Road Trip, Restaurant Review, and Spaghetti Squash

Today was my lucky day.  First of all... I FOUND my Macro lens!!!  I was cooking tonight and I put away the crock pot from yesterday and POOF!  It appeared on the counter.  I think it had slid under the crock pot.  It's pretty small and my crock pot sits up off the counter a tiny bit.  Anyway... YAY!!!

Another reason today was a good day: I got to travel to Columbia, SC and be with some of my favorite people... my SCRI Literacy Coach Cohort!  We always have such a fabulous time catching up, sharing resources, talking about ideas, and reflecting.  I was looking forward to this day all last week!  We broke for lunch and went to a little deli that was close by our meeting spot: New York Butcher Shoppe and Grille.  It's located inside the Lake Carolina Town Center in Columbia.

 Here's a little pic of the outside. 

 This place reminded me of Dean and Deluca in Charlotte, because of all the fun specialty items: cheeses, desserts, marinades and rubs, sauces...

 They also had a great variety of meats and other items that you can't find in your average grocery store, like Venison Sausage.  The pasta selection is awesome, too!

 They offer a variety of fresh meats, too.

 I love restaurants that allow you (the customer) to write down your order.  It gives you a chance to think about what you want.  I had a hard time deciding.  Eventually, I went with the Italian Sub.  It sounded a lot like the hoagies we would always get when we were in Philadelphia.  Yummmmm......

 The sandwich definitely lived up to my expectations.  Hoagies (or subs as we southerners call them) are famous for being so big that it's hard to take a bite, and this one was big!

 Check out those olives... you know I love them!

 They also had these cool chips that came in all kinds of fun flavors. 

Remember a couple of days ago I mentioned that I was going to cook spaghetti squash?  Well, I did it tonight and it tasted sooooo good!

There are several ways you can cook spaghetti squash.  I chose to cut mine in half and roast it, cut side down, for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.  You know it is done when you can pierce the skin with a fork.  Then, all you have to do is rake all the insides out with a fork.  I did this over a bowl and out came my "noodles!"

For my sauce, I tried something different.  The obvious and easy way to go would be a jarred spaghetti sauce, but I opted to make a cream sauce.  I didn't measure.  I just played.  I heated about a teaspoon of EVOO and butter in a skillet.  Then I added minced garlic-- about 1 clove.  I added a can of 98%Fat Free Cream of Mushroom Soup, a few dollops of light sour cream, dried parsley, and about 1/4 cup of an Italian shredded cheese blend (mozzarella, parmesan, romano). 

 This "pasta" tasted GREAT.  However, I do not like the color of the sauce with the color of the squash "noodles."  I think I may play with this a bit and see what I can come up with. 

Do any of you have great ways for cooking spaghetti squash?  I'd love to hear them.  Just leave a comment at the bottom of this post.  I think next time I'd like to toss the noodles with olive oil, salt, pepper, and grated parmesan.  That seems simple but delicious.

Oh!  And tomorrow is my FIRST...

class at Fascinating Rhythm in York!  So... if you are close by, come join me at 4:30 for class!  I've got some fun songs on my playlist!  Check back tomorrow for  details on how that went!  I am so excited!