Days 159-161: Dining out in Leominster

I'm almost half way through this journey and I may be experiencing "writer's block."  "Cooker's block?"  "Recipe block?"  Anyway, part of me blames the changing of the season.  New seasons generally bring a lot of ambition for me--new season, new produce, new tastes, new recipes.  But with summer, even though a lot of that feeling is there still, there is also a feeling of "I don't want to turn the oven on" or "I just want to stay outside as long as possible."  We don't own a grill, so I "grill" inside.  And sometimes with summer, I'm so anxious for it to come that I start making summer recipes early (during spring) in anticipation of summer.  So then by the time summer is really here, I'm sick of 'em already.  Alas, what's a girl to do?

Go out!  :)

Yeah, we did a little of that this weekend.  I did have a small catering gig on Sunday, but I wasn't able to take pictures because my morning was a little rushed.  I had to bring the food to the church, and I had a meeting after church, so we were planning on going to the second service (starting at 10:30).  At about 8:30, it suddenly dawned on me that I was supposed to work in the nursery at the 9:00 service!!!  My darling husband went in my place, so I lost the helping hand I thought I would have.  Everything still got done, however, and my children and I made it to church on time for the 10:30 service--each looking darling in our own church clothes. ;)  In case you're wondering, the catering menu featured buttermilk baked chicken, potato salad, garden salad, homemade bread, and fruit crumble with ice cream for dessert.

I wanted to quickly give a "shout-out" to a neat little restaurant in downtown Leominster that Randy took me to Saturday night, Rye & Thyme.  It's a very nice restaurant with an entire menu dedicated to locally brewed beer.  Of course they have a nice selection of bourbon and rye.  The menu includes classic American eats and features a raw bar--Randy and I split an order of 6 oysters. :)  It's a great little place with outdoor seating which you should totally check out the next time you're in the area!

Beer/shot combos--allagash white and allagash black.  The whiskey WAS in the shot glasses.

So, that pretty much covers days 159-161.  Friday we had leftovers and the rest of the weekend we dined out.  But this week I've got some new recipes planned, and hopefully can find the time to publish them--will be hitting the beach pretty hard this week!  :)  Here's to hoping I find some culinary inspiration along the way!  Have a great week!