Monday, November 14, 2011

Memories & The Music Box...

Morning everyone!  Hope you guys had a great weekend!   Soooo the reason I had to get ready at 3:30pm for our Saturday night was because we were hitting the road down to Atlantic City!  And after tossing around a few places to try for dinner, this place just popped into my head:

Joe's Maplewood Restaurant is attached to some fun memories for me, as it is the place I remember going to for dinner after my dance group & I performed in shows at the casinos when we were youngerJ  (Like I said before, I have more memories of spending time in Atlantic City casinos as a kid than at the parkJ) hehehehhee...
Yep, that's me on the bottom left rocking my HUGE bangs and SUPER BLUEEEEE eye shadowJ  I won't name names of who else is in that picture...but I do know it was a fun memory for ALL of us!  (love ya, girlsJ)

So anyways...back to the food, and it was as good as I remembered.  First up was the house salad and some buttery, delicious garlic bread... 
What is it about Italian house salads??  They always just come out perfectly seasoned and so fresh and crisp and this one is no exception.

And while this may seem like an offshoot of an Italian restaurant, Joe's Maplewood's is pretty well known for their seafood, so I took 100 a few bites of my friend's lobster bisque and just melted!  It was soooooooo. gooooooood!  Smooth, rich & decadent....and one huge bowl!

And even though I walked into the restaurant for dinner with my mind SET on traditional ole spaghetti & meatballs, that changed quickly when I spied one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE MEALS ON THE MENU:  Spaghetti with crabs!  I was pretty hesitant to order it because I didn't want to make a mess (you can imagine how messy cracking whole crabs drenched in red tomato gravy can be!), so I was OVERJOYED when the dish showed up looking like this.... 
Those messy 'whole crabs were replaced with HUGE LUMPS of crab meat!  No muss, no fuss and I saved  Joe's from using up their nightly supply of napkins with this oneJ

And when I ordered my dinner I was asked if I wanted the crabs over FRESH SPAGHETTI. 
Ummmm...yes, please!!!  
Even in "Italian central Jersey," not many places do that now a days and that could explain why Joe's was PACKED from the minute we got there at 5:20 (and we had to WAIT 40 minutes!) to when we left around 7....and I can only imagine that was just the BEGINNING of a busy night for them.

And finally, I just could not *COULD NOT* leave without a bite of the Tortoni....a dessert I had fallen in love with all those huge bangs/blue eye shadow days ago! 
Almond ice cream topped with ground almond cookie and a cherry on topJ  It was a sweet end to a delicious AND nostalgic dinner!J

After dinner, we headed down to the Borgata for our evenings main event:  SNL alum Jim Breuer's comedy show which was HIL-ARIOUS! 
Random:  The Music Box theater at the Borgata was sooooooo nice!  For as BIG and FLASHY as that casino is, this was an awesomely intimate venue.  We paid not a whole lotta money for these tickets and we felt like we were almost in the front row.  I would LOVE to see an acoustic concert in this place!  (Lifehouse...ya wanna come to town??)

So that wrapped up Saturday and yesterday was spent with pumpkin pancakes, a walk in the park with Penny and dinner with my Mother-in-law.  Hope you guys had a good one!

And here was my workout schedule for the week to get you MOTIVATED this fine MondayJ :

Monday:  25 minute "Power Squad" yoga

Tuesday:  45 minute walk  (about 3 miles)

Wednesday:  30 minutes dance + 2 rounds of weights

Thursday:  "Weight Loss Yoga" -Level 1

Friday:  20 minutes of dance + weights

Sunday:  45 minute walk

Alright, well that about wraps it up for me!  Have a great Monday everyoneJ

No comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...