Hello there!
I have had such a stressful day! My job really is the furthest thing from being stressful, but today I just had a bunch of little stuff to do and there was an event at the restaurant so I had a hard time getting everything done….and someone I work with asked me if I could work for him tomorrow (instead of have the day off) because he has a school related event….so I said yes because he’s working for me all next week while I go to NC so it’s only fair. SO—no day off tomorrow, no shopping spree at Whole Foods and no brighthouse guy :(. Since I’m working for him tomorrow, he’s working for me on Friday, which I guess will be better because on Friday I don’t have school either so I can just take the entire day to relax, food shop and fix this damn internet!! Only a few more days!! :\ I still am going to try to make it to the opening of Whole Foods in the morning at 9:00, even though I’ll only be able to stay about 30 minutes and that just seems like a sin. At least I’ll be able to pick up something fun to bring to work for lunch tomorrow. I’ll just have to go back on Friday to do all my shopping. It will be a little taste of whats to come!
Anyways, since I found out I have to work tomorrow and can’t buy groceries I panicked since I have NOTHING in my kitchen! I had to stop by Publix to buy some soymilk because I’m all out of that and it can’t wait until Friday! I guess my meals during the next couple days will be interesting…as I dig deep into my pantry! I’m just being dramatic—it won’t be that bad, especially since on Thursday I’m going out to dinner with my friends before school. We are going back to the Indian restaurant we went to about a month ago. So good!
Tonight I pulled together a simple Indian-inspired meal of basic red lentil dal, whole wheat pita and a salad. A glass of wine as well because lord knows I needed that tonight! For the dal, I just simmered 1/4 cup red lentils with 1/2 cup veggie broth and about 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes for about 15 minutes. Then, I added a dash each of coriander, curry powder, salt, cayenne and garam masala. I ate it with a warmed up whole wheat pita for a complete meal. For a snack later I’m thinking about bringing another big baggie full of red grapes along with pretzels.
Here’s a question for the crowd: if you had to pick, what was your absolute favorite meal you have ever eaten and why? I’m re-reading Mireille Guiliano’s book “French Women For All Seasons” and trying to get back to eating more for pleasure (like the Parisians) rather than just eating on the run or eating something I don’t really feel like having. I’ll go first:
My favorite meal EVER was the croque-monsiur and cafe au latte that I had upon arriving in Paris last summer. I just got off my all night flight, hadn’t eaten anything and was very cranky, tired and hungry. My mom and I stopped into the first cafe we saw near our hotel in the 6th arr. All they had to serve at that hour were croque-monsiurs and coffee. Yes, I was a vegetarian but lord, was I hungry (don’t hate me, people!) so I dove into that hot ham and cheese sammie and that warm coffee like it was nobody’s business. I still remember exactly how it tasted and how warmed I was after eating. It was such a simple meal but goes down in the books as being the best ever.
I was so tired!
Meghan
June 24, 2008 at 9:33 pmBeing the extreme lover of food that I am, it’s incredibly difficult to decide on my favorite meal that I’ve ever eaten! (As I’m positive it will be for many who respond!) I would have to say it would be the first time I went to eat Indian food in a VERY long time. My mom took me to this little “hole-in-the-wall” but still award-winning-cheap indian place near my house. Everything was just AMAZING. Plus I LOVE LOVE LOVE sweating while eating my food, oh, and the naan! Gah, I have to go back ASAP…
BethT
June 24, 2008 at 10:28 pmMy favorite meal is one I talk about all the time. At a restaurant in Chapel Hill, NC where my husband and I were celebrating something (my birthday, I think?), I ordered grilled pork tenderloin on top of a sweet potato waffle (!), drizzled with a honey maple butter sauce and served with seared spinach. The combo was so unique, and the waffle was both savory and sweet in a way I had never before tasted. The meat was perfectly cooked and it all just worked so well together, it blew me AWAY!
Nicole
June 24, 2008 at 11:02 pmHmm. My favorite meal would have to be at a cute little French restaurant in NYC. The atmosphere was cozy yet sophisticated, the wait staff was very pleasant, it was just an overall great experience for me. The meal started off with goat cheese croquettes on top of arugula, followed by a deliciously cooked croque monsieur, and finished off with creme caramel. Oh, and there was lots of fresh French bread. For $15 (in total! it was a prix fixe menu), you can’t beat that.
AshleyH
June 24, 2008 at 11:24 pmMy favorite meal was at prom my senior year of high school. A few of my really close friends, our dates, and I ate at this very expensive restaurant on a clif overlooking the ocean. I got the stuffed shrimp (they were stuffed with a carb cake like mixture). It was the best thing I had ever put in my mouth. To top it off we ordered their specialty dessert, the heath bar cake which has to be ordered when you are seated because it is baked from scratch. The company was amazing, the food to die for and we just laughed and laughed and then headed to an amazing prom!
