PJs Please!
As someone who has promoted Ella’s American Folk Art Cafe at every possible opportunity, it’s a little embarrassing to admit that tonight was my first time eating there. And being one of the more veg friendly places in town… Ugh I don’t even have words, I’m just glad I can finally back up all the talk.
The place was bustling, so we snacked on some hummus at the bar while we waited for our table. Pita then bread, it’s a safe bet that I was full well before my meal arrived. And word on the street, and by street I mean my table, was that the butter had hints of basil and honey. I’ll have to remember to recreate that combo at home with a little Earth Balance.
The boys started their glutton fest with Fat Japs: jalapenos stuffed with pulled pork, cheddar and cream cheese, then beer battered, fried and served with a horseradish cream sauce. A man snack if I ever saw one!
It wasn’t long before I began my glutton fest. A mondo veggie burger with a mountain of sweet potato waffle fries, both insanely good. The veggie burger was of the best I’ve ever eaten. It was super flavorful and wasn’t trying to be meat, it was proud to be a veggie.
I finished half and then the full set in. Not the slightest bit comfortable full either, Thanksgiving full. I looked around the table and could tell I wasn’t alone. At that point, I think all six of us had a common goal in mind: rushing home and putting on the loosest, most comfy pair of pajamas possible and sleeping off the full!
Urban Ma Dinner
My mom originally planned her big trip over the bridge to be followed by some stand up paddle boarding and then Pizza Fusion, but a lack of planning on my part led to just pizza. Can you tell I didn’t mind??
We managed to fit in some exercise by walking the Birthday Tourist route. As much as I enjoyed that solo adventure, it was nice to walk the walk with my ma!
Starting with the Flatbread and Dip Trio was a good idea. It came with artichoke-like tapenade, olive tapenade, and marinara sauce. Next time, I’ll Kristin complicate my order by asking for an extra olive tapenade in place of the marinara. We used some of the leftover dip on our pizza and it was ridiculously delish.
This was my second time ordering the Very Vegan pizza, but this time I added roasted red onions and forgot to order multi-grain crust. The upside to ordering the wrong crust is that now I can say with certainty that the multi-grain crust is the tastier of the two!
Shmoozing, In Pictures
Breakfast: Spinach and Vegan Gourmet Omelet
Lunch: Mushroom Couscous with Asparagus
Networking Happy Hour with Laura!
Lots of snacks I couldn’t eat.
I distracted myself with a cocktail.
Dinner (spoiled by crackers and strawberries): Greenwise Wheatberry Salad
Dessert: Black Licorice
Ordinarily, I steer clear of weeknight shmoozing events because my awkwardness in unpredictable. Sometimes I’m chatty, sometimes I’m not, sometimes I tangent in directions one should never go. Like I said, unpredictable.
But I hadn’t seen Laura in quite some time, so when she invited me to the May Celebrate Tampa Bay event, I was willing to challenge the awkward. Thank goodness for a stiff dirty martini and the one degree of separation between strangers that’s bound to happen in small town Tampa!