Date Night (Flying Solo)!

As you know, I occasionally attend cooking classes, which also includes a meal. I have been wanting to attend a different “school” for some time but they were shut down because well, you know the story. This April 16, 2021 evening I attended what I anticipated was mostly a meal with some verbal instructions as to how the meal was prepared. It ended up that it was just a meal. It was billed as a “Date Night”. So I checked with my friends, me, myself and I and we decided to attend as a group, solo. Again, as is usual, I know not a single human being walking in the door.

Funny story, I get an e-mail from the school to me (the person who’s name was on the credit card) asking if Kandi (the person attending) was supposed to be dining alone on Date Night. They thought someone else registered to attend with Kandi and they needed to make sure they were seated together. I responded that she is me and that I would be attending alone.

I wanted to dress as I might for a date, so I wore this lovely Ann Taylor dress, which gives me a neutral pallet to work with. It was featured in an early pandemic photo shoot on my Flickr page. My initial goal was simply to wear something with a scarf. After a few different outfits (what girl doesn’t love pulling together outfits!), I settled on this as I felt it was classy, dressy, pretty and had a simple elegance to it.

This was the evening’s menu: Artichoke Shrimp Strudel; Pork Tenderloin Stuffed with Herbs & Wrapped in Pancetta; Rosemary Roasted Potato; Rapini Alla Romana; Lemon Mascarpone Tart with Fresh Strawberries. I can cook a little, but maybe, in a perfect world, I could make the potatoes. Maybe.

There is no great tale here, just a lovely meal in a nice space. Because of the size of the restaurant and the requisite COVID requirements, I sat alone. But then again, I did chose to fly solo. There were only ten other diners in the place. But I enjoyed myself and loved being me for a while. In a small group, ladies like myself might expect to be stared at. But dressing as nicely as I do, I simply get smiles and people move on to their own business. I am generally only positively noticed when out.

On the way there I stopped at ULTA to pick up a few things and got a lovely complement on my outfit from the cashier. Yeah, I always like that!

While you know I crave human interaction, there is nothing wrong with looking pretty and having a wonderful meal. The waitress was great and very kind to me. I did spend some time at my table reading the culinary school’s catalog of upcoming classes and have my eye on a few classes billed “Girl’s Night Out!”. Stay tuned!