My Thanksgiving was fairly typical (ate too much, fell into food coma, did requisite shopping on Black Friday, etc.) and I'm happy that it's behind me. Chuck and I did have a good time on Saturday going to dinner with Chuck's cousin Nicole and her husband Leo at Lolita. [If you're familar with the Food Network show "Iron Chef America", Lolita is owned by Michael Symon, one of the Iron Chefs.] Chuck wasn't all too familiar with the Tremont area of Cleveland and I've never been there before at all, so we left Westlake pretty early and arrived well before our 8:30 reservation. Our hopes to wait at the restaurant's bar were dashed as soon as we entered to find the place packed. The hostess recommended that we head up the street to 806 (a martini bar) as a place to catch a pre-dinner drink. The club was nice enough with a private lounge (and it was fairly quiet); Chuck had a Long-Island and I had their "PB&J martini" (Stoli Vanil, frangelico, chambord, raspberry puree, and a mini-Reeses cup sunk to the bottom of the glass). After our drinks, we headed back to Lolita to catch-up with Leo and Nicole.
Before I describe our dinner, let me start by saying that I made the mistake of asking our waiter if I could keep a copy of the paper menu b/c I was writing notes on it so that I can remember details for this blog. Apparently, he took that as a cue that I might actually be a critic of some sort, and resulted in me being picked on by my dinner mates for the rest of the evening. Since I took fairly good notes, I'll put them to good use here. If you're not into the food-thing and are here for the yarn, just skip on down a couple of paragraphs to the good stuff....
The restaurant was small, and louder than I care for. Once we were all seated, we were given a basket of bread-sticks that tasted like soft-pretzels (though not salty); and we all ordered a round of drinks: Mad Hatter for Chuck, "Zeta" (champagne, cranberry juice, and peach nectar) for me, maternity martini for Nicole, and Amstel Light for Leo. For an appetizer, Chuck ordered the Hungarian stuffed peppers (which were good, but I didn't have that much b/c I always tend to ruin my dinner by over-eating); Leo and Nicole had roasted bone marrow, which I'm happy to have not had, though they seemed to enjoy it pretty well. While waiting for our dinner to arrive, I headed off to the ladies' room; when I returned, I was happy to see that the waiter stopped by not only to clear plates, but to also refold my napkin and set new silverware (used or not). Classy! For dinner, I had the cheese board (pats of 2 hard cheeses, 2 semi-soft, dried fruit, and truffle honey) and polenta; Chuck had the gnocchi; for Leo, an order of three meatballs and stewed eggplant; and Nicole had a pretty good-looking potato pizza. I was pretty happy with my dinner, though I just described confusing orzo and risotto in a previous entry. Chuck later complained that he thought there wasn't enough food, but (really) what do you expect at these types of places? Gut-busting portions are just wrong...
After dinner, we headed around the corner to the Lava Lounge for dessert and after-dinner cocktails. The place was totally loud, empty, and were out of dessert. That's okay, as it was past my bedtime and I was ready to call it a night. Hanging out with Nicole and Leo definitely inspired me to kick into gear projects I've had in mind for their baby (who is due early Feburary).
So, Saturday, I headed over to Avon to French Creek Fiber Arts and give Peggy Strang a visit. I bought tickets from Peggy to the Indians' Stitch-n-Pitch this past June and wi
ll defintely give her my business whenever I'm in the Cleveland area since she was so easy to work with. I decided that I was going to make the "Rippled Baby Blanket" and needed a good yarn to work with. The designer used two different colors of Dream in Color Classy. It just so happened that Peggy had several colorways of Dream in Co
lor, so I just needed to figured out which to go with. I don't have that much imagination when it comes to mixing colors, so chose to do the blanket in the Peach colorway. I also wanted to work on some sort of baby-wear and decided to go with a hat and matching kimono (ala Mason-Dixon knitting) out of Knit One Purl Too cotton. Oh, and did I mention that the baby shower is January 11th? I really need to get done with Christmas presents and get them done this week!
Before I describe our dinner, let me start by saying that I made the mistake of asking our waiter if I could keep a copy of the paper menu b/c I was writing notes on it so that I can remember details for this blog. Apparently, he took that as a cue that I might actually be a critic of some sort, and resulted in me being picked on by my dinner mates for the rest of the evening. Since I took fairly good notes, I'll put them to good use here. If you're not into the food-thing and are here for the yarn, just skip on down a couple of paragraphs to the good stuff....
The restaurant was small, and louder than I care for. Once we were all seated, we were given a basket of bread-sticks that tasted like soft-pretzels (though not salty); and we all ordered a round of drinks: Mad Hatter for Chuck, "Zeta" (champagne, cranberry juice, and peach nectar) for me, maternity martini for Nicole, and Amstel Light for Leo. For an appetizer, Chuck ordered the Hungarian stuffed peppers (which were good, but I didn't have that much b/c I always tend to ruin my dinner by over-eating); Leo and Nicole had roasted bone marrow, which I'm happy to have not had, though they seemed to enjoy it pretty well. While waiting for our dinner to arrive, I headed off to the ladies' room; when I returned, I was happy to see that the waiter stopped by not only to clear plates, but to also refold my napkin and set new silverware (used or not). Classy! For dinner, I had the cheese board (pats of 2 hard cheeses, 2 semi-soft, dried fruit, and truffle honey) and polenta; Chuck had the gnocchi; for Leo, an order of three meatballs and stewed eggplant; and Nicole had a pretty good-looking potato pizza. I was pretty happy with my dinner, though I just described confusing orzo and risotto in a previous entry. Chuck later complained that he thought there wasn't enough food, but (really) what do you expect at these types of places? Gut-busting portions are just wrong...
After dinner, we headed around the corner to the Lava Lounge for dessert and after-dinner cocktails. The place was totally loud, empty, and were out of dessert. That's okay, as it was past my bedtime and I was ready to call it a night. Hanging out with Nicole and Leo definitely inspired me to kick into gear projects I've had in mind for their baby (who is due early Feburary).
So, Saturday, I headed over to Avon to French Creek Fiber Arts and give Peggy Strang a visit. I bought tickets from Peggy to the Indians' Stitch-n-Pitch this past June and wi
ll defintely give her my business whenever I'm in the Cleveland area since she was so easy to work with. I decided that I was going to make the "Rippled Baby Blanket" and needed a good yarn to work with. The designer used two different colors of Dream in Color Classy. It just so happened that Peggy had several colorways of Dream in Color, so I just needed to figured out which to go with. I don't have that much imagination when it comes to mixing colors, so chose to do the blanket in the Peach colorway. I also wanted to work on some sort of baby-wear and decided to go with a hat and matching kimono (ala Mason-Dixon knitting) out of Knit One Purl Too cotton. Oh, and did I mention that the baby shower is January 11th? I really need to get done with Christmas presents and get them done this week!
Speaking of Christmas, why is it that my "to-do" list is getting longer and longer? I've finished making a couple of chemo caps to send to a friend, but am trying to wrap up on the Evening in Eden shawl, start my Guild hat contest hat (due Dec. 16), and start and finish a quick shawl that Chuck's mom has asked me to knit for a family member who is currently undergoing dialysis (using a quick pattern that Peggy had written and also knit in Dream in Color)! I'm afraid that my hands are going to be quite sore before the month is out....
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