Dinner Date!

When I was cleaning out the refrigerator over the weekend, I totally forgot that I had a package of wontons that hadn’t been opened yet. I got my muffin pan out and made some wonton cups just to have on hand. You simply bake them at 350 for 6-8 minutes, until they get golden brown.

Yesterday was breakfast wonton cups – egg whites scrambled with spinach and roasted red pepper were divided between 6 wonton cups. When I got to work I topped each one with 1/4 slice of American cheese and put it under the broiler. So delicious and filling!

I had to get my blood drawn for my doctor appointment with my diabetes doctor next week. As luck would have it, it’s right near a huge Japanese grocery store.

Maggie, the kabocha picture was just for you!

They also have a giant food court. I decided to get something called spicy beef soup. I asked the lady “what vegetables come in it” and she says “no vegetables!” Then I asked if there were onions and she said “yes – lots of white onion!” I thought to myself, isn’t that a vegetable? I asked if I could get it without onions and she said “how about bean sprouts?” Perfect!

She handed me a box that had a container of white rice, the soup (which was about a quart of soup!) and another container and said “that’s your vegetables.”

When I got to work I realized the vegetables were actually pickled daikon radish and zucchini. So I put about 1/2 cup of the rice on the bottom, then the soup and topped it with the veggies. OMG, talk about a perfectly balanced spicy flavorful soup – and it was enough to share with two of my co-workers!

I will definitely try to figure out how to recreate this soup at home. It wasn’t cheap – $9, but now that I know it’s literally three servings, next time I’ll have leftovers.

And Mara, I thought of you when I was leaving because they had two giant tables of miscellaneous cool looking dishes – all for $5. I didn’t have time to check them out but definitely will next week when I go back to my doctor appointment.

My office is having a get together the restaurant I went to last night. The guy I’ve been talking on the phone about the event has been kind of wishy washy, so that was one of the reasons I picked where we went to dinner with my Mom so I could a: check out the venue; b: check out the food and c: check out the manager I’d been talking to.

Well, I couldn’t have been happier with the experience. The manager was super helpful, friendly – almost completely the opposite from our phone conversations. Mondays-Thursdays they have $3 dollar apps and $5 house wines. We ended up getting these chicken wings as an appetizer – they were in a garlic, olive oil lemon sauce – sorry – the place is dark so most of these pictures suck ass.

Isn’t that a generous serving for $3?! At the table we shared a bowl of tomato soup with tuscan bread in it – it was delicious!

It’s funny because no matter how far I have come with trying new foods (believe me – even 7-8 years ago you wouldn’t see me eating 80% of the stuff I eat now – that’s how picky I was!) I went with an old favorite – rigattoni with a spicy vodka sauce.

The portion sizes are ridiculous – this bowl is the size of a serving bowl I’d share at Thanksgiving and Easter! I can easily get two servings with the leftovers.

My Mom got veal Milanese – guys, it’s the first time I’ve had veal and it was amazing! Hannah got the fettuccine alfredo – Hannah doesn’t do red sauces. Thanks for the week night dinner date Mom and Hannah!