My Peanut Butter's Tachy: Dinner Out Alone

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Dinner Out Alone - Blossoming Lotus

When I was a junior in college I took a Cross-Cultural Studies class. It was also designed as a requirement before going on some of the abroad programs, to better prepare us. I was set to live in Spain the following semester and was trying to prepare for that.

One of our projects was to push the limits of our independence. There were multiple ways to do this, but one of the options that I chose was to go out to dinner by myself. It sounds easy, but most people usually don't

It was strange. Sitting, eating, not talking, not trying to hide behind a book or my phone necessarily, just enjoying dinner alone. It was hard actually. It was uncomfortable and it felt like something I had to work at.

When I got to Spain it was not uncommon for me to eat lunch on my own. Sometimes from the grocery store, but sometimes in restaurants as well. Once I overheard some other American students working on their Spanish at a restaurant downtown, so I introduced myself, told them I thought it was cool they were trying to speak even though they could be speaking English, and ended up with them at the Museo del Traje for the afternoon. It was awesome. And sometimes I would journal. Or mostly just watch people. I learned to enjoy my time.

Fall 2008. Paris, France.

So with so many restaurants in Portland to try, I got done with clinic on Thursday and decided on rather short notice to go out to a nice dinner on my own.

The Blossoming Lotus is a vegan/raw restaurant open 7 days a week here in Portland. It was on the pricey side, but is also very nice, low lights - actually pretty romantic. Unfortunately that means my food pictures are rather awful.

I got the Live Portabello Pizza (raw), which came with a salad. Raw pizza isn't really that much like pizza, but it is delicious. It's more like a crispy nut bruschetta with pesto.