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Brian gave me 5 new beads to add to my Pandora Bracelet.
The 3 pretty blue glass ones, and the heart(because he loves me)
and the clock(because I'm always on time) |
Since a birthday only comes once a year, (and aren't we all glad about that?!) Brian took me out for a special dinner. We went to Maingiamos, on Lake Drive in Eastown. It is part of the Gilmore Collection, a posh chain here in GR. Maingiamos is an Italianish restaurant that is housed in a turn of the century mansion. That would be the turn of the century 100 years ago-not this past turn of the century. It is one of those places that gives ambience its description. There is dining throughout the main floor of the house, including the former front porch. There are 12-15 foot plaster ceilings throughout. They have covered the walls with old photographs and tasteful paintings. There are the old fashioned kind of ceiling fans that look like palm leaves. There is a beautiful view of Lake Drive out the front windows, and stately trees and gardens out the side windows. It is quiet. There is nice back ground music playing, and the lights are rather dimmed-but it isn't dark. There are votives burning on each table. It makes for quite the romantic place actually. Its also one of those restaurants that the number of dishes containing lima beans goes up exponentially with each dollar spent. Seriously, what's with posh restaurants making us pay big bucks for something we would never eat? They can call it succotash, but a lima bean is a lima bean is yuck.
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| Seriously amazing! And I did share. |
Anyway, I digress.=) Maingiamos does not have an extensive menu. The first page lists the salads, appetizers and sandwiches. The second page lists the entrees and pizzas. They have a nice selection of steaks, pork, fish, chicken and even lobster. Brian has had the fish before. I can't remember what I had last time. And while the pizzas sounded amazing, Brian and I went for pasta and chicken. The "safe"options.=) I had a farfalle(bow tie) pasta with blackened chicken, pine nuts, blue cheese and a alfredo sauce. Brian had a parmesan encrusted chicken breast with a roasted tomato sauce and mashed potatoes. Both were delicious. All of their entrees come in half and whole portions. We got the whole portions, and I had plenty for two meals. Something not to miss if you visit, is the Big House Bruschetta. Amazing! They serve toast with hummus, olive tapenade, and creamed feta cheese on a bed of spinach alongside colorful cherry tomatoes. So delicious! Being a birthday, and having to go whole hog, we also had dessert. Brian had a creme brûlée. He said it was delicious. I don't know because he didn't share. I had calzones filled with a chocolate and cheese mixture. They were drizzled with chocolate sauce, and were also served with raspberry sauce. But since I'm a chocolate purist, I left the raspberry for others. I offered to share with Brian, but he declined. His loss-my gain. Probably in more ways than one. Oh well. It was a very nice dining experience. We will probably go again, though probably only for another special occasion.
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Part of my birthday gift,
a candy covered apple from
Robinettes.
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