Day 121 — Wednesday, July 15, 2020 or outdoor dining on a new night!

I went out for dinner with a friend tonight — we picked an Italian restaurant in the center of town. They’re a little pricey, but the food is always good. And they just built a new outdoor patio during the past year — construction started way before COVID-19, it actually took them a really long time to pull this patio project together, but it was worth it. The patio has a roof, lights and even overhead fans (it was kind of chilly last night, so we didn’t need them), the floor is stone and they’ve hung pots of herbs on the railings. It’s beautiful.

And — we left our husbands at home! Now, that’s a night out! And honestly, my husband was thrilled to have 3 hours to himself at home. Yes, we were there for 3 hours — the reservation was only supposed to be for 90 minutes, so they had time to disinfect the table before the next customers, but thankfully they didn’t have anyone that needed the table after us, because we definitely sat there for as long as we wanted.

And boy, did we eat! We actually grazed — we ordered two appetizers, a cheese plate and shared a beet, arugula and goat cheese salad. We ordered a couple of cocktails (wine for me of course!) and finished the night by splitting the steak tips with pappardelle pasta with a delicious gorgonzola sauce. It was an entrée that neither of us would have thought of ordering, but the waitress recommended it and I am so glad that we listened to her. It was amazing. We practically licked the bowl. I actually used bread to sop up the cheese sauce. There’s no judging at this restaurant!

What a wonderful night chatting with my friend! In “normal” times, we would try to do this every couple of months and there’s another friend that would join us. We’ve all been stuck inside for so long that months have passed since we’ve had a dinner date. It was so nice to see her. And so normal!

We ate, drank and chatted and the night just flew by! Thank goodness they didn’t kick us out…I guess that’s the beauty of going out on a Wednesday night instead of a weekend. We walked back to my house and chatted for a little bit before she left for home. What a nice night!

Although all that cheese is now congealing in my stomach…who’s idea was it to order cheese with every course??? Totally mine. My stomach is not going to be happy with me tomorrow…but that’s tomorrow’s problem.