Ending the Holidays

Going back to work last week after the holidays was rough! I don’t think my brain was fully functional at any point during the workweek. Luckily, I made it to both the gym and the weekend, so overall I consider the week a success. Today we took down our Christmas decorations, officially bringing an end to the Christmas season.

Right before everyone was off for Christmas, my department at work partook in our own holiday celebration. As with every social activity at my office, our team’s celebration revolved around food. We started out with lunch at Bravo Italian Kitchen on Restaurant Row. Of course our meal started with some delicious bread, then we were given an option between soup or salad and our choice of entree.

I started with the Italian Wedding Soup, which had meatballs and spinach in a savory chicken broth. The soup was very light and packed a lot of flavor.

I think I may need to attempt a recipe for this soon. I loved the little meatballs.

For my entree, I ordered Mama’s Lasagna Bolognese. The description promised a giant portion, so naturally, I was pretty excited.

The description did not lie. I only managed to get through about half of the dish. The lasagna had layers of noodles with meat sauce and then was topped with alfredo sauce. The alfredo sauce added a nice richness, but overall I found the dish to be too salty. When I went to eat my leftovers the next day, the dish tasted even saltier. The concept was delicious, but there was just too much salt added.

Luckily, dessert came next. They gave our group multiple dessert platters that each had bread pudding, tiramisu and molten chocolate cake.

They were all delicious, but my favorite was the bread pudding. Lunch was so fun, and our celebration had only just began. Next we headed to the next complex over to Farris & Foster’s, a chocolate shop, to learn how to make our own chocolate.

We each got to make a pound of whatever types of chocolate we chose. We could use chocolate molds, make chocolates filled with any variety of fillings or send items through a chocolate conveyor belt to be drenched in chocolate.

The session was a lot of fun. My chocolatier skills leave much to be desired, but in the end, everything tasted great.

Our team outing was such a fun way to kick off the holiday season. I just can’t believe it’s now ending!

What is your favorite type of chocolate? I love dark chocolate paired with something salty.