The Number One Cuisine? Italian!

I could eat Italian food almost every night. Pizza, pasta, just pile it all on! Since Paul’s night class was canceled tonight, we decided to finally use the Groupon I bought a while back for Affresco Pizzeria. It’s about 10 minutes from Paul’s house, so it was the perfect choice. Of course, I forgot my camera. Figures, right?

The restaurant itself was really cute. It kind of reminded me of the restaurant Bella and Edward go to in Twilight, but fancier. There were twinkling lights everywhere, and it was perfect for a first date.

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Paul and I are the quickest people when it comes to eating out. We don’t ever get anything but water to drink. Drinking alcohol + eating food = not a good combination for either of us. We always stick to an appetizer, and then we each get two completely different entrees. That way, we can pick off each other’s plates a bit.

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One of the coolest things about this place was that instead of bread and butter, they served the bread with a Greek cheese called kefalotiri, or at least that’s what it tasted like. The little cheese curds were amazing with the bread slices, and a bit of olive oil.

We had the fried calamari for our appetizer, and it was delicious! They were miniature, and easy to gobble up. The only bad thing was that the cocktail sauce seemed more like marinara. Boo! I love my cocktail sauce.

For dinner, I got the gnocchi stuffed with gorgonzola and spinach. It was covered in a cream sauce, and though the gnocchi itself was really yummy, there was too much cream. Still, I’d definitely recommend this dish, and I’ll be having it for dinner tomorrow. I’d have it for lunch but any time I eat pasta at work, I get really sleepy.

Paul got a chicken dish that came with sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes and some linguine pasta and cherry tomatoes. His chicken was tender and juicy. The artichokes were the perfect mix of crunchy and tender, and the sun-dried tomatoes were really good. Paul and I both really enjoyed ourselves at the restaurant, though the waiter probably couldn’t tell because we were in and out.

We never get dessert, and since we had $50 to spend, we didn’t want to overdo it. Our bill came to $49.76! We still had to pay tax and leave our waiter a tip, so we ended up spending about $15.

I can’t wait to come back to this place to try the pizza! I’d give this restaurant 4.5/5 stars. The calamari was delicious, my pasta did not disappoint and Paul loved his meal. Plus, my water glass wasn’t ever empty. If you’re in the Chicagoland area, check this place out!

Lunch

I finally got olives back into my lunch. Turns out my mom had a jar stashed in the cupboard, and I made sure to get my hands on it.

I’ve got tons of spinach and other greens, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, feta…and green olives. The saltiness of the olives makes this salad 10 times more amazing, as does the balsamic vinaigrette.

Almost a heart PB&J

Raspberry preserves on the left and creamy peanut butter on the right. It’s a match made in heaven.

Gotta get the bloobs in!

Last but not least I had a 100-calorie pack of cheese curds. So good, but definitely not enough. I probably should have brought some crackers with me.

Also, I’ve been super tired in the mornings lately, so I haven’t gotten a chance to make oats on a weekday yet. Things are just so hectic in the a.m. and I feel like oats deserve a much more calm stomach. Maybe on Friday?

In the meantime, I’m sticking to my normal yogurt, honey and toast or a gigantic bowl of cereal. My new obsession is Wheat Chex!

What’s your favorite thing to order at Italian restaurants? Do you like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? Do you have any cool variations on this common lunch?