French movie, French food

I have to start by saying how AMAZING "Les Miserables" was last night! The cast was phenomenal and I loved all of the songs. I broke my rule of seeing the actual play before the movie on this one, but it made me want to see the show even more. Pretty much obsessed. I see the soundtrack in my future. If you haven't seen it, you must!

Of course, I had a great date (thanks Megan!) and a wonderful pre-movie meal at Bistro du Midi, on Boylston Street across from the Boston Public Garden. In one of my first novice blogger mistakes, I totally did not have my phone to take pictures of all the delicious food and drink we had. Fail. Guess that means I'll have to go back again :)   I can at least tell you about what we ate and you'll just have to picture in your head how awesome it was:

• Appetizer:  Eggplant and olive dip and green olive tapenade on crostinis. Savory and the olives weren't too overpowering. Nice little bite-size snacks although I'm sure with a few more orders I could have made it my meal.
• Drinks: We had the Cucumber Sureale as our tasty beverage of choice. Anything with gin in it has my vote, but the crisp cucumber was refreshing, making these potentially dangerous to continue to consume.  
• Main Courses: Megan chose the garganelli pasta with duck and pork bolognese with apple and French feta. For a pasta dish, it was surprisingly light and savory.  It also was not bogged down with tons of sauce, as some restaurant dishes can be, and was the perfect portion size. I had the pan roasted hake over a bed of Trumpet Royal mushrooms, asparagus, and salsify. The waiter poured the lemon thyme bouillon over the plate upon its arrival to the table. Beautiful presentation and even better taste!  Had I not been in a nice restaurant, I may have tilted the back and drank the broth directly from the bowl. 
• Dessert: I usually try not to indulge in dessert when out, but when I saw the lavender beignets on the menu, I couldn't resist. I haven't had beignets since I was in New Orleans a few years ago. The Bistro's were a different take on the original: smaller, filled with custard, and accompanied by a chocolate dipping sauce. Perfect way to top off a delicious meal with a good friend. I highly recommend it!

Today's workout:
Pilates - 1 hour class
Racquetball vs GW - 1 hour

I'm sure my abs will feel the pilates tomorrow, since I have done little-to-no ab work in the last month or two, but I will say I was a little disappointed with class today. The regular teacher was out and while I still got a decent workout, it's not the usual high intensity I am used to or expecting. I would, however, like to thank the random girl in the MIDDLE of the HEATED room who wore sweats and did her  own workout during the entire class and drank water out of her gallon milk jug. I'm sure you were a rockstar in your own mind.  On the positive side, it makes me look forward even more to pilates on Tuesday with my favorite teacher!  Pilates was followed by an hour long racquetball game with the hubs. Definitely one of my fav cross-training activities! Such a great cardio workout and I love the sprints. Plus, we're both super competitive, which makes it more fun. Unfortunately, GW won 2-0 (22-20, 21-19). I will prevail next week!