A Small Town Success!!

Hola bloggies!

As some of you know I have to travel far away to court on a regular basis. These explorations take me to beautiful mountain locations, gorgeous fruit filled valleys, and to different foodie stomping grounds. Sometimes eating in different places doesn't work out so well (like when there's only a diner to be had) other times you find a place which is a jewel! And yesterday was such a day . . .

I woke up early in the morning and got ready to leave my house. With the blizzards of recent days I decided to get an early start. As a bonus the fiance (no longer known as the boy) came with me so he drove my little Mazda while I snapped some food pictures.


Tee-hee! :oP This was my attempt to take pictures of my Green Monster as the car twisted and turned through mountain roads. I had to wait until the road was a little more flat and the car a little more stable. But I promise to take some awesome mountain pics when the weather cooperates!

And what did I have with my Green Monster?


Oh there I go teasing again!! :oD But note the whole almond in there. Needless to say I was uber impressed. I also managed to catch a little bit more of a winding road this time. It was a bit of a mountain pass and a treacherous one too. If ever I'm going to hit a blizzard on the way to court (or back home) it is in this area! Thankfully the weather was much more pleasant yesterday.

After work we all headed to a local Italian restaurant. It was rather unassuming from the outside. A relatively new building but nothing spectacular. But inside I found a lovely intimate space with an open kitchen! I happen to love open kitchens. It's the best when dining is theater. Besides it assures me that nothing un-toward is going on with my food!

In this kitchen I could see the chef working furiously away. He must have been working wonders back there because when my appetizer came out it looked like this:

My appetizer consisted of a Caprese salad - big slices of ripe tomatoes, fresh basil chiffonnade, chunks of incredibly beautiful mozzarella cheese (known as bocconcino), all drizzled with a bit of balsamic and a beautiful extra-virgin olive oil. Num num num! I was a very happy foodie. Thrilled actually!

Next my main dish arrived:


For my main course I had al-dente tortellini filled with ricotta cheese and ground veal - all coated in a pesto garlic sauce. And yes there was a bread stick but once it posed for a picture I quickly passed it off to the boy beside me.

My main dish was also really good. You could taste a hint of nutmeg in the sauce but in all I would have rather had a tomato based or rose sauce. I love me some rose! In fact I'll admit to stealing some of the boy's tomato sauce (he ordered a penne with a veal milanese) and turning my sauce into a rose. lol Creative license I guess you'd say!

And was it yummy? YES! And so unexpected for such a small little town. I'll likely go back again but mostly for the salad. That salad was to die for! Oh and as a bonus the prices were quite reasonable - score!

I arrived home kind of late and still felt quite full so I was in no rush to make dinner. Eventually the hunger hit me so I whipped up something with spinach, red peppers, onion, and shrimp (with a small side of avocado):


It looked lovely and tasted great but after a lone bite I decided my late lunch had been more than enough. The boy ended up eating the rest of my dinner (since he was still a bit hungry after his earlier in the day) and I grabbed one of these little guys instead:


It was just small enough and sweet enough to hit the spot. I guess you could say I practiced a bit of intuitive eating. I was rather proud of myself actually!

All in all I'd say it was a day of yummy eats and thankfully blizzard free. :o) And today is Friday (wooohooo!!) and that's always a very good thing!

Enjoy the end of the work-week amigos and amigas!