Trip and Treats

Seeking some R-n-R, I fled to New York City this past weekend to reunite with college friends and a former coworker. To my great relief, I was able to eat sensibly for the majority of my trip. There is hope for going out to eat after all!

The trip began with lunch at Lupa, a Mario Batali restaurant. Here, I had Farro Tarjarin with Brussel Sprouts and Mushrooms. Delicious! The farro was incorporated into ribbons of pasta, so I definitely had my whole grains for the day. Additionally, it was vegetarian and overall quite anti-inflammatory thanks to the mushrooms. Tangerine sorbet (shared with my lovely lunch companion) ended the meal. I eat sugar so sparingly these days that the sorbet shocked me with its sweetness. It was quite good though.

Afterward, I trekked to Caffe Reggio. Thankfully, I was full from lunch so the case of cannolis and tarts were not so tempting. Here, I literally had three pots of green tea. That's a lot of tea, no? The tea was good but it was hard to be in a coffee shop---drinking tea. When I used to drink coffee, I could always bank on going to a coffee shop for a better cup, something better than I could have made myself. However, tea is usually just tea--at home or in a cafe, doesn't matter. Same thing, except more expensive. Sometimes I go to Tbar for more exotic teas when I need a change though.

Then it was off to Mary's Fish Camp for dinner. The boys and I headed to a nearby bar to wait for our table. They had whiskey and vodka drinks; I had water. It sucked. Drinking water at a bar is lame. I couldn't even order a soda or juice. LAME. Thankfully, our table was ready in no time. I ordered raw clams on the half shell and then had Spanish mackerel with carrots and a chickpea puree. All were delicious. I indulged in a glass of white wine and then ended dinner with a glass of red. Meanwhile, I looked longingly at my friends' desserts: a beautiful chocolate bread pudding topped with pecans and a stately ice cream sunday drizzled with chocolate sauce. My friends assured me that the desserts did not taste nearly as good as they appeared. Hmpf.

The night ended with a trip to a local bar. What was it called? No idea. Let's just say I had a lot to drink. Decreasing alcohol tolerance + two boys eager to pay = Fun! Here, the boys discovered that my diet allows red wine. Before I could let them know that two glasses is my daily limit, a magical glass of red wine would appear...again...and again. I am not quite sure how much red wine I had last night but I woke up with a hangover. Good times.

I woke up to a tasty breakfast of banana cinnamon pancakes and green tea. The pancakes toed the line a bit, but oh well! They were really good--this coming from someone who does not typically like pancakes. (Thanks, S!)

When I returned back home, I went straight from the bus terminal to the grocery store. Here I picked up anti-inflammatory goodies for the week ahead. This week I will be cooking with millet for the first time. I had a lot of fun this past weekend, but I also realize that damage control is in order. Time for some (more) green tea and a turmeric supplement...