Victory at VinciTorio's

Tonight we went out to eat for our "last night before school starts" tradition.  The kids always pick, and tonight it was VinciTorio's. Just the mere mention of the word evokes strong salivation and food longing for me. It's kind of a shame that it means so much to me, but I LOVE VinciTorio's!  We all do. Everything from the music to the atmosphere to the service to the food...it's all spectacular, especially the tiramisu...

I haven't been to VinciTorio's since December of last year when we celebrated my son's 13th birthday. I was still a meat eater then and 25 pounds heavier.  Since I am now a vegetarian and only a whole wheat girl, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to eat anything on their menu. I was wrong.  I had a salad (but only ate half) and my normal chicken and pasta fettuccine with asparagus dish (minus the chicken, of course, and with whole wheat angel hair pasta in place of the fettuccine.) I never noticed before I went vegetarian how the dish's fresh asparagus simply infused the cheesy creamy sauce or how sharp the cheese sauce tasted to me. It was simply delicious. Better than the times before when I had it with chicken and white pasta. I feel like I really tasted  it tonight for the first time.  I also tasted the marinara on DH's whole wheat pasta which was light and fresh and perfectly seasoned.  I did not finish my pasta (although part of me never wanted to stop eating it.)  It was like a bottomless bowl of comfort and goodness, and the more I ate, the more I felt was still there. 

Then came dessert.  Oh tiramisu...that chocolaty, coffee, mascarpone covered mistress that tempts and taunts me...I really wanted the tiramisu. I was pleasantly full from my dinner, but I still wanted dessert.  Before we went to eat tonight, DH said that I've done such a good job, it probably wouldn't hurt me to eat the tiramisu.  Hurt me?  Probably not, but sitting there with the dessert menu in front of me, my devil and angel were both whispering in my ears, tugging at me, pulling me back and forth like I was the rope in a round of tug of war. I did want the alluring, sexy tiramisu. Score one for the devil. I was already fairly full, however, and knew the tiramisu would push me over the edge...and I did not want to feel sick. Score one for the angel. Back and forth in my ears it continued  until I stopped the insanity (as if a grown woman having dueling voices pulling her in different directions wasn't insane enough! LOL. You all know what I mean.)

The verdict: NO TIRAMISU.  I still wanted it...and badly, but what DH had said earlier made me think that if I had the luscious confection, I  would be using it, at least in part, as a reward for how good I've done so far.  I am done rewarding myself with food, so I decided not to have any dessert tonight. That does not mean that I will never have it.  It just wasn't in the cards for me tonight. Willpower, baby...sometimes it can be a real bitch. I had 2 cups of fully leaded gourmet coffee which was full boidied and comforting within itself instead of my beloved homemade VinciTorio's tiramisu. 

I feel good about my victory, while still looking forward to the day that my sweet tiramisu mistress and I will meet again.  Oh how I look forward to our next encounter!