Pre-Birthday

I decided to do something different this year and not over-indulge in food for the time period surrounding my birthday. Just kidding.

We went to Red Robin for my free Birthday Burger last Thursday, which kicked off the one-week countdown to my birthday. Red Robin is probably my favorite restaurant in the American mid-range burger department.  We started with the Barely-Battered Broccoli, which was really yummy, and shared the Sauteed Shroom burger. We took a Bonfire S'mores Milkshake to go.

I ate too many donuts at work on Friday, so I wasn't as hungry as I would normally be come Friday evening. We decided that would be the perfect time to drive out to Paradise Ice, which I had totally put on my birthday wish list. I only wish they weren't a 40-minute drive away!

We also made the questionable decision to try Burger King's new Mac n' Cheetos. Um, yeah, not very tasty.

We grabbed breakfast at Panera Bread on Saturday then went to see The Conjuring 2. The movie was okay, but I feel like it really took a long while to get good; I didn't find it terribly scary. We grabbed Moe's for the first time in probably years, then we went home and Francisco made me a Froot Loops milkshake.

Francisco ran out Sunday morning to get us some Holtman's Donuts for breakfast.

On Monday, we opted for take-out from The Cheesecake Factory since Francisco was having a hard time with his allergies.  I forgot to take a picture of my Banana Cream Cheesecake before I demolished it, but of course, my favorite part of the meal was the Fried Mac N' Cheese Balls.

Finally, that brings us up to last night where we had dinner at Forno Osteria & Bar. This is our second time dining here, and the food has been remarkable each time. This time, we had the Wild Mushroom & Mascarpone Risotto - so rich and tasty - along with the Tortelloni Ricotta & Basil - this dish tasted very fresh, but it has nothing on the Risotto.  For dessert, we had some kind of Chocolate Shortbread Semifreddo. Given its frozen texture, this was rather difficult to eat.  Both times we've dined there, I've loved our meals, but been left disappointed by the desserts.

I'm not sure what the rest of the week holds, but I'm sure I'll be overindulging through the majority of July, lol!