The following images will make you think I eschewed the UNFATTENING for the weekend. But lo, my dear friends, I did not! Mouthwatering food was at every turn, but I only consumed what I REALLY wanted, stopped eating when I was full, and kept track of everything.
This weekend I went to Richmond to visit my best friend, Grace, and her family. And it also happened to be the weekend of my favorite food festival, Broad Appetit, where over four dozen of Richmond's restaurants offer small dishes of their food for only $3 each.
The festival was on Sunday, but I got there on Saturday. And I was already hungry :) Grace, her toddler, Penny, and I went to the Continental early Saturday afternoon. The Continental serves great, imaginative, upscale diner fare.
Grace had the black kale caesar salad with fried shrimp and jalapeno corn bread.
Penny had an outstanding cheddar and gruyere grilled cheese with avocado and bacon. Well, really Grace and I had some of it. Penny had some fries.
And I had the breakfast burrito with eggs, black beans, and crispy pork belly.
When the food came to the table, I was actually a little shocked at the size of my burrito. It wasn't like a food competition 6lb burrito, but it was BIG. In addition to a taste of Grace's cornbread and a couple bites of that super rich, super delicious grilled cheese, I ate about a quarter of that burrito and about half the home fries. The burrito was awesome, mostly because of the shredded crispy pork belly inside. The home fries could have been better if they had been crustier, but it's hard to turn down well-seasoned potatoes. I ended up sharing the rest of the burrito with my brother and sister-in-law the next day and they agreed it was delicious. Do not be ashamed of not eating an entire restaurant portion. Your friends and family who didn't get to come with you will be grateful :) So will your pants.
Fast forward to the next day, after a light breakfast of coffee and a blueberry smoothie with greens and flax seed, chia seeds, and all sorts of good-for-you-stuff, we headed to Broad Street for the festival. Andrew, Grace's husband and Penny's daddy, joined us. We got there at the start at 11am and there were already lots of people. Some booths weren't quite ready yet. But the first booth I came across a must-have was Tarrant's.
Tarrant's Cafe's fried chicken and waffle with maple tahini sauce. OMG. YES. Perfection. Everything you'd want in chicken and waffles. Not really sure what the tahini added, but it was all good.
I can't remember where these came from, but on the left is pig three ways on little edible spoons! On the right is a chocolate dipped macaron and some ice cream. I tasted each of the spoons, but passed on the sweets. It wasn't time for dessert, yet (for me, at least).
In the background is a taco al pastor. It was really good. So good, Penny pretty much ate it all, haha. Amazing how much little toddler can eat! In the foreground is elote, or corn on the cob with crema, cheese, and chili powder. That sort of counts as a vegetable, maybe?
Now, this...THIS was amazing. I went to the Mosaic cart and saw this on their menu board. They weren't quite ready to serve, but I vowed to come back. It was so worth the wait. This is a jibarito. I've seen it a few times on some food shows. It's the invention of some genius Puerto Rican in Chicago. It's basically a sandwich (in this case, pulled pork, swiss cheese, tomato, lettuce, and a creamy sauce) where instead of bread, you have flattened, fried plaintains. AMAZING. I knew the plantain would have to be green for structural integrity, but I was surprised by this jibarito, because there was a little sweetness to the plantain indicating a little more ripening, unlike the starchiness of something like a tostone which certainly uses a very green plantain. I gleefully and without regret ate all of this, minus the two bites Grace and Andrew tasted.
There were a few more things Grace and Andrew had that I took bites of, such as some fusion tacos from Boka Takos (great! Really stuffed full of meat and Asian, American, or traditional Mexican veggies and sauces) and I had some conch ceviche (was kinda meh, but luckily not very Caloric). There were TONS more vendors with seriously tempting dishes, but by this point I was pretty full. I still needed dessert and on this hot day, an ice pop fit the bill perfectly.
This is a watermelon mojito ice pop from King of Pops. It was like biting into a slice of frozen watermelon with a bit of mint infused through. You can kind of see the green mint leaf suspended in the bottom of the pop.
So, those were the food highlights of my weekend. I also had very lovely, delicious meals at Grace's parents' home, as well as my parents' home. Not as exciting, but just as fun because it was a good time spent with some of my favorite people.
And in case you're wondering, yes, I pretty much depleted my extra weekly Weight Watchers points this weekend, BUT, I haven't gone over (I don't think. I had to estimate a bunch of stuff). So there is still hope for a little loss this week. If not, that's okay, too. I'll keep at it, this time knowing more about how to enjoy a food festival, family dinners, and restaurant meal all in one weekend.
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