Coming off of ANOTHER big tax deadline followed by ANOTHER vacation, my body is craving some normalcy and home-cooked meals. I’ll admit, eating out is probably my favorite activity, but enough is enough already!
When I sat down Sunday afternoon to plan out my groceries for the week I was sad to see that I had 1 networking breakfast, 3 networking lunches, and 2 networking dinners this week! Argh!
Making healthy choices at restaurants is really difficult for me. Typically, I just order whatever I want when I am out to eat and then make sure to eat a normal size portion rather than the entire trough of food they bring to the table. When I am looking for a healthy meal at a restaurant, I have the hardest time making a decision. Even if I go with the “safe” salad option, it’s practically impossible to know what sort of calories/fats/carbs they’ve crammed into every nook and cranny of my leafy greens. I guess part of the problem is that I’m an anal accountant by nature. I need to see the numbers!
Despite being over-networked this week, I was super excited to attend my first CLE Blogger meet up Monday night! I made the trek from Akron to Cleveland to meet up with a group of lovely ladies at L’Albatros.
The group consisted of: Michelle of All Lacquered Up, Feeding Maybelle, Kali of Finishing Firsts, Suzanne of life on Mars, Alicia of Poise in Parma, Shannon of The Daily Balance, ME!, and Katie of Healthy Heddleston.
A special thank you to Alicia for organizing the meet up (and for sharing the lovely photo).
L’Albatros was FABULOUS. The wait staff was SUPER attentive and the ambiance was pure swank:
(photo from http://www.albatrosbrasserie.com/)
The best part of the meetup was not the food (gasp!) but getting to meet such great women. I’ve said over and over again on the blog that there is something uniquely energizing about entering a room full of chatting women. At one moment during dinner I paused and looked around the table—each of us were actively engaged in the conversation and the noise in the room reminded me of the loud rumble you hear and feel as a jumbo jet flies over head.
There were a TON of great options on the menu, but I ended up going with the Chicken Breast with Goat Cheese and mashed potatoes. Yes, goat cheese AND mashed potatoes. Insert drooling here. Oh and there were sundried tomatoes…..
This was an absolutely delicious dinner. The mashed potatoes literally melted away in my mouth and the chicken was moist and super flavorful. I’ll definitely be coming back to L’Albatros!
Another great aspect of the restaurant was the cheese show. When you ask for a plate of cheese, they give you a PLATE. OF. CHEESE.
Notice that two of the cheeses must be eaten with a spoon. Mind = blown 🙂
QUESTION: For those of you out there who have a lot of work meetings that involve food, how do go about making healthy choices?
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GAAAH that cheese looks GOOOOD... :D
many times I am the one who picks the restaurant, and working with a bunch of naturopathic docs and alternative care folks - we go to places that have many healthy choices. I know, that doesn't help you... I'd probably try to balance - eat some salads and 'cleaner' choices most of the time, things that I may want more other times (and eat a real portion, like you said).
AWWW - how fun!!!! I'm so sorry I missed it, but I can't wait to see you guys next time!
Your picture of the cheese tray is fantastic! I was secretly drooling over your chicken during dinner. I'm glad it was as tasty as it looked! Can't wait for our next meet up!
It was so fun to meet you Mary!! Hopefully we'll see eachother again sooN!
You too!!!
I have a really hard time finding things to enjoy when I've been eating out frequently. It isn't the occasional eat outs that I have problems with but the ones that occur in a string of ongoing events. I usually just go for sides and an app!