Friday, August 15, 2008

Friday Night at the Red Horse Tavern


I had an especially physically and emotionally draining day at work today, so Matt and I ate a quick dinner of corn on the cob and then headed out for something we don't do very often--just a long drive in the country. We ended up in Middleburg, a cute little town about 30 miles away. As we drove, we both started fantasizing about all kinds of junk food we don't get to eat that often--namely, for some reason, fried fish and rich desserts. As we drove past the Red Horse Tavern and saw people sitting out on the deck in jeans, and the smell of frying grease wafted by, we knew we'd found our mark.

We started off with potato nachos--homemade potato chips smothered in cheese, jalapenos, sour cream, and salsa, why hasn't anybody thought of that before?! We thought we'd go for broke and also asked for a side of ranch to dip them in. After that, we still hadn't gotten what we came for, and so Matt ordered a platter of fish and chips, which we demolished in pretty short order--but not without leaving room for a slice of Irish Stout Cheesecake. YUM! After a summer of farmer's market meals (which we've loved), it felt pretty good to be a little bad!

We thought the food was great and the atmosphere was nice, and we felt like we really hit it off with our waiter to start (and he didn't give me any trouble about not having my ID with me to order a glass of wine, which was nice) , but toward the end of the evening, the service really slowed down...we couldn't tell if he was off shift or just taking a break, but either way, it took us about 30 minutes to get a slice of cheesecake (and we were one of only four or five tables there!), and then another 30 to get the check! Anyway, we enjoyed the drive and the chance to linger, and we were able to catch a nice view of both a blood-red sunset and a lovely harvest moon. All in all, a nice start to the weekend, and a relaxing finish to a stressful day.

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