Betsy
June 24, 2008 at 11:25 pmthe tastiest meal i’ve ever had was on a backpacking trip about 5 years ago. it was very very late when we got to our campsite and we were absolutely starving. we made macaroni and cheese for our dinner and it was literally the best thing ever. i think it’s the circumstances that often make the best meals. i can still taste it and i still talk about it with my friends who were with me-we all agree that it was just the most delicious thing we’ve ever eaten.
AshleyH
June 24, 2008 at 11:25 pmOh by the way Jenna you crack me up! I was expecting like a pband j for dinner when you said that you would have to pull something out of your empty cupboard for dinner and you make a dal of all things. I hope one day I will be able to pull wonderful out of nothing like you!!
Kelly T
June 25, 2008 at 1:14 amah Jenna I have such a similar “best food” story. The summer after I graduated from high school my best friend and I went backpacking through Europe. We couldn’t find anyplace reasonably-priced to stay in Paris, so we ended up in a tiny hotel in the suburbs outside. There was like NOTHING to eat in this town, which we didn’t realize until we got there. I think I had like 2 apples for dinner. The next day we took the subway into Paris, and we were STARVING. I wasn’t a full-blown vegetarian back then but I rarely ate meat. Well we got into the city around 11, most places hadn’t opened up for lunch but we found this little crepe stand. By this point we were both SOO hungry. I got a ham and cheese crepe and it was literally the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth I still think about it, and I’m going back to Paris this fall and definitely intend to have one! Good luck with your day tomorrow!
Andrea
June 25, 2008 at 1:22 ami don’t think i could choose…i love all food haha especially when im hungry 😉
and that picture is SO CUTE!!! i love the headband with that shirt. very pretty
katieb
June 25, 2008 at 1:27 amHmmm… I have to choose just one? Then I guess it had to be these crab cakes I once had at a bbq rest. of all places. OMG!!! They were the best things I have ever put in my mouth!!!
MOM
June 25, 2008 at 2:48 amMine was undoubtedly the
croque Monsieur I had with you in Paris that day…
a.cook
June 25, 2008 at 3:08 amHa I have one that comes immediately to mind (sorry if this is long). It was three years ago in the middle of upstate/western New York. My boyfriend and I were on a trip back from Niagara Falls and we stayed in B&B and the owner recommended this little local place called the Valley Inn. We had the most amazing meal EVER, which we still talk about! The restaurant was inside an old farm house, and it was PACKED despite being in the middle of nowhere and it being a Wednesday night! First they served us warm pretzel bread and we ordered a stuffed mushroom appetizer. Then we shared two salads: one was a Greek salad with the most delicious fresh feta cheese (yes this was before I was vegan!) and olives, and the other was another mixed salad with a concord grape dressing and lots of other fun ingredients. Then they brought us sherbet to “cleanse the palate”! Next we had a delicious pasta dish with sundried tomatoes, cheese, spinach, etc. and roasted quail (!) with pomegranate barbecue sauce. For dessert we had a berry cobbler, which they brought to us with a hot rock sprinkled with nutmeg “for added aroma”. This place was AWESOME. And everything I just described cost $40 in total. Oh it’s so fun to remember 🙂
Sarah M
June 25, 2008 at 12:25 pmOne of my fave things to do is to go out for sushi but years ago I was super picky and always afraid to try it. I still remember when I went out for sushi for the first time and let someone else do all the ordering. I loved it and it was so surprising, it was like a whole new world!! Ha.
V
June 25, 2008 at 1:46 pmdefinitely when I went to Paris with my boyfriend this past May … we flew in from London, took the RER and Metro to our hostel in the Latin Quarter, checked in, dropped off our stuff, and hit the road (it was a totally gorgeous spring day), walking through the Luxembourg Gardens, the Tuleries, and over the bridge and finally to the Eiffel Tower. We were totally mesmerized by everything but hadn’t eaten in hours and hours, so at this point we were starving…. and found a little family-owned place where we picked up simple baguette sandwiches and a bottle of wine, and sat in the grass near the eiffel tower. It was an amazing day !
Rose
June 25, 2008 at 2:41 pmBefore I initially moved to Washington, DC, I found Rock Creek Restaurant online via a Weight Watchers message board(http://www.rockcreekrestaurant.com/). After my boyfriend and I moved down there to do respective summer internships (and after we’d saved up more than $100 or so), we went there. It was the best meal I’ve ever had. Rock Creek has nutrition facts on the menu and an amazing Broiled Pinneapple for dessert. Honestly, I can’t remember the exact title of what I ate for dinner because the menu is constantly changing, but it involved salmon and sesame, and it was divine. Either way, the Broiled Pineapple is the best dessert I’ve ever had and probably the most beautiful. If you’re going to be in the DC area, be sure to visit this restaurant!
Katie H
June 25, 2008 at 6:30 pmBethT,
I had that exact same dish at Elaine’s in Chapel Hill, and it is outstanding. I liked it so much, I told the chef!