Going out to eat

I'm thinking back about how changes I started to make in March seemed so huge. Some of the habits I tried to develop seemed like a HUGE pain in the where-you-sit. One thing especially seemed to take so much work, I wasn't sure I'd stick to it - Planning around going out to eat.

Tom and I like to go out to eat. It's fun, someone else does the cleanup, and we get to try things we wouldn't make at home. And, it's fun. In March, when I was following Engine 2 strictly, we still went out to eat, but not as often, and only to a couple of very "safe" restaurants. After March, I spent some time researching more vegan and vegetarian restaurants in Cleveland. This is where it got time consuming...

Every time we went out to eat, I would look up restaurants online to see where might be a good option. Then, once we picked a place, I would study the menu and pick out what I'd order before we even left the house. A few times, when I didn't do that research, I ended up really bummed out with what I got. I learned, mostly, that a sandwich called a "veggie melt" is usually really boring without the cheese.

Flash forward to today. Tom and I decided we want to go out to a very late lunch/early dinner. We knew a restaurant that will be delicious and vegan/veg friendly. I heard they updated the menu, so I took a quick peek - still awesome. I saw they have Jeni's sorbets for dessert now, so I shot Jeni's a quick tweet to see if their sorbet is dairy free. It is. Planning done, on to fun.

I still highly advocate at least a little planning. For me, knowing what's on the menu puts me in the mindset of what I CAN have, so when I check out the menu when we get to the restaurant, I don't focus on the dishes with stuff I choose not to eat and feel deprived. I'm also a little more comfortable making special requests. I used to almost NEVER speak up. Now, I'm not quite as hesitant to ask questions. I'm still not good at getting into the nitty gritty about what exactly is IN dishes, but I'm totally down with asking for stuff on the side, or swapping sides, whatever seems doable.

Point is, I still had to do a little work. Much of the same work I had to do before. But, it's so automatic now, it doesn't feel like work. Now it just feels like a little something to do to get ready for fun.

PS - I'm in Cleveland, Ohio. If you have any restaurant suggestions, lay 'em on me! I love having options!