Food is lovely

This Saturday, Hubby and I went out on our first "date night" alone in months. Normally, we go out with our friends or or have some other family thing going on. We found ourselves remarkably free on a beautiful (and rare) sunny afternoon so decided to head downtown to do some grocery and window shopping. We weren't sure what to do about dinner at first but then I remembered that my friends got us a very nice gift certificate to one of the restaurants we've been meaning to try. Yes! Today was the perfect opportunity. (Now that I think about it...gift certificates to nice restaurants are one of my favorite gifts ever. It makes me try new places and allows us to splurge without hurting the bank too much).

Anyway...this is now one of my favorite restaurants! Everything was SO delicious! The plating wasn't overly fancy but it was done in a nice and appetizing way. The service was great, the ambiance was nice, there was a nice mix of young trendy-somethings as well as older couples. I enjoy people watching and my imagination sometimes gets the better of me hehe. To our right, the slightly awkward but exceedingly polite 50-something couple looked like new empty-nesters. They ordered lovely wine, appetizers, and tapas to share and I could tell that both made an effort to make this night special.

To our far right in a more open dining area, I saw a vibrant, elderly couple--the man wearing a tweed coat with elbow patches and the lady with white hair and a bored, languid expression. The woman was most definitely in charge. She ordered salmon with chickpeas (coincidentally, what I ordered) while her hubby ordered fried chicken. She ate delicately of her salmon and chickpeas until she had exactly 1/2 remaining on her plate. With out much ado, she made a gesture, held up her plate, and switched with her husband. I must say, the fried chicken looked extremely appetizing. How different their food sharing approach is compared to ours! Of course, I think hubby would prefer this lady's approach because I am always guilty of sneaking a fork over to his plate hehe.

Slightly behind us were a table of early 30's women wearing similar hair styles, fitted jeans, and variations of a loose tunic-style shirt. "Hiiiiiiiii" was the constant refrain. It looks like they had a very good time and it was most definitely a "girls-night-out" thing. Looks like fun! Best of all, there were no drunken displays of rowdy behavior! I suppose that is one pleasant bit about getting older :)

During this time, husband and I were having a wonderful time enjoying each course of our meal. We splurged since we had a gift card, so we ordered a charcuterie plate, an entree each, and umm...a dessert each. Along with a wine pairing. Yeah...we had a good time :) Without further ado, our dinner!







Umm..yeah. Our eyes were bigger than our stomachs. Because we both felt rather guilty for overindulging, we went to the gym later that night and worked out for about an hour. Then, this afternoon, we went on a hike up a mountain haha. Much better. Next time, no need for appetizer and just one dessert (the meringue was awesome!) will suffice :)