#120 - Fun date!

One of the really nice things about catching up with friends from different areas of your life is that you don't have the same old conversations.  Tonight was food, food, more food and some technical conversation about food - specifically, fat content in butter and the various brands, prices in different places and...never mind, on to the evening.

In which dinner plans go awry and confusion ensues
I caught up with a girlfriend from LCB.  We both thought that things would be relatively calm and quiet as we had planned to meet for dinner early on a Friday night.  6.30pm saw us a little bit perplexed as Plan B was completely packed.  Our chefs would not have been impressed by our preparation.  Or rather, the lack of it.

Plan C required a 30 minute wait so on to Plan D we went.  It was actually quite fun, a new Chinese restaurant we had both passed a few times but hadn't tried yet.  There was a little bit of confusion initially because the sign for the parking lot informed you that the entrance was behind you, so around the block we went.  Then a little more confusion because upon entering the restaurant, we were greeted in Japanese.  We asked the friendly waitress if the restaurant was Chinese or Japanese (note:  the name of the restaurant was something something Dragon).  She said it was both so in the spirit of the place, we ordered Japanese and Chinese food.  They came as little sharing plates (a Chinese/Japanese fusion-y pork bun for which I broke my no pork rule because it tasted like sticky, sweet, kind of teriyaki deliciousness instead of pork; Japanese fried chicken which was crispy, hot and everything fried chicken should be; cucumber with a sesame and chili dressing reminiscent of the cucumber dish at Ippudo in New York / Sydney; fried rice with Japanese curry; and crispy stir fried ong choi which was just wilted enough to be cooked but crunchy enough to feel healthy).

In which we carry out some research (aka dessert)
As you know, I'm not a big fan of the "or" option if there is an "and" option.  We went to dessert at this little place around the restaurant - I think it was called Little Oven.  My girlfriend saw a couple of things on the board which interested her and I saw a few more.  Since we were carrying out research and having talked patisserie tech speak over dinner, we were ready to dig in and try the interesting sounding things on the menu and here are the photos.  Of course we couldn't choose just one - that's like asking a parent who their favorite child is.  LM chose the more interesting sounding ones.  I have to admit I stuck to the more standard ones but how else can you establish a baseline?  You can't fake it on a standard...

PB&J cake

Verdict:  PB&J cake - white sponge was dry but the PB&J part of it was very nice as was the frosting.

S'More Brownie / Fluff Brownie (?)

S'More Brownie - both LM and I prefer our brownies a bit denser.  This is a light, fluffy brownie - almost like a cake.  So if you want something slightly lighter, it's actually a very good option.  And the scorched marshmallow was just burnt enough to get a nice little crunch on it, almost like a creme brulee.  I didn't see if they actually put some sugar on it to get the caramelization but at that point we kind of didn't care, it tasted good.

Coffee Cake

Coffee cake - moist, not-too-sweet with a nice, thick crunch on the top.  Perfect with my tea despite its moniker.

Vanilla Ice Cream Sundae

Vanilla sundae- rather a disappointment.  The ice cream was too light and fluffy - more air, not enough fat content.  But then, I like my ice creams nice and dense - you know, like Haagen Daas (oh geez, how do you spell that?) or Ben & Jerry's.

Pretty fruit decoration - I'm going to steal this one!

LM and I still have our cooking party planned - postponed from a couple of days ago till next week due to random road work.  However, we did manage to come up with a shopping list and a couple of things we want to experiment with in the kitchen.  And we came up with a (partial) menu for our snack/lunch on the day as well so I am feeling pretty organized after the dinner debacle.

She also told me the results of her butter research:  not good.  So we have a couple of theories to try out and if they don't work, someone who might be able to provide an answer.  I can't wait to play!

All in all, one of the best dates I've had in a while.

So until next time, may you have as much fun on your date/s as I had on mine and keep smiling!