It was my first time to shop at BB's, "bents, bumps and bargain grocer". Most items may have bents or be slightly beyond the expired date. Since it is in the heart of Lancaster County, the store happens to be run by the Amish. The store closes at 4 p.m. due to the lack of major electricity. Thankfully I arrived at 3:30 so I had very little time to buy tons of ice cream in bulk.
The best purchase was 3 gallons of Turkey Hill "lite" Vanilla Bean Ice Cream for $6 and it doesn't expire until May, 2008. I think it will be gone before then. Everything else were silly purchases of marinades, pounds of animal crackers, baking chocolate and some good things like fruits and vegetables.
The Amish girl bagging groceries got all excited with my tub of ice cream. "Whoa, where'd you git that? I love ice cream. Oh, no, it's lite though. Still good, don't you know."
As Brad said, I came home like a tornado. I surprised him with his favorite - ice cream and the request for a date night - now! He about cried as he thought he would do great avoiding ice cream. (Last weekend he forced me to go to the store to buy "us" some ice cream even though I gave him a hard time that he "told" me not to buy any for him.)
I demanded that we go to happy hour at J.J. Jeffries (aka Lancaster Arts Hotel). From there we could go elsewhere for dinner if we chose not to stay there for dinner.
We had a fabulous beer from a local brewery; Fat Dog Oatmeal Stoudt. It started out great but had a bit of an after taste. My favorite stoudts are Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stoudt then Guinness. Although, Fat Dog wasn't too bad for a local beer.
We decided to wander to the restaurant next door for dinner. It has been hit or miss with the dinners at Rosa Rosa. The ambiance has always been enjoyable. They usually have live Jazz. Tonight was soft piano music. Cat Stevens, James Taylor and the Beatles were very pleasant for a fall evening after our loud and noisy happy hour. We slowed down for dinner, each other's company and ESPN at the tiled wrap around bar. We cleaned all our plates and headed home for our pjs and a movie.
Plates:
Fagottino di Caserta - thinly sliced eggplant wrapped around fresh mozzarella, with tomato sauce. Misto alla Brace - Salmon, Swordfish, scallops, our fresh lemon garlic and olive oil Pollo Siciliano - Chicken breasts breaded and lightly sauteed, finished with artichoke, mushroom and onions, flavored with marsala wine
