Simple meals for a Saturday

We are a few days away from making our second trip to France, so we have been trying to keep our meals simple, although not necessarily healthy for me...

For lunch today I finally visited Main St. Deli at the Langham Hotel. I've known about this establishment for some time, but just haven't gotten around to coming over. I'm glad I had a chance to meet up with some good friends here and relax.

I HAD to order the Reuben, just to see how it measures up against the other places around town, although there are easily more than 10 things I would want to try... I do have to say that this was definitely an unconventional Reuben. Normally one would find corned beef, sauerkraut and melted Swiss cheese between the rye bread. Here at Main St. Deli, you also get pastrami and turkey next to the corned beef, all in traditional thin cuts. The combination of three different types of deli meats was certainly interesting, and made for a pretty big sandwich. I have to say, though, that I still dream about the juicy corned beef in the Reuben at Dakota Prime...

What was even more interesting was the choice of fries. I picked sweet potato fries instead of giant wedges or curly fries, and I think that was definitely the right choice! The thin strips were bright orange-red, and the texture reminded me of the deep-fried burdock (牛蒡) chips that I love so much in Taiwan. All served with a thousand island dressing, which I spread over the Reuben as well.

I am of course very full after a whole big Reuben, but how can I pass up dessert at a place like this?! I wanted a slice of New York-style cheesecake, which is just as big as the ones I used to have at places like Carnegie Deli. It's indeed very dense and creamy, and pretty darned good. I only wish it were a little bit more moist and not as powdery, but I'm not gonna complain too much. The giant slice of chocolate cake was just as rich and yummy...a dream for any chocoholics.

For dinner it was back to Cipriani for some simple Italian. We are all detoxing after last night, so I decided not to bring along any wines. That felt a little weird...

I had the rucola and shaved parmesan salad, which was simple and beautiful. Nothing more than just fresh arugula, cherry tomatoes and really flavorful Parmigiano-Reggiano.

A small plate of pappardelle alla sarda comes next. Again nothing fancy, just some flat pasta in a simple Sardinian meat sauce made from minced pork sausage. Yummy.

Hell bent on not ordering anything that I have had before at Cipriani, I pass up my usual vanilla ceam cake, and go for a small bowl of wild berries instead. Actually this is nothing more than small, blueberry-sized strawberries that grow in the wild, but interesting nonetheless.

Having satiated my appetite without the usual feeling of having my stomach pushed up against my lungs, I go home happy and feeling good...and sober!