ladies who lunch

ha! i only wish i were a lady of leisure who lunches. however, i have been taking advantage of the fact that things at work are on the slow side and have been trying to get my lazy butt out of the office for lunch.

my [pretty awesome] track record so far:

12.28 - mei long village with weemo, wan, and cee.

01.02 - le pain quotidien with nanners. refreshing, tart virgin sangria for me. grilled chicken tartines all around. chasing each other around the parking garage. a pleasant time with nanners, as always. i was honored to be on her agenda for her staycation.

01.04 - langer's with r. a good time talkin' 'bout the careers/next steps. r's #55 looked so good, i almost wanted to lick the cream cheese drippings off of her plate. oh wait, she caught them all before they hit the plate. i guess it was my wishful imagination. my #10 was delicious. i got it grilled and with the dressing on the side. the dressing is a great dip for the crinkle cut fries as well as the sandwich. we had an awesome character of a waitress. i love how the pastrami is cut thickly, and i also appreciated the fact that they don't shove 6 inches of it between two slices of bread and call it a sandwich. i think i need to bring the bear here.

01.07 - the penthouse with the office peeps. ok, so this was bosswoman's year-end hurrah to give us our bonuses and mini reviews. we did talk shop during lunch, but it was nice to get out of the office and our usual, daily grind. overall, the food was pretty good for the lunch prices (not sure i'd love my entree as much at dinner prices), and the desserts were divine. soup-bowl sized creme brulee? yes, please! yummy bread pudding with cardamom ice cream and a side of mini creme brulee? sure. mini beignets? of course! fresh, hot chocolate chip cookies with fresh, vanilla bean whipped cream? mais oui, despite the fact my stomach is starting to ache! i have pics of this one!

top: coworker's potato-crusted salmon. below: my something something striped bass.

the space, which is much sexier at night when lit properly.

i felt, um, rather exposed while using this toilet stall. you can see a tiny glimpse of part of the amazing views you get from this restaurant.

what nice, big goodies did we bring back in the pretty, large bag to the office?

one. little. cookie. hey, they even plated it for us, raspberry mint garnish and all!

01.08 - drago with mom. smooth-as-butter service. meh bread - skip it and save room for the food. we shared a delicious sesame-crusted salmon salad with endives, spelt/barley type things, arugula, oranges, and some other goodies in a citrus vinagrette. we also split a dish of black and white flat noodles with crab, shrimp, and lobster sauce that was riddled with meaty chunks of our favorite shellfish friends. she shared a daytime-drama worthy story with me, which i may reveal after it has completely unfolded. i shared some typical, angsty, quarterlife thoughts. it was nice girl time, fo sheezy.

and...i think i'm lunched out. the wallet and work schedule prescribe bringing lunch to work and eating it at my desk while working through it, as per my usual, from now on out. the mental state highly recommends scheduling a lunch out once in awhile, though, as this past handful has been very pleasant indeed.