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Saturday, June 16, 2007

Turns out there is such a thing as too many artichokes....who knew?!

Well, we didn't make it for cheesecake last night. I had picked myself up a copy of Elizabeth Gilbert's book "Eat, Pray, Love" yesterday - a travelogue of sorts, about her adventures over a year in Italy, India & Indonesia. I read it last year, and when it came out in paperback, I had to get it. I 'spect it'll be one of those books I re-read every year or so.

Anyway, last night all I wanted to do was curl up in bed and read about her Italian experiences. Which lasted for about 65 pages, when she started talking about the tomatoes and asparagus she ate for dinner one night. At which point I leapt out of bed, careened into the living room, and announced to Mr.Q that we had to go find an Italian restaurant NOW, this VERY MINUTE, or my life would no longer be worth living.

We ended up at Martinis, on Broadway - not quite Italian, more catch-all Mediterranean, but it served the purpose. While we waited for a table, I had a fabulous martini - a "Lemon Drop" - Absolut Citron & cointreau. I now know I must have a martini shaker for my very own self, or my life may no longer be worth living.

We didn't have to wait too long for a table. I had a fabulous penne with tomato sauce, sundried tomatoes, olives and artichoke hearts. And a tomato-artichoke-feta side salad. Mmmmmmmm! It was almost enough to scratch the itch. But not quite. A finishing touch was required. Hmmm. What to do?

Why, gelato, of course! At this gelateria, La Casa Gelato, in East Van that I'd never been to before (shocking!) though I'd long known its reputation as one of the best places in town for gelato. 218 flavours on hand at any given time. I tried a sample of the lemon-mint (delicious, but too tart after that savoury, pungent meal) - passed up a chance to try the cranberry-rosemary, which I regretted - tried the garlic gelato, just to say I had (thank goodness I can now cross that off my list of things to say I've done...eew!) - finally settled on chocolate-ginger....Yumminess in a waffle cone!

All these spontaneous date nights are getting to be a habit. I think I could get used to it!

2 comments:

Anie said...

can't wait to see you!! and guess what-we HAVE a martini shaker!

Rabbitch said...

That sounds delightful.

Oh, and I'm stalking you. Saw you and the Mr. strolling down Commercial just about 2:30 or so today. Almost pulled over and said "psst! Hey little girl, want some yarn?" but a) I didn't have any yarn with me (shameful) and b) I was heading for somewhere that had yarn.

I think I have a problem.

(The problem being, not enough yarn ...)