heather's Food bLog: Something new on the plate

Wow! It's been a while since I've made a real post...I won't pretend to be on track, I won't pretend to give advice, but I will tell you what I've been up to lately.

School, work, school, dating, school...and more school. Notice that there's no gym in there?? Yeah, me too. Notice how school appears multiple times? Yeah, because it's that time consuming this term. I'm taking a finance course that is KILLING me...literally, sucking the life from my soul. Guess what that means...stress. Yup. Stress. Guess what comes with stress?? Yup. Bad eating habits, carb cravings, sugar cravings, low amounts of exercise and belly fat. Ugh. One would think that I could combat this all with healthy eating choices. Of course, that assumes that I've had time to go to a grocery store and buy healthy food, let alone time to cook it.

What have I been doing?? I've avoiding and using unhealthy coping mechanisms to deal with the amount of stress that this class is causing me. And by unhealthy I mean just plain old not taking care of myself. I've had little to no downtime, I haven't seen my friends, I spend hours on end in my office staring at a spreadsheet until I think my brain will explode!! OK, so I did make it to the gym one night with J. That's been my only activity that recharges my soul. I need more of that.

Instead, I've been working towards another goal. I've decided that it's time to add dating to my already over-full plate! Yup. As if I don't have enough going on. I am enjoying meeting the guys that I'm meeting and getting to know. Some more than others, of course! It's odd, when you approach dating as a process and understand that it's OK not to like everyone and for not everyone to like you, it's actually fun!

And here's the view from my date last night with M.

So, my dinner from last night...

2/24/12

Lobster bisque made with coconut milk...this was just about the BEST lobster bisque that I've ever had...I thought it was good at the MFA, well, they've got nothing on Top of the Hub!!!

the chopped salad...with a delightful light vinaigrette

OK, I had veal...there. I said it. I had veal. And I even asked the waiter to give me the youngest, most innocent, cutest, littlest tender calf of all! OK, not really. Seriously, this was veal sirloin, a nice thick cut piece of meat. When cut into, it looked more like a pork chop, but tasted like sweet, juicy and wonderful veal. Next to my sweet delicious baby calf is an onion (take it or leave it...) and a semolina gnocchi (not what I expected). The gnocchi had a little bit of a cheese flavor to it...a wonderful and unique presentation of a starch in my opinion.

Pear tarte...now, the waiter spent time telling us a short bio of the pastry chef on staff and the dessert special. Maybe I should have ordered the dessert special? While there was nothing wrong with the tarte, it just didn't seem like a full-fledged pastry chef put any effort into this. Are my expectations too high?? Maybe. This dessert was good and would be good enough anywhere else, just not for Top of the Hub. Oh yeah. I ate it all.