Gina sent Kate and me an urgent message Tuesday that she needed help with desserts left from a family event this weekend. Kate and I are loyal friends, so we came to the rescue last night after salads 😀 We each had a slice of tiramisu and a slice of chocolate chocolate cake:
These desserts came with a story from Gina (as does pretty much everything when it comes to Gina!). In fact, because these desserts sent Gina into such an extreme state of expansion on Saturday night, her husband dictated that her punishment should be to confess the gluttony here for everyone to see. Since I’m clearly not one to censor tales of expansion and I’m completely in favor of using indulgence-induced discomfort as a learning experience rather than as a source of guilt, I agreed to assist. Without further ado, here’s Gina’s cautionary tale:
I arrived in downtown Philadelphia late Saturday afternoon with Chris’s whole family. We had plans to go to dinner with my brother and my parents at Maggiano’s at 7pm. Here’s how the restuarant describes their style on the website:
“It’s true that we’re not exactly shy with our portions here at Maggiano’s Little Italy®. But that’s because we love for people to share a taste here and there. However, if you really want to experience an Italian-American tradition, order from our dedicated family style menu. Everything is priced per person, and the plates won’t stop coming until you’re done. There’ll be plenty to go around and everyone gets to sample a variety of delicious, Chef-prepared dishes.”
I was feeling a bit hungry around 5pm, but I knew that a big dinner was in store so I didn’t eat anything. We went to our hotel happy hour around 5:30 pm, and they had a little booklet of all kinds of fun sounding drinks, all for only $5! I picked out a Raspberry Mojito and proceeded to have two before we left for the restaurant. That was mistake #1: two Raspberry Mojitos on an almost empty stomach!
Once at the restaurant, we opted for family-style dining and got to pick out two appetizers, two salads, two pastas, two main entrees, and two desserts! My dad and I were the designated food selectors, making me even more excited. Of course, I selected all things I would like: mistake #2 … although there’s not much I don’t like! We picked fried calamari and mozzarella marinara for appetizers, Caesar salad and Maggiano’s salad (Iceberg and romaine lettuce, crumbled bleu cheese, crispy Prosciutto, red onions, tossed in our signature House Dressing) for the two salads, Rigatoni D (Rigatoni pasta, herb roasted boneless chicken, mushrooms and onions, tossed in a light Marsala cream sauce) and Baked Ziti and Sausage for the pastas, and Chicken Parm and Chicken Francese for the entrees (anything besides chicken cost extra per person).
When the food came out, OH MY! I really should have taken pictures. They brought out HUGE portions of the salads and appetizers first. I had some of everything. The pastas and entrees came out shortly after we were done with the appetizers. I, of course, took some of everything! I think more time in between courses also would have helped me. Again, there were two platters of each chicken and I think one big bowl of each pasta. The Rigatoni D was my favorite so I had second helpings of that: mistake #3! By the way, they gave us so much, we couldn’t eat it all, but if you do finish one thing, they happily bring out more!
We waited to pick the desserts until after we were finished everything else, but again, the dessert selector was me! I was so full from all that food, but who can pass up dessert when it comes with the meal? I selected Chocolate Zuccotto Cake (chocolate cake layered with Sambucca chocolate mousse; iced with chocolate frosting and dusted with cocoa powder).
And Tiramisu.
You should have seen the size of the pieces of cake! They brought out two plates of each dessert! I had a pretty large hunk of chocolate cake and some tiramisu.
Almost immediately after I finished dessert, the trouble started! My stomach was WAY OVEREXPANDED and started to hurt really badly. I had to get up and move around! I started making those overexpanded groans and told everyone I needed to head back to the hotel immediately. Luckily, the hotel was only a block away.
I was in so much over-expansion pain — I literally made myself sick from this meal! I do believe those Raspberry Mojitos played a part in this overexpansion tale … along with the three to four glasses of wine I drank during dinner. Alcohol plus overabundance of food led to a sick Gina! I had to stay in the room for about an hour while everyone else was downstairs in the hotel bar again, having drinks and socializing. UGH, What a mess I made of myself!
Lessons learned:
1.) Do not drink Raspberry Mojitos on an empty stomach.
2.) Do not let me pick out all the food at a family style restaurant.
3.) Ask for a smaller plate so I don’t eat such large portions of the family-style meal. Or at least exhibit more self-control over the portions I serve myself!
My brother would not stop making fun of me for the rest of the weekend! I recovered by Sunday morning, thank goodness. Anyway, that’s my cautionary tale of expansion. Hope that it never happens to you!
OK, I’m back!
Gina, thanks for sharing your tale and your lessons! I love Gina’s tale because it is such an honest account of her evening and how she felt. We all sometimes eat to the point of discomfort and, rather than responding to the expansion by making deals with herself to “run it all off” or “eat only vegetables for a week,” Gina reflected on what she could realistically do differently next time to (1) continue enjoying special food events while (2) maintaining physical comfort! In my opinion, Gina’s approach is the healthiest way to recover from extreme expansion, and it will have more significant and long-term benefits than a pity party or a crash diet. Gina, congratulations on a successful expansion recovery!
P.S. Unlike Gina, I was not yet desserted out last night when I got home and was desperately craving more chocolate. I heated the rest of the morning’s almond sunset tea and pulled two cookies out of the freezer for dunking:
The cookies hit the spot and left me perfectly satisfied 😀
What is your cautionary food tale?
Tales of Expansion: Baby Butternut Edition 
I love the story and the lessons you drew from it. I’m also all about indulgence, sans the guilt!
Oh boy…every New Year’s=Ukrainian version of American Christmas…x 5…It’s ridiculous! But SO GOOD
LikeLike
Hooray for delish indulgence!! 🙂
LikeLike
If I had all that amazing food in front of me – mainly that tiramisu – I think I’d end up so expanded they’d have to roll me out like that girl in Willy Wonka.
LikeLike
Oh…poor Gina! I think my lesson has been learned through her!
LikeLike
Good thing I recover quickly from overexpansion! Off to get lunch…
LikeLike
funny story!
LikeLike
chinese food. everytime i eat it i get sick (soy sauce….) but does that stop me from devouring egg rolls and pork fried rice and general gaos chicken???? hell to the no!
Quan’s Kitchen (ever been there??)….. the running joke with my friends and i were that we were putting the Quan’s kids thru college. when in fact, my younger sister was friends with one of the owners kids.. and they didnt go to college with the money, they bought him an acura suv. must be nice.
i put you up for a bloggie award!!! go and get it! : )
LikeLike
Gina is fun! and your “rescue” was really a tough one! 😀
LikeLike
all those desserts look great! the few times i have done family style at maggianos welll…..my experience has been very similar to gina’s lets say!!
LikeLike
Love it! Glad you got to reap the benefits, huh? 🙂
xoxo
s
LikeLike
LOL, we’ve ALL been there. Sounds fun right up until the part of getting sick.
My tale…I ate SO much Peking Duck at 1 of the restaurants in the Bellagio (Vegas) that I literally made myself sick. I could.not.stop.eating.
!!!
LikeLike
Wow those desserts look amazing! I would have went overboard too! If there is ice cream in front of me…I tend to have this issue of over expanding as well!
LikeLike
that cake looks so good! Pot lucks are my weakness, everything is so good and there are so many types of food to try I always end up with a belly ache!
LikeLike
Oh my gosh I don’t think i’d be able to control myself with all that good food around!
And chicken parm is my favorite!
LikeLike
Wow! Delicious desserts. It’s better for me to only have limited supplies of desserts. I have trouble stopping myself when there’s too much available.
LikeLike
I have definitely learned from “indulgence-induced discomfort.” At one point during my Christmas vacation, I thought I might die. At that point, I thought about what I’d been eating and remembered why I like my healthier choices! I also rolled my expanded self off of the couch and went straight to bed. It really was awful.
I work in a job with a lot of acronyms, and I actually came up with one for this experience: FAT= Food Aversion Therapy. 🙂
Great post, and great desserts!
LikeLike
That is such a horrible feeling, especially if you have been very carefully watching your calorie intake. Eating out with friends always leads me to overindulge and then having dessert seems to start a cycle where I need just another taste of something sweet. