Last night Paul and I found ourselves stranded in Dallas, Texas after a brief but lovely visit to see our granddaughters in Iowa. It turns out that Chicago is not the best place to have a layover when it is snowing, or when it is foggy, or when it is raining, well, you get the picture. After tiring of the several hours in the airport waiting for a flight to actually take off the ground, we decided to find an alternative way back to North Carolina. So, we finally took off toward Dallas with the hopes of transferring to a plane that would get us home.
Sadly, the plane landed just a few minutes before our scheduled take-off and we missed our flight. After finding a hotel and a lovely restaurant in the hotel, we were prepared to search the menu and look for whatever would be quality veggies that we could eat.
As we described to our waiter that the side dishes of the other entrees were what we really wanted, he soon realized that we just wanted a plate of cooked veggies with our salad. He responded, “I will surprise you!”
After our salad was taken away, he came back with the most beautiful plate of several different cooked vegetables. It was beautiful! From the wilted swiss chard and spears of broccoli to the perfectly steamed asparagus, we were so excited! As usual, others looked at our plate and saw the beautiful colors, textures and smells and wondered where we found that on the menu. And as usual, we always say that all you have to do is ask and the chef is likely going to enjoy creating that dish more than he would most others on the menu.
Don’t be afraid to ask. You will likely find that the dish you receive will not only be a pleasant surprise but will be more nutritious, more food and more fun than you ever imagined you would receive.
It isn’t hard to eat clean while at a restaurant. Give it a try and enjoy the ambience, the company and the fact that someone else is cleaning the veggies for a change.
