Business Eats

Last night I ended up getting dinner from the restaurant in my hotel. It was packed full of people because there are several conferences this week so the wait was foreeevveerr. My co-worker and I shared the bruschetta – which was odd because it was served with melted mozzarella cheese on top of the tomatoes.. not a huge fan of that. I ordered a house salad with raspberry vinegeratte dressing that was pretty standard except that it came with black olives.. not a huge fan of that either. For my entree I got the mahi mahi with artichoke in a lemon caper sauce served with a side of asparagus and mashed potatoes. It was pretty tasty, only quite buttery. I didn’t get photos but today for lunch I ordered the house salad and french onion soup so you acutally do get to see the salad. The one for lunch had a lot less olives, which was nice.

I pulled back the whole baked cheese part, but the onions/broth underneath ended up tasting quite good.

Breakfast this morning was free at the hotel. I had some fruit: peaches, which I’m pretty sure came from a can, before going to workout for about an hour. After working out I went back and got some made to order egg whites and a piece of wheat toast. I put some hot sauce on the eggs and some grape jelly on the toast. All in all it was pretty good for being free.

For a mid-morning snack while I waited for my lunch to come I used the chocolate Jay Robb protein packet from the little snack pack. I mixed it with some H20. I hadn’t had this kind of protein powder before, and overall, I thought it was okay but it didn’t dissolve all that well. I seemed to have small little clumps of the powder and they were slimy… kind of like boba from Bubble Tea, only they were smaller (Does anyone know what I am talking about?) I think I like the chocolate Designer protein whey better.

After the opening of the exhibit hall tonight, my co-workers and I went out to eat. It was soo good. We went to Celebration Disney to find a restaurant and decided upon a Spanish spot called Columbia. The table ordered 

Sangria de Cava :Spain’s wonderful bubbling cooler made with Spanish Cava (Champagne), Torres brandy and Liqueur, with citrus juices. One taste will transport you to the sunny coast of Spain. 

and 

Shrimp and Crabmeat Alcachofas: Baked casserole of shrimp, crabmeat and artichoke hearts topped with grated Romano cheese. 

We shared both of those things. For dinner I was still feeling soup and saladish so I ordered a cup of the

Cuban Black Bean Soup: Frijoles Negros prepared exactly like our grandmother, Carmen Hernandez did. Served over a bed of white rice and topped with diced raw Spanish onions. 100% vegetarian. 

and

Lula Mae’s Chopped Salad: A Columbia original and favorite. Named to honor the memory of our long time staff member Lula Mae who graced the Columbia nightly for 48 years. Chopped salad of lettuce, tomato, hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, celery, hard-boiled egg and dressed with a Cabrales cheese garlic vinaigrette dressing.  The salad had hearts of palm (i’m addicted) and artichoke hearts and was so good I didn’t even need dressing.  YUM!

Off to sleep. Our longest day at the conference will be tomorrow and then we have a party to attend in the evening.

I need my rest! Sleep tight my loves.

Tagged as: Columbia restaurant, egg whites, salad, soup