Thursday, February 21, 2013

Eating Big in Boca: Brio Tuscan Grille


It was our first Valentine's Day in Boca Raton.  A Thursday night.  As newcomers, we didn't get too adventurous in our dining choice.  We wanted safe.  Brio recently announced their new Gluten Free Menu.

Safe.

At least, that was the hope.

At the top of the Gluten free menu, it stated that people with allergies needed to notify the server.  My confidence wavered slightly.  It would seem that this menu was created for those who chose to go gluten free...not for those of us who had to.

Still...like I said...first Valentine's Day in a new town.  Big changes here, people.  I looked forward with optimism!  Plus, the server was notified that I was not, in fact, on a fad diet...please don't poison me.

We ordered cocktails and bread was served.  No gluten free options, darn it.

I ordered the Pasta Pomodoro.  It really was lovely.  Pesto, tomato, pine nuts-- all glorious!


We took our time over dinner, savoring the flavors as well as the conversation.  Service was decent, not outstanding, but as well as expected.

Then it began...

a deep, thumping pain in my head.  The later it got, the worse it hurt until finally I couldn't even stand being with myself!

Valentine's evening...as good as ruined.

I got glutened. Mildly.

This is all speculation, of course, but the only answer I can come up with is, the pasta must have been boiled in the same water that regular pasta was cooked in.  Alas, I may never know.

Finally, after about 36 hours detoxing, I was back to standard issue Ami.

Would I go back?  Perhaps, but I will be more forceful when explaining my needs and fears of cross-contamination.  The food was good, service adequate.  However, there is a great big world of restaurants in Boca!  I think next time, I'll try something new.


XO, Ami




Brio Tuscan Grille on Urbanspoon

Adjusting My Sails

Beach Palm Sailboat by Gregory Allen Page


Jimmy Dean once said (Why yes, I am talking about the sausage guy):

"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination."

So, mentally, this is where I'm situated.

The move to Boca has been a culture shock, indeed, but those things I see as so different from the Virginia mountains are not likely to change any time soon.  They are part of what makes Boca...well, Boca.  Good or bad, take it or leave it.

It's time to focus on the favorable and see how I will carve out my spot in this curious town.  The eternal goal being to always to make a place a little better than how I found it...and to improve myself along the way.

I chose the quote above, not only because it is snazzy and reminds me of breakfast, but because it mentions wind. Yep! This is honest-to-goodness one of the first things I fell in love with down here.  Seriously...I am not merely being trite...this is some luscious breeze.  I realize how ridiculous this must sound, but here in Boca, the air feels more... substantial.  Normal wind seems thin in comparison.  Oh and the way it blows warm and cool all at the same time -no clue how that works I am just giddy that it does.  I could stand outside and let it swirl around me for hours.  When I am driving about, windows down, sunroof open, I look at all the people closed up in their cars and feel sympathy for them.  They have this luxurious natural commodity and they aren't even appreciating it.

So yes...you did just read a blog post about wind.

Or did you?  Hmmmmm...

I am setting my sails. Charting my course. Hoping for a gust in the right direction.  Determined to make a home...with windows open!



...well, at least until hurricane season.




XO, Ami

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Eating Big in Boca: Maoz Restaurant Review

Eating out is scary business.

Ok, maybe just for me and others with food allergies...or serious public anxiety.  Anyhow, I do digress...

Eating out became a necessity when we moved to Boca.  For awhile I had no kitchen...'cause I had no house.  Just a hotel room with a coffee maker.  Can't even cook soup with that thing.  So what does a transplanted lady with a food allergy do?  Consult Lord Google, of course!



I came across one called Maoz.  It appealed to me because it also claimed to be vegetarian.  We are a quasi-vegetarian family.  Don't ask me how that works, it just does.  Most of the time.  Plus, Maoz is famous for Falafel.

 I'm a sucker for Falafel.

©Maoz Vegetarian


This place is not fancy.  It is not sit-down.  In fact, the one I visited was located in a mall food court.  It was crazy busy...which led me to believe it would be good.

{cliff hanger}

It was.

...Good, that is.

Actually quite good.  I would recommend it.

Hey, I guess, I just did.

The place was bright, eye catching and just looked....fresh.
Every item was clearly marked whether they were gluten free or not.  You could choose your own fixings (Virginia word?) to go either in your pita or on your salad.  I, of course had the salad since pitas are not usually safe for me.  At the end of the line you can add your own Tahini or Chili sauce (also gluten free). The Falafel was really yummy and well seasoned.  Crispy on the outside, doughy Garbonzo-beany goodness on the inside and not too greasy.  This was definitely a step above typical food court fare!

As an allergy sufferer, I was a little nervous when they used the same tongs to pick up my "fixings" as they did to stuff other food into pitas.  I would suggest to them that they have separate "Gluten free" tongs on hand.  I almost requested clean tongs... I suppose I was feeling dangerous (ok, more likely shy) that day because I didn't say a word.  Even so, I did not get sick!  Yay Maoz!

XO, Ami

Want to go?

It's located in the Boca Town Center
Address: 6000 Glades Rd, Boca Raton, FL 33431
Phone:(561) 393-6269
Hours:

Monday11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Tuesday11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Wednesday11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Thursday11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Friday11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Saturday11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Sunday11:30 am – 6:00 pm

Maoz Vegetarian on Urbanspoon

Diving Into the Grocery Store

Migrating Blue Birds visiting my home in Virginia


So, it's done.  I am a Florida resident.  Not only a Florida resident, but a Boca resident!  Goodbye, Blue Ridge Mountains...it's been a pleasure!  I will miss your autumn foliage, and your rolling landscape.  I will miss your down home, earthy appeal.  I will miss the home you've so willingly given me and my family.

I won't miss your cold and snowy winters.  

Ok well, maybe just a smidgen.  I do enjoy Hot Chocolate and roaring, cuddle inducing fires.  

Anywhoooo....

So, Florida it is.  I like Florida.  Sunshine is my favorite.  LOVE Disney World.  No, I mean really.  Some say I'm certifiable.  I just say I'm finely tuned into the magic.  Still, I find myself three hours away from there and in a place so foreign to me I am not convinced it's really in the United States.  It's....tropical.  The water is azure blue and lizards run amok.  Like, I just flew to the islands and somebody better hand me a frozen drink with an umbrella, if they know what's good for them...and darn it- where is my sundress and flip flops????  What do you mean I have to make my own bed and cook dinner?  I am obviously in the Caribbean, so I must be on vacation.  Ta Da!

I want pillow chocolates.

Moving in, unpacking boxes, decorating my new home, putting chocolates on my own dern pillow...have all been kind of surreal.  The worst thing, though?  

Grocery shopping.

You get a good cross section of the population when you grocery shop.  There are the mega-riche elderly ladies with shopping companions.  The "not quite as elderly but you really can't tell" ultra thin women whose faces don't move are in the next category.  The other moms...slender, put together...maybe a botox injection or two...push their carts and eye my buggy- and me- unapologetically. There are the very fashionable gay men who look better than anyone, and look down on no one.  The couples in bathing suits and cover-ups, smelling of coconut fill in the rest of the spaces, as well as your olfactory sense --- see THEY are on vacation!  I bet they get pillow chocolate.

Then there's me.  

A Mountain Mama.  No stranger to hard work.  Kids free to be contradistinctive.  Bare fingernails that may or may not have been bitten off.  Bare faced, product-free hair.  Ice cream in my shopping cart.  No...not even frozen yogurt.  Oh...plus I jiggle when I walk.

I think that if I saw a slightly haggard young mother towing an infant and a toddler, hair askew, with this mornings cheerios still stuck to her butt (you know, a normal grocery shopper) - I do believe I would hug her like a long lost friend!  

I'm too old to assimilate to superficial standards.  Too set in my down-to-earth Virginia ways.  Too much in love with real butter.  Who knows, sticking out like a sore thumb could have it's advantages!  As Tracy Turnblad from Hairspray says,

 "I think I've kind of been in a bubble... thinking that fairness was gonna just happen. It's not. People like me are gonna have to get up off their fathers' laps and go out and fight for it."

Let's see if any standards get redefined.

I think this may be the start of a pretty big adventure!

XO, Ami