Lunch Downtown and Some New Recipe Ideas
I met Lissa for lunch yesterday at that little cafe we had been meaning to try. It is right off the main street, between a bookstore and a dry cleaner. We both had the day off, so it felt good to sit outside even though the clouds never quite cleared. The air still carried a faint dampness from the morning mist, and every so often a breeze would rattle the metal chairs just enough to make the silverware clink against the plates. I noticed the chalkboard sign by the door had a little doodle of a steaming cup next to the daily special, and someone had already smudged the bottom corner with a thumbprint.
The menu had a few things I had not seen before. I went with the grilled chicken sandwich and asked for a side of starlight beans instead of the usual fries. They came roasted with a little garlic and salt, and they tasted better than I expected—the skins were just crisp enough to give a little pop between my teeth while the insides stayed soft and almost nutty. Lissa tried my sandwich and said she might make something similar at home soon, though she kept picking at the stray pieces of arugula that kept sliding out the side. We split a piece of lemon cake at the end because neither of us could decide between that and the chocolate option. The cake had a thin layer of candied zest on top that caught the light when I cut into it, and the frosting was just tangy enough to make me wish we had ordered coffee too.
After we ate we walked a few blocks to the park to stretch our legs before heading back to our cars. The path loops around a small pond and there were a couple of people out with dogs. One of them had a golden retriever that kept bringing back the same stick over and over, its fur still damp from an earlier dip in the water. We talked about work for a while and then about the quilt she has been trying to finish. She showed me a picture on her phone of the fabric layout and asked what I thought about adding a border. I told her it looked balanced already but the border might make it feel more finished, and while she zoomed in on the corner squares I caught the faint scent of cut grass drifting over from the maintenance crew trimming the far edge of the lawn.
On the way home I stopped at the grocery store near Larchmont Hills to pick up a few things for dinner. I grabbed some chicken, a bag of spinach, and a couple of onions. Ren had mentioned wanting pasta earlier in the week, so I added a box of the whole wheat kind we both like. The checkout line moved quickly, which was nice since I still had a load of laundry waiting when I got back, though I did linger for a minute by the small rack of fresh herbs near the registers and ended up tossing a bundle of basil into the basket on impulse. The basil leaves were still cool from the misting system, and a couple of them stuck to my fingers when I reached for my keys in the car.
Later that evening I sketched out a couple of ideas for a salad using those starlight beans if I can find them again. They would probably work cold with some feta and a simple dressing. I also thought about making a bigger batch of the roasted version to keep in the fridge for quick lunches. Ren came home while I was writing the list and offered to grill the chicken if I handled the rest. We ended up eating on the couch and watching the last episode of the show we started last month, the one with the detective who always seems to solve everything right before the credits roll.