Thursday, November 28, 2024

A Night Off the Regime

 After two months and 28 days, I finally cracked. Two months and 28 days with no gluten, sugar, dairy or caffeine. I've let the odd alcoholic drink back in since the start of November. Only have a drink or two a week - the naturopath was fine with this. 

But I cracked big time tonight. 

And what made me throw my regime out the window?

French Food. 

Jay and I have been plotting this for a while. It was Jay's birthday the other week and we never celebrated mine back in August, so tonight was the night. The venue, Bon Matin, a little French place at the bottom of Jay's building. Bon Matin. We have breakfast there regularly, but I've never done the dinner there. And at $45 for two courses, who's complaining?

Bon Matin has a very limited dinner menu, but what they do is amazing. 

I started out with the pate with pickled shitake mushrooms on toast. For a starter, it was small, but perfect. That mix of the herby pate with the tang of the pickled mushrooms was exquisite. Jay went for the fish croquettes which she said were divine. 

For mains, we both had Steak Frites - or steak and chips. For anybody who hasn't been to a French restaurant for steak, go do it! The steak was perfect, offset with shoestring fries and something called Cafe de Paris butter. For those who have never had French butter, this too should be on your list of things to do before you die. I don't know what they do to get such excellent butter, whether they massage the cows' udders or whip it with fairy wands, but it's most wonderful. Seriously amazing. 

And after washing all of this down with a glass of rose, we had dessert. What is a birthday celebration without dessert? Jay had the Parisian Flan, which looked like a cheesecake. Me, I went for the Crepe Suzette, which were doused in an orange tainted butter and with a scoop of ice cream. 

It was an amazing meal. 

But there goes my gluten, dairy and sugar free existence. 

It was worth every bite. It was a lovely, lovely meal, and I thoroughly recommend Bon Matin to all for wonderful, accessible and not overly expensive French food. 

But its back on the wagon tomorrow. For me, there's far too many benefits for eating without the inflammatory effects gluten, dairy and sugar provide. 


Today's song: 

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