Dave and I are in a very serious competition right now. I mean, a lot is at stake here.
I’m not sure if I mentioned this to you in the past year or not, but Dave and I are using a heart rate monitoring program with my gym called “MyZone”. Without going completely into the schpeel, MyZone is a belt you wear while working out that measures your heart rate. Depending on your age, gender, weight, height, and resting/max heart rates, the program will design personal heart rate zones that apply to only you. Each zone is designated a color (the prettiest and best part of this) and a point value for those zones depending on how hard your working, or your effort. Since it’s all personalized, the points make it possible to compare workouts to people who are different than you (you know, since guys burn a ton more calories than girls… heavier people than skinny people, etc).
You get your own website to keep track of your workouts and your progress. This program has absolutely helped me step up my workout game and in turn, helped me lose a lot of weight.
If you’re still following… Dave and I are currently in a MyZone challenge against each other to see who gets the most MyZone Points in March (aka who is working out the most or hardest). The loser has to take the winner out on a date night in April planned by the winner. Like I said… a lot is at stake here.
Here’s what a Kickboxing class looks like on the MyZone system. Blue to Green to Yellow is least to most effort exerted. Great workout, right?
Our current standings are: Beth @ 3153 & Dave @ 3043. I’m barely holding onto my lead! You could hardly tell I want to be the winner and choose date night 🙂
Just Stelly saying bye before we leave for our date night!
Our last date night was also chosen by me. I took Dave to a restaurant near where we live called C19 Cichetteria Venezia. I had actually been to C19 for a happy hour dinner with a group of girls- loved it, and have been telling Dave we have to go since.
C19 is a medium-sized restaurant specializing in fresh, seasonal, Venetian-Inspired cuisine. It has a bunch of tables in a room with the bar, and then larger tables in the back. The walls are covered with Italian words that are beautifully hand-painted. While it has that darker, romantic feel it also is a little funky with the bar covered in orange and red tiles, making it a great spot for happy hour, a date, or just a nice dinner out with friends.
I do also have to mention how wonderful the service is here. You can tell that the service works as a team, as someone will fill up your water, someone else will take your order and serve your food, another person will clear your plate, and about two other people will check in on you and make sure you’re okay. Everyone is super friendly and you can tell how much they love the food (and drinks!).
My friend from Penn State, Elisa, and her husband go here all the time and told me to introduce myself to the manager, Kevin. I had done this during my first visit but it was months before and I figured I should just do the same again. Once I introduced myself, Kevin not only stopped by to chat about some new items on the menu… but he remembered me. He remembered who I was with (a bunch of CHOP doctors… lucky girl, right?) and where we were sitting. Whoa. Now you have to believe me about the great personalized service here, right? (Elisa will also tell you a story about a time they asked about a dessert no longer on the menu. The C19 team went out to buy the ingredients and re-created it for them that night. WOW!!!!)
Anyway, let me get onto our actual meal. My tummy is grumbling just thinking about it.
We started our date night off right with a spicy, sweet, and very creatively named cocktail, Catching Fire. Adorable, right? The drink was so good. Here’s what was in it: Hornitos reposado infused with jalapeño, passion fruit, fresh lime, combier l’original, hibiscus salt rim. I probably shouldn’t admit that between Dave and I, we ordered three of these babies! Worth the splurge, for sure.
Just the perfect amount of spicy, sour, and sweet. The flash made it look yellow, lol.
As soon as our drinks arrived, we ordered our meal and were brought a wooden bowl of olive oil and grilled bread. It was even still warm… mmm!
After some careful deliberation the starters that we chose for the night were the Pork Belly Brasato & the Roasted Tomato Gnocchi. Both of us have a hard time passing up a pork belly dish (complete with radicchio, pine nuts, and raisins), so that was an obvious choice. The Roasted Tomato Gnocchi (served with Duck Ragu & Spinach Pesto) sounded so delicious. I had to pick it because it was recently added to the menu, but also because C19 is famous for their light and fluffy homemade gnocchi. Mmmmm… getting hungry yet?!
The Pork Belly with its accompaniments. One hell of a way to start a meal.
Perfectly soft gnocchi… loved this.
Next up, we ordered a pizza and a pasta. I remembered from my first visit to C19 that their pasta is soooo good… fresh and homemade. It’s hard to resist. I had never tried the pizza, but we decided to try the Dry Aged Venetian Meatballs on the pizza instead of as an appetizer. I told you our ordering was thought out. The pizza we picked had the meatballs, Polpette Mozzarella, and fresh Basil. The crust was light and crispy, my favorite kind. Of course the pasta we ordered was the one with Spicy Marinara. There was some house-cured Pancetta in there too… and I only sort of stumbled over the name “Pasta A’Matriciana“. Totally didn’t make an ass out of myself. Don’t you worry.
Saucy & fresh pasta. So good. This was the large portion, but you could also get a small one to taste test.
Check out this pizza… sooooo good. The meatballs are fab.
This would have been the perfect place to end a night with delicious cocktails and dinner… but when our server came over to tell us about dessert… I just could not resist! I am on a Tiramisu kick and C19 seemed like a great restaurant to try it. I think something like “oh my goddddd” came out of my mouth with every bite going in. It. was. SO. GOOD.
Nom nom nom!! Look how creamy this Tiramisu is. I think I’ve found a favorite dessert… Tiramisu tour of Philly, anyone?
So, if you’re looking for a nice neighborhood restaurant… try C19. The Venetian food and huge selection of wines and creative cocktails are some of the best in town. C19 will also have you coming back for more and often, as they change their menu weekly depending on what fresh local ingredients are available. And if you go, tell Kevin “hi”… and expect him to remember you!
It's Good to be the Cook 