u/ambergresian

Salad will also have a homemade vinaigrette with bramble vinegar made by a friend, butter beans, and maybe some dates or pecans or walnuts, along with the greens, apple (which I might get another, rather buy fresh when I run out), blue cheese, and fried onions.

I have an extra carrot, potato, and onion to throw into the soup (with stock etc staples)

Could have obviously picked cheaper options (and thought to bring two bags instead of one...). But eh. I like what I like.

It's soup season so I'll make some more strews with the tomato concentrate to use that up. Celery a good snack with things.

Edit: omg I have so much borscht

I have loseit setup for higher budgets on Fridays/Saturdays, but really I just look at my weekly allowance. Also, I just got back from my honeymoon this week so I'm mainly just getting back into the habit of tracking.

Also need to remove the fat budget idk why that's there, I like higher fat diets

Was running 4mi most days too prior to that so will get back on track of that soon too (run/walk combo with hill climbing -- pretty woodland hill near our house so it's really good for my mental health even if I just walk it most of the way to be out in nature). Just need to get back to waking up early! I give myself like ~100 calories per mile +100 for the hill based on various calculators, and I've lost 25 lbs so far so doing alright there.

Was veggie for a couple days cause that's just what I was feeling, but I split up the week with some higher protein days, so looking at what I want to cook the rest of the week now.

Absolutely amazing. And I loved the wine pairing, there are some really unique flavours there that pair so well! I was originally going to skip it because I needed to wake up early lol, but I took a sip of the first from another I was with just to get a taste and immediately said nevermind this is too good to miss out on. No regrets lol

it's been nearly 2 weeks since I went so I'll try and remember what I can

1-3 was in the lounge area with a cocktail or drink of your choice

I'm not a food critic or a good writer so forgive my attempt at descriptions

1. Alp Blossom cheese starter. I'm biased, Alp Blossom is one of my favourites already. We had a cheese tier "cake" for our wedding less than a week before and Alp Blossom was the only one I specifically requested. Lovely. Floral. Can't go wrong there and beautiful presentation.

2. Langoustine and roe bite. Bursts with freshness. Delightful textures.

3. trout, beetroot, caviar cause why not. Again very fresh and fun textures, and there was a nice citrus note to contrast the beet. Strong start with all of these 3.

4. Kingfish, dashi. This was my favourite of the main dishes! the fish was sweet and the dashi was full of umami. Paired with a very mineral, salty, sea tasting wine which is what hooked me for the wine pairing. Adjectives I've heard with many wines but either just the pairing or this wine it really stood out.

5. High take on fish and chips -- langoustine with a very delicate pastry (Kataifi like?) with burnt apple ketchup. The pastry had roe flakes or powder on it. Loved the textures here as well and they provided rose water for your hands after. Paired with a crisp champagne.

6. Chawanmushi (savoury Japanese steamed egg custard), ham, peas. This felt like a cozy hobbit spring! For a posh hobbit at least. Close second favourite dish! Paired with a delicate wine that balanced well.

7. laminated brioche, koji & wild garlic butter. I mean it's fancy butter and bread. Can't go wrong there. Ample amount of butter, and I say this as someone who has a butter and bread problem, there was plenty of butter. All great.

8. Squid ramen. The ramen is the squid. Umami again. The scent of the broth was strong in the best way. Can't recall the specific wine pairing as I was feeling the previous wines by now but all the wine went spectacularly with the dishes where we made a point to comment on that so, was good!

9. Forgot to take a photo of this one, was scallops with a cullen skink foam. I like scallops. I like cullen skink and smokey flavours. I would say though this was probably my least favourite. It still tasted great, just didn't stand out compared to the others. High bar though! And again, still loved the flavours.

10. wagyu, sweet bread, and I think a beet (?) cracker with tartare (3 photos). Wagyu had the squiggly black thing on top which iirc was a truffle funky bit which I love some crunchy texture so that was nice. Sauce I wanted to lick off the place. Sweet bread was nice, tartare was in a fun form with again crunchy texture which I like. I can't remember what the powder was on top but I remember liking the sound of it. Actually maybe it was beet powder and the cracker was something else. Sorry, it's been awhile and I was feeling the wine, which again, was great.

11. cheese! with leeks and walnuts and waffles! big fan of putting cheese on waffles now. This came with a sweet wine which I normally dislike sweet wines, but it paired _so well _ I really enjoyed it. Caramel-y and excellent with the cheese.

12. strawberry cherry blossom dessert. The wine pairing with this was EXCELLENT. Plum wine and fermented sake with almond notes. Very interesting, very different, very fun.

13. Chocolate. It's chocolate. Also Jerusalem artichoke? it worked.

14. variety of small dessert bites. nice end, nothing crazy.

Service was wonderful. There was some point where a dish was taking awhile, not like a very long time just a "oh shoot were we not supposed to drink all the wine" way and they refilled the wine for us lol... Also, the sommelier sat down next to us and chatted with us for a wee bit which was really nice. We remembered him from Aizle as well. Our server was also really nice and funny! Great company in general.

Punching well above 1 star. Highly recommend.

would like to be able to share the photo with my grandma (so while funny, please don't replace the vape with a cigarette or something otherwise scandalous please)

protein (lol helth) bagels with butter and Marmite

some deli chicken with a green pickled jalapeño yoghurt sauce I made

didn't feel like cooking today (okay I pan fried the premade tortilla for a few minutes but that hardly counts). I had enough protein in other meals lol just wanted to grab stuff that looked nice together. I'm a sucker for cheese and will always make room for it.

all just stuff I bought ready made at the store (just pan fried the tortilla for a few minutes lol)

Spanish tortilla, couscous w/ chargrilled veggies, Ibérico cheese+olives+tomato antipasti