Vesta Vino Trattoria

Morning! This week has flown by. How is yours going so far?

Woke up early yesterday for a fun breakfast with Anna! We went to the diner, where I ordered scrambled eggs + whole wheat toast. Plus a bottomless cup of coffee and a shot of OJ.

The rest of the morning was spent… cleaning! Very exciting . I’m trying to sort through of a lot of the clutter that’s accumulated in my room throughout the past, oh, 24 years. It’s a slow process but every little bit counts. I used to be really sentimental about almost everything, but now I’m pretty ruthless. If I haven’t worn it/ looked at it/ thought about it in the last year or so, out it goes (or it gets donated if it’s in decent condition).

Although our kitchen is still pretty bare, I found a couple cookie sheets, a cutting board and a sharp knife and got to work roasting some veggies. This recipe for Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Pecans and Avocado intrigued me (avocado + roasted vegetables?!) and I had all of the ingredients, so I started on that first.

My lunch was entirely veggie centric, and 80% came from the CSA! (I picked up my final share last night, sadly.)

• sweet potato rounds thinly sliced, rubbed with oil, sea salt, crumbled fresh sage, roasted @ 400˚
• turnips diced, rubbed with oil, sea salt + pepper, roasted @ 400˚
• kale tossed with oil, sea salt + pepper, roasted @450˚
• salsa for dipping!

Afternoon snack: apple + almond crunch.

Dinner was eaten out again… yes, two restaurant meals in one day! It must be the start of the holiday season. A friend and I went to Vesta, which I’ve been to for brunch (when I had purple hair!) but have always wanted to try for dinner.

We started with glasses of the house red (which is served on tap) and the appetizer special: fried Brussels sprouts with parmesan. “Fried” and “vegetables” don’t sit so well with me normally, but these were amazing. Even my friend, who isn’t normally one to eat them, happily ate his half.

He ordered steak, which came served with puréed sweet potatoes and asparagus. Not a scrap was left, so I believe it was met with approval!

Taking our server’s suggestion, I ordered the lemon crusted hake, served with a risotto cake + olive sauce. The fish was good, but my favorite part was the risotto cake! It was dusted with crumbled pecorino, and although I packed up a good portion of it (and the fish) to take home, as soon as I walked in the door I dove right back in and finished it off. Delicious.

For dessert, we shared the Little Baby Jesus Cake, AKA sticky toffee pudding. I had no idea what this would be like but it had the texture of a fluffy gingerbread or cornbread, with a delicious caramel glaze. Didn’t expect this to be my “thing,” but I want to make it myself now!

After the delicious dinner, I was pretty pooped and crawled into bed to watch Cedar Rapids with my mom. We both laughed hard a few times!

On the agenda today:

• studying
• sweating (not sure how yet!)
• reading (Katniss! Gale! Peeta!)
• dinner with a friend

Have you tried any new recipes this week?