Super Bowl Champions and Eating Out

Sorry that I haven’t gotten a post up the last two days.   We have been busy the last few days. First there was Baltimore’s second Super Bowl win since I have lived here. I don’t have to tell you what sort of pandemonium something like that brings to a town.  However I don’t see anyone complaining since we were all too busy celebrating.

Monday I was also busy. First I had to get a lot of things done at home since I knew I was going with my father for an outpatient procedure Tuesday morning. Everything turned out fine, by the way.  ;-)  Monday night Dan and I had dinner with our architect friend Jeff who is from Missouri. For those of you who were expecting Phil (he is Jeff’s dad) he had to stay in Missouri for two funerals so it was just the three (Dan, Jeff and myself) of us.  Since I know you all enjoy a good meal I thought I would share the evening’s food in today’s post.  

In a very uncharacteristic move I have also decided to share a pic of me from Monday night.  I hate pictures of myself because all I see is “old” but for those of you who are curious what I look like here I am.  ;-)  See, I am definitely more of a curvy vegan than Kate Moss look-a-like.  Don't get to used to pics of me since I really don't like them.  Just thought you might be curious and felt like "running with scissors" today.

When we arrived at the restaurant we hear that Ahmad’s last day will be this week.  L  But on the bright side he will be making more money and he’s engaged so that part of the story was great.  We chatted with him for a while and he “convinced” Jeff that the jalapeno margarita was the way to go.  I had a sip Ahmad was right.  Jeff thought so too since he had 2 of them.

While we were chatting Ahmad told me about some of the infused spirits he was working with.  The first was the jalapeno tequila but there were also others that he was also infusing. When he asked if we wanted a taste I was very quick to say yes.  So he bought out a flight of infused spirits including:  grapefruit infused gin, Tahitian vanilla infused rye whisky and blood orange and pineapple infused rum.  The grapefruit gin had the most intoxicating aroma.  I will be infusing some for us soon. I think it will make a kick butt gin and tonics this summer on the boat.

After the adult beverages and green tea it was time for us to eat food.  ;-)  Dan and I started with a bowl of white bean and kale soup which is usually on the menu and is vegan so you know we like that.  Not to mention can you ever get enough kale? 

Jeff ordered the Caesar salad with the marinated white anchovies. If there is one thing I miss about being vegan it may just be the Spanish marinated white anchovies that Ian always has. Those briny little fish are the bomb!

Then Dan and I ordered the kale salad which we split. This one has lemon juice, olive oil, pine nuts, tomato, golden raisins and olives.  Delicious!  When I make it at home I omit the olive oil and it is just and good and maybe better. But that is because we don’t eat much oil now. Sorry there is no picture of this dish. I only  took one shot and it was blurry.  Oops!

Next Dan and I split the Sicilian penne. It is a red sauce with eggplant, onions, artichokes, capers and olives.  It has a little bit of heat in the background as well as fresh basil. It is a delicious dish.

Jeff went with the crispy salmon over gnocchi, Brussels sprouts and mushrooms and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I know this because he told me that was full but that it was too good not to keep eating. That is definitely the sign of a well prepared meal.  ;-)

For those of you looking for recipe ideas, we often order the cauliflower dish on the menu that is vegan.  It is delicious if you want to try your hand at recreating it at home.  ;-)

As usual we ate slow, chatted a lot and were the last ones to leave the restaurant.  Basically it was a typical evening out with us.  ;-) 

One of the topics of conversation over dinner was about eating slowly. Jeff was big into martial arts earlier in life so we were chatting about health and exercise which you know I enjoyed.  Since I only know Jeff as an architect I have to remind myself that he used to own and operate a martial arts studio. I find people and their interests so fascinating.  Jeff’s point was that by eating slowly and stopping when you are satisfied most people can make a big difference in their health.  I added that if you also focus on eating your produce first that will make an even bigger difference.  ;-)

Happy thoughts:

1. Monday was busy but productive. I was able to cross a few things off my to-do list which was a good way to end my day.
2. We had a wonderful evening meal with Jeff. What more could you want other than to spend time with people you like, good food and good conversation?
3. Tuesday morning I could not find a single pair of pants that fit me well. I found one pair which worked with a belt but that was it.  While it is good that all my pants are too big it was also a bit annoying to find it out when I was trying to get dressed. I knew my jeans were too big but didn’t realize it was all my pants until this morning. Darn, it looks like it is time for me to go clothes shopping.  You know I hate that right?  LOL
4. I am very stoked to try my hand at making grapefruit infused gin for the summer.  I love gin and I love grapefruit and the combination last night was amazing.  Ahmad had a brilliant idea with that combination.  Now I just need to be careful that this doesn’t lead to too many adult beverages while on the boat.  I can’t wait to share this with our neighbors Reuben and Eric.  *happy dance*
5. Speaking of Eric, I had a lovely conversation with him yesterday. Booz Allen is interested in talked to him about a job and I couldn’t be happier. Congrats Eric!!

Signing out:

I am typing this sitting in the waiting room of the outpatient surgery center while I wait for my father’s procedure to be completed.  I decided this was a great time to catch up on the blog since I had a little waiting time on my hands.  However I will say that you learn a lot sitting in waiting rooms. I enjoy watching people and noticing how different yet similar we are all.

I hope that you are having a fabulous week so far.  Assuming father continues to recover as expected I am hoping not to miss too many days blogging.  Worst case I expect to be back to blogging by Friday.  Talk with you all again very soon.  Ciao for now.