Taking a quick break from my Back To Basics series to take a little trip to Pittsburgh and spend some time with awesome people.
I made plans with a friend to get brunch in the city before I planned out this little Back To Basics experiment and I wasn't about to cancel that, so I went and had a great time!
I woke up and had a pretty slow moving morning. Darrin and I laid in bed until I had to get up to get ready. We had breakfast, a green smoothie for me and cereal for Darrin, and then we went our separate ways with plans to meet up for dinner later on that evening.
I got ready as fast as I could and made the 90 minute trip to the city. It was a nice ride and I listened to some great podcasts on the way. I picked up my friend, Caitlin, and we went to Amazing Cafe in South Side. I love Amazing Cafe as I've said on here so many times before. They had a new caesar salad that I was so excited to try. The croutons were gluten free, win!! It was absolutely delicious and such a huge serving of food. I can't recommend Amazing Cafe enough. So, so good. Caitlin and I had a nice time catching up and talking about so much great stuff.
Afterwards we went to get a durian to try. Last time we hung out we got jackfruit. It only made sense to go for the durian this time, right?! We bought the prickly fruit and took it back to her place to try. I've tried durian before and had a bad experience. But when the opportunity arises I will always say yes to trying it again. Too many people say so many good things about it for it to be that terrible!
We cut it open and the smell began to fill the room. I honestly don't know how to describe it well. It's not a pleasant smell though. We lit some candles to try to cover it up and then each grabbed a piece. I took a generous bite and did not enjoy the taste. We both came to the conclusion that it tasted like onions. Not fans! But like I said, I'll definitely try it again and it was a fun experience!
Later on that afternoon I had plans to meet up with Darrin. He's working in Ohio right now and is home one day a week so on his travel day back to work he passes through Pittsburgh. We planned to meet for dinner before he went back. I met up with him at Whole Foods and we went to grab a few things in there, of course. You can't be in the general area of Whole Foods without going in and at least buying a few things. Afterwards we went to dinner at Eden which is another favorite of mine. We haven't been there for dinner in the longest time so I was pretty excited.
I got the vermicelli mushroom bowl and Darrin got the peanut butter broccoli. They were both so good! I loved the combination of the potatoes, mushrooms, and carrots swirling around in the bowl with the noodles and seaweed. The portions were huge! I managed to eat all of mine but Darrin took about half of his with him. I wish I was eating that again right now!
After dinner I drove back home and listened to some more podcasts. I'm all about podcasts lately and loving it. It was a cloudy night and snow was flying all around. But I was so content. I had such a nice day and am so grateful to have spent it surrounded by great people and good food.