| Enjoying the many flavors life has to offer

Happy Friday!!! I am not sure what I am going to do with myself this weekend! Nolan is going on a guy camping trip with my brother and some friends so for the first time EVER I have the whole place to myself for 3 days.

This week’s favorite flavor of the week is actually a whole meal. Yea, I just couldn’t narrow it down anymore than that because there were so many fantastic flavors that came together to create the perfect meal.

flavor

This week Nolan and I spent our date night at my favorite restaurant, John Harvard’s! Don’t get me wrong, I am always down to go there, but I was particularly persuaded because it was a gorgeous day out and they are one of the only restaurants around with a patio.

I started off with a glass of their Golden Spike IPA. It really hit the spot!

We typically don’t order appetizers unless we are starving or have a gift card, but their appetizer special was fried pickles which is our new obsession so we just had to try them!

After a lengthy discussion, we came to the conclusion that they were fantastic, but not as good as the ones at the Sea Dog Brew Pub. The pickle to breading ratio was a bit off.

The reason I love John Harvard’s so much is that not only is the beer always fun and new, but I have never gotten a meal I didn’t love. It’s also the only place (besides Stephen Anthony’s breakfast menu) where I actually order the specials.

Today’s special that caught my eye was a pork tenderloin and pineapple kabob covered in teriyake sauce on a bed of mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables. Yup. Awesome.

The meat came nice and rare, as I ordered and was seasoned perfectly! Shocker, Nolan went with the buffalo chicken wrap (his 4TH of the week btw) so I clearly won this round of meal ordering.

I am really looking forward to eating the second half of this dish for lunch today. 🙂 Besides having to be rolled out of the restaurant, it was the perfect meal!

Question of the Day:

What was your favorite flavor of the week?

Some flavors just stay with you forever. Some flavors have the magical culinary power to transform you to a different time, place, age, and mindset. Blueberry pancakes bring me to Nickerson State Park, peppermint will always make me think of Christmas, certain alcohols bring me back to Westfield State, and mac and cheese will always make me feel 6 years old.

Nolan and I are certainly not beginners in the kitchen and we often have mouthwatering ingredients on hand. But yesterday I found myself staring at a meat infested freezer and a fridge overflowing with fresh fruits and veggies only to reach into the pantry and pull out the box of Kraft mac & cheese that I have been craving all week.

I decide to class it up a bit and give it some reminiscence of nutrition. For one, I prepared it with skim milk and about 1/2 the “cheese” packet and without the butter. I reached into the depths of the fridge and found some leftover hot dogs from this weekend’s cookout which I added to the mix (that basically is the “butter and remaining cheese packet” which I omitted). Then I turned to my trusty bag of Shaw’s mixed veggies to add some color and nutrition.