the meatball shop

I suppose it's rather timely that I reflect on a recent visit to The Meatball Shop on the first day of my fourth year of blogging, wouldn't you say? Yesterday I attempted to show you the un-glamourous yet entertaining details of my day-to-day life. But today, today, I'm going to talk about meat, an animal protein which I've only actively been eating again for a few months now. For the record, it's delicious.

There are many health benefits to a vegetarian diet, and eating more plant-based foods certainly hurts the environment less, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that I've enjoyed expanding my options. The truth is, I like beef (preferably filet mignon) and although I could do without chicken, I'm a big fan of turkey. If I'm truly going to eat intelligently healthy, I believe there's a place for all of it.

As Leslie and I sat at The Meatball Shop's bar--with a milk jar of wine, naked chicken meatballs in the special sauce with foccacia, a chicken & tomato sauce slider, a vegetable & meat sauce slider, and two market salads in front of us--we discussed how much better we both feel since integrating more meat and poultry into our diets, in addition to how we still have no desire to have either more than once a day, if that. It's kind of ironic how we first met here, huh?

Then we had an ice cream sandwich (espresso ice cream between a classic chocolate-chip cookie and a gingersnap cookie) for dessert. I may not use this word as often as I did four years ago, but it was yummy; a yummy treat to end another great meal with a friend I met through blogging.