Starving Artist

FILHO’S!! That’s all I could think about once I got home with the fam (minus my sister). I hadn’t eaten that much today since I was rushing around to get home, and was more than excited / ready to go out to a delicious dinner with my family. Filho’s is an incredible Italian pasticceria about 15 minutes from hometown that has an extremely wide array of pastas, sandwiches, salads, etc. Their pasta is to-die for, so I never venture off of that page of the menu. Another wonderful plus – Filho’s is BYOB and - gasp – attached to a liquor store. My, how convenient!

My dad, brother and I split a 6 pack of 2 different local Fall beers:

1 – Wachusett Octoberfest (from Westminster, MA)

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2) Fisherman’s Pumpkin Stout (from Gloucester, MA)

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Loved them both, although the Octoberfest was my favorite. It was the perfect blend of spices, and not too heavy. I really think it might be my favorite Octoberfest! The Fisherman’s had a light pumpkin taste, but I was hoping for a bit more to it. It wasn’t a heavy stout though, so it was very drinkable along with my meal.

Ohhhh my meal….

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To say it was delish is an understatement. I went with the Chicken Piccatta which is one of my favorite dishes. Obviously swapped spinach for mushrooms since mushrooms = ICK in my book. The chicken was very tender, the sauce a tangy lemon with a splash of cream, and the pasta was cooked to a perfect al dente. The portion was massive, so I was able to save about half for dinner tomorrow. Can’t wait for round 2!

Bedtime for this girl, as tomorrow will be an early morning with the walk. Night! :)

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At the end of a very long week, it’s always therapeutic to enjoy a fun Friday night out with good friends. Three of my friends were coming over for dinner after work, and we thought we’d check out Cafeteria for dinner ($20 for $40 worth of food thanks to Groupon!) A pre-dinner cocktail was definitely in order. I had been hearing so much buzz around the limited edition Absolut Boston, so I picked up a bottle of my way home from work.

You may have seen the ad…

…and obviously know the history of the Boston Tea Party, so it’s not a big surprise that Absolut decided “black tea” was the essence of Boston. The very sippable vodka is delicately flavored with black tea and elderflower and seems that it would mix well with a variety of different flavors. Try out some of these combinations that I found on the Absolut Boston Facebook Page:

• Absolut Boston Home Run – Vodka, white grape juice, and ginger ale
• Absolut Boston Mojito – Vodka, lime juice, simple syrup, soda water, and mint leaves
• Absolut Boston Tea Party – Vodka, lemon juice, and simple syrup.

Check out their page for more recipes!

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I was so excited about trying the vodka, that buying something to mix it with completely slipped my mind. So I just served it chilled and mixed with water, and it was still really great (although I mayyyy have had a heavy hand with the vodka and made my friends a little nervous. Although, they finished the whole drink, so it must have tasted good!).

Stomachs a-rumbling… we walked down Newbury to make our 8:00 reservations at Cafeteria. It was apparent once we walked in that reservations weren’t really necessary, as the place was on the empty side. After taking our seats, the menu perusing began.

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Right away I knew I wanted the grilled cheese with tomato soup. Call me 5, but it seemed like the perfect meal for a chilly night!

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Disappointment started to set in around bite #2. You’d think that a grilled cheese that boasted a variety of stellar cheeses would be… well… cheesy. Not this guy. the tomato was the star of the show, and it pretty much lacked any sort of flavor. Unfortunately, the tomato soup was even worse. It had a canned sauce taste, and just really wasn’t satisfying.

Bummer.

At least my martini was good.

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Actually, I lied. It wasn’t.

I learned tonight that I don’t like dirty martinis, no matter how hard I try to get myself to like them. Aw well.

HOWEVER, my company was FABULOUS. We had a wonderful time together, and even conjured up a blog idea that I think would be really entertaining. We’ll see where we go with that…

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