.

Our next dish was a beet and orange salad with fresh fennel, avocado, red onion and pistachio.

Since they had tofu in the kitchen *happy dance* we asked for one of the Asian specials to be made with tofu and it was delicious. Specifically it was marinated tofu, shitakes, seaweed, carrots and sticky rice with a lemon and white wine sauce. Seriously why would I ever cook when I can eat like this with just a little notice? Okay so my food is healthier but dinner out is always delicious.  :-)

Everyone at the restaurant was in rare form today; I guess they are gearing up for the weekend. Mother’s day brunch is going to be busy since they had 177 reservations as of this evening. If it rains that will throw a wrench into the works since I know they are counting on having the patio open to hold that crowd.  However I am sure things will be great they always make it happen though I have no idea how.  ;-)

Like usual the evening resembled old home week and we had a chance to chat with Corey, Emily, Janine, Stephanie, Dani, Will, Vaz, and meet Kevin on his first night at work. Jen, Natalie and Jacqueline were busy this evening (someone has to work, right?). Overall it was a very nice evening as always.  Really it is a wonder we ever eat at home isn't it?  ;-)

Happy thoughts:

• Thursday was a good day, a little crazy and unorthodox but good. I enjoyed the opportunity to get my camera out and shot things other than food. I hope you enjoyed some of the pictures.

• I was grateful for the beautiful weather we had today. Blue skies always but a smile on my face.

• Dan and I had a lot of “face time” in the car which is always good. We actually can spend 24 hours a day together and not get tired of each other. We have worked together in the past and that worked out extremely well for us. I guess we have an unusual relationship.

• Dinner was excellent as always and by that I do mean both the food and company. Whenever we go out for dinner we have to talk to everyone … that is just part of what we do. As you have probably guessed by now when we go out to dinner it is more than just to eat. We are not the sort of people that eat quickly and run off somewhere else. With us dinner is the event not something to do before going somewhere else. This is something that I learned to love in Italy and I must say they know how to live and I that is not just because I am Italian. Dan is decided not Italian in the least and he also enjoys a leisurely dinner out.

Signing out:

Guess who has stayed up too late yet again? *rolls eyes* How we ever managed to get up at 5am is completely beyond me. Will we ever make it back to the gym when it opens in the morning?

Speaking of the gym I tried to put on “real shoes” (aka not sandals) this morning and my toe is still not ready for that. Those of you that said a broken toe was going to take a month to heal were probably right. I need to try on my running shoes soon to see how that is going to work out for me. Walking in sandals isn’t that comfortable for long distances. But until I can wear proper shoes our mornings at the gym are on hold. So….I guess I can stay up late for a while longer. Did you catch that rationalization of my bad behavior? LOL

Tomorrow I have fewer errands to run than usual but Dan is going to try to take the afternoon off. If that happens we may go out and have some fun. Either way I will be back tomorrow (Friday) with another post though it will probably be later in the day.  ;-)  

I hope your week was good and that you have some fun planned for the weekend. Talk to you again soon. Good night!