Oh my Lucky Stars

Last night, my dad took me, Alexis, and Erika out to dinner, to a place called Tosca. It just happens that Alexis's husband, Massimo, is a chef. And he works at Tosca. And so we had an absolutely delicious meal, designed for us by Massimo. With wine pairings for each course. Here's what we ate:

1st course: smoked salmon tartare on little toasty points
2nd course: squash soup with amaretto and an amaretto cookie.
3rd course: scallop with mushrooms wrapped in leak
4th course: fois gras terrine
5th course: duck confit ravioli
6th course: black truffle risotto.
7th course: lamb cooked medium rare with fois gras mashed potatoes & artichokes
8th course: desserts... 4 different desserts to share. apple doughnuts with cinnamon gelato, chocolate molten cake, some other chocolate thing, and a granita, which tasted like frozen coffee.

Are you drooling yet? It was all delicious. If forced to chose a favorite course, I think I would go with the lamb, but it's a close call between that, the black truffle risotto, and the duck confit ravioli.

If you're one of my Washington readers, or if you ever come visit, I highly recommend this place. I'll go with you, even! They have a special pre-theatre menu, also, which is quite reasonably priced. Since I think most people cannot afford to eat like that every night!

Simply Home

Last night, my friends Robin and Byron took me out to dinner, to thank me for watering their plants when they were on vacation. Unnecessary, but as I do like dinner, I decided what the heck, and I chose a restaurant none of us had ever been to. Simply Home. A Thai restaurant inside a store. For some reason, I was imagining it would look like The Cracker Barrel, but honestly, it was much nicer than that! You wouldn't even know it was also a store unless you, well, knew it was also a store. There was a very tiny doorway into the store, but you couldn't even see it from where we were sitting.

Anyway. We ate yummy food, despite initial disappointments. (They were out of mint, so Byron didn't get his mojito, and they were out of shiitake mushrooms, so Robin & I didn't get the appetizer we wanted.) And then, Robin and Byron were finishing up their drinks, when someone came over and told us they needed the table and could we move to the lounge area, please.

Um. No. I said no, Robin said no. The guy sort of huffed away. And OK, we got there at 7:30, and it was after 9:30, but still! We drank a lot, so it's not like they were losing much money on us hogging the table. Not one minute later, another guy came over, apologized, and said, "You are just as valuable to us as the new customers! May I offer you a complimentary dessert?"

Well. I said no, Robin said no, the guy walked away. Byron said, "Why'd you both say no! I was about to say yes." And then, about five minutes later, the second guy shows up again, with a plate in his hand, and three forks, and tells us he wanted us to try the green tea cheesecake anyway. Being polite, we did. It was delicious. It sounds kind of gross, I think, but it was quite refreshing and tasted like mint chocolate chip ice cream. But that could have been the green color and the chocolate sauce on the plate tricking my mind.

Nutrition Talk

I went to a lecture last night at the Junior League on nutrition. I really only went because my friend Holly organized it, and she asked me to come, but parts of it were quite interesting. Here's what I learned:

• You shouldn't eat fat-free dairy. Not skim milk or fat-free yogurt or anything. Your body doesn't absorb the calcium unless there is some fat there too. You can use 1% though.
• Women shouldn't go on super low carb diets as it reduces the levels of seratonin in our brains and that causes depression.
• French fries are really, really bad for you.
• You should eat more than just a yogurt for breakfast.

And here's how I incorporated that into my daily life, so far:

• I ate French fries with my dinner last night. OK, they might kill you, but they are delicious. I didn't eat them all, though, so that's worth something, right?
• I bought 1% milk at the grocery.
• I ate just a yogurt for breakfast. But for lunch I had a peanut butter & jelly sandwich, cheese & crackers, and a banana. Does that make up for it?