fine dining

When I was in high school, my FHA group went to Lincoln for our state conference.  While we were there, our teacher wanted us to get a fine dining experience.  It would have been finer had we as poor high school students not been expected to pay but it was still a memorable experience.  Mary DaMoude and I shared a tuna pate which I believe was an appetizer.  I think it was $10.  That's still expensive for an appetizer but it's more manageable now.  I do recall being disappointed in its presentation though since they ended up using two olives, a tomato wedge and a half an onion slice to make a happy face on the pate.  I was like, Wow, I just paid for an adult meal and I'm being given a happy face.

Today, Sophia and I, on our quest to compare big salads in Portland, gave the Farm Cafe a try.  It was my first time there but she's been going there for a while and can remember when the dishes were five dollars cheaper (which was only two or three years ago).  The food was definitely not cheap but wow, it was delicious.  I started out with their special drink, the 33 1/3.  Then Sophia and I got their salads, the beet salad and the Arugula Pear Salad along with brussel sprouts, their featured vegetable.  Since she's been there before, Sophia knew we should get main dishes too so she got the Herb Crusted Tofu with Mushroom Marsala and I got the Wild Mushroom Gnocchi in rosemary white wine butter sauce.  To finish off the meal, I had a rose dessert wine.  It was absolutely exquisite.

Looking back, I realized that I am not posting a picture of the dinner because I post a lot of pictures of my food.  I eat out a lot.  I'm aware of that.  However, I don't think that this was a typical dining experience for me.  The food was great but not overwhelming.  The food was pricey but completely worth it.  I can't afford to go there often but I know now where I will go when I really want to treat myself in town.