Girls Dinners: Bistro du Midi and Dining In!

I had two fun and fabulous dinners with some beautiful ladies last week!

The first was a birthday celebration for my bestie!!

I’ve been dying to try Bistro du Midi for a while now, so this was the perfect excuse to have a fun girls dinner, sitting in the open patio area they have right along Boylston Street across from the Public Gardens…

I arrived first, earlier, to secure a good table.  We had a reservation, but this area is first come first serve

I then ordered a cocktail while I waited for the rest of the crew.

This is most definitely my favorite cocktail of the year!     Excuse me if I am spelling this wrong but it was the Montesquieu, which was:

• white rum
• fresh strawberry
• sparkling wine

It was refreshing, could barely taste any alcohol (which I like), and the only sweetness was from the fresh strawberries!  Perfect Bridget drink :)

We started with a couple appetizers:

Courgette Flower Beignet, Orange Maple Glaze :
Fried Artichokes, Aïoli

Both were delicious (fried of course), but the aioli served with the artichokes was so good we dipped everything in it!  I didn’t care for the sweeter orange maple glaze that came with the zucchini flowers.

For my dinner I chose the:

Seared Duck Breast, Swiss Chard, Gnocchi, Black Olives:

Everything on this plate was incredible!  I especially wished there were more gnocchi!!  Filling though, after the apps, so I took half home to Brian…he was happy about that!

Really didn't need this side of Ratatouille Provençale , but it too was amazingly flavorful.

The birthday girl ordered the:

Coral Infused Chitarra Pasta, Maine Lobster, Baby Spinach, Lobster Jus

I stole many bites.  The flavor was so interesting and delicious, and that pasta was perfect.

If all that wasn’t enough, we made sure to save room for desserts.

I had checked out the dessert menu ahead of time and knew I wanted to try something!

We chose 2 for the 4 of us.  Both were AMAZING!!

Hazelnut Milk Chocolate Cake, Salted Caramel Ice Cream

I wouldn’t even call this “cake”…it was like a layer of almost a crisp meringue/cake with a chocolaty mousse layer on top of that.  Then whole hazelnuts and chocolate on top!  With the salted caramel ice cream on the side.

Each bite was heaven.

The other was a fresh cherry and pistachio tart with cherry sorbet (can’t find the menu description)

A pistachio tart shell was filled with a pastry cream and topped with sliced juice fresh cherries!

The pistachio flavor was subtle but paired perfectly with the cherries.

I haven’t had restaurant desserts this good in a long time!

And my classy-self timed photo of my outfit that night:

 

• orange dress: Forever 21
• navy belt and gold bracelet: were my grandmother’s
• brown heels: Libby Edelman from Lord & Taylor

Friday’s dinner was just as fun and delicious…but totally different!

Different group of ladies, and we gathered at one of the girls apartments.  We all brought something to eat (on the lighter side) and spent the night gabbing away.

I made up a batch of zucchini cakes!  This time I baked them, as it was easier in this situation, but I would recommend frying them over baking!

We also had some beautiful jumbo shrimp with cocktail sauce!

I always forget how yummy, easy, and healthy shrimp cocktail is!  I need to buy some shrimp more often!

Fresh corn salad with red onion and basil…this was a Barefoot Contessa recipe and such a perfect summer side dish.

Also a gorgeous salad!  This had mixed greens, big buttery pecans, and lots of dried berries!

(wines and salad dressings) 

Love my friend Wendy’s floral plates!!

I missed pictures of dessert, but we had small bowls of coffee ice cream and delicious little salted brownie bites from Trader Joes.

It was a blast!  Hope we do it again soon ladies!!

2 Questions:

• Favorite place/restaurant to go out for a girls night??
• Favorite dish to make for a girls night in?!