Ahh, Monday. I love this week, having Wednesday off. Is very exciting. My mom’s coming in so we can taste the food at the reception place and then put down a deposit. Can’t wait. Because I like to eat. Mmmm. Speaking of, my trip to Durham was great. I say “speaking of” because I ate a lot of really good food. You wouldn’t necessarily think of Durham, North Carolina as a city with great restaurants, but it really has some good ones. When I got there on Thursday, we ate dinner at a Greek restaurant. Oh, there was the grazing platter that we all shared with stuffed grape leaves, fried (Greek) cheese, hummus and other dips, and calamari (blech) and other yumminess. And then I had the lamb steak. (Oh dear God.) And then dessert. (Hey, who am I to turn down free pumpkin cheesecake?) So after that, I thought, I can’t possibly eat like this every day, can I?

Oh yes, I can. Friday morning was breakfast in my room (toast, cereal, fruit – okay, I’m being healthy!) but then lunch…oh, lunch. We were tasting the hotel’s food that is going to be served at a banquet, and let me tell you, this is not your average chicken or fish or pasta you get at most hotel banquets. Oh no…I had the following:
– Pumpkin Soup with cinnamon/coriander creme freche
– Venison pate with some exotic jelly
– Salad (finally, something recognizable! Not that I’m complaining.)
– Macadamia-nut-encrusted scallops with a sweet potato souffle and vanilla beurre blanc
– some chocolate cake with gooey center

Yes. That was lunch. Fancy and so friggin’ delicious. I really thought I would pop after that. But I knew we had another meal coming up in a few hours. Gaa! And all I could do is go back to the meeting room and let it digest.

Dinner. Ahh, dinner. Aside from the fact that they left me at the hotel and I had to take a taxi to the restaurant, it was an incredible meal. By the time I got there, everyone else was eating their entrees but they’d saved me a bit of all of the appetizers (guilt can be a great thing) including some pate and some other things that were too fancy for me to remember but were very delicious. I had the grouper (look! grilled fish!) but of course it had some fattening and beautifully deliciously scruptious sauce. And for dessert…oh, dessert! Gingerbread and apple bread pudding with spicy caramel sauce and a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream. Daaang!

So yeah. Back to the hotel. Try sleeping with a tummy full of all that food! I’m sure all million calories were just waaaiting to turn into fat, but you know, it was all free and it was all in good company, and it was all worth it. So what if I gain two or three (okay, or six) pounds this week? I love food. It was worth it. I’m not likely to eat that well again (for free) for a very long time.

Yesterday George and I went and saw the Incredibles. It was great, of course, but not a kid’s movie! I mean, do you want children to see kids getting shot at? Hmmm. It was really suspenseful, too. (I’m a wuss, though.) If it wasn’t animated, it wouldn’t have been rated PG, I’m sure. But what do I know?

Oh yeah, we also registered at Bed Bath & Beyond yesterday. Ooh, that was fun! My sister convinced me we should just register at one place right now. So yeah, if anyone wants to get me the Kitchen Aid stand mixer for Christmas, feel free…ha ha!