Weekend of Gluttony

Basically, this has been the weekend of overeating. I have consumed way more food than I ought to have, and we're not talking lo-cal vegetarian cuisine here either. Pure gluttony in all its forms. The highlight was the Pay-Your-Age special at the Park Avenue Cafe, which would have been a fantastic deal had we not overspent on the wine. Guess you can't help it at a place like that. The food there was very good, although not incredible. The highlight was clearly dessert- the choices were both unusual and artistic. I particularly liked the sweet basil ice cream. I was so thoroughly stuffed after dinner, (we'd had a pre-dinner round of appetizers at Copperfield's for Seidman's birthday,) that I could barely finish it. I'm amazed that Val and I didn't just pass out the second we got home.

I had decided to be healthy after a day like that, so we went up to the Union Square farmers' market to buy vegetables. My ambitious plan was to make some sort of vegetarian pasta dish for dinner last night, sort of as a penance for all that food. I bought some tomatoes, squash, zucchini, onion, and green beans, and was on my way home, when Al called. He's in town from Chicago (and had met us for dinner at Park Ave) but wanted to show his brother the city. They were meeting up with Kahn at the 2nd Avenue Deli for some authentic NYC cuisine. How could I say no? It's right around the corner, and I haven't been there in ages. Their mushroom barley soup really is the best I've ever tasted. The corned beef isn't so bad either.

Now completely determined to be healthy, I returned home to relax, get some errands done, and make that healthy dinner. Right. After Al and Kahn left I fell asleep. I woke up at 7:00 when Seidman called - did I want to meet up with him for dinner for his birthday? At Outback Steakhouse? OK, plan B. Friends, let me tell you, just because a dish at Outback says it contains pasta, grilled chicken, and sundried tomatoes does NOT, under any circumstances, mean it's healthy. In fact, quite the opposite. I think they figure that the healthiness of the above ingredients allows them to put in more cheese and alfredo sauce in order to offset any nutritional value one might get from consuming said meal. Again, the night concluded with me rolling home.

Tonight would have been the ideal night to cook up something healthy, but naturally that's not going to happen either. Al just called - he wants to get dinner since he's leaving town tomorrow. Most likely, we're going to end up at Grimaldi's in Brooklyn. Somebody's got a date with the treadmill tomorrow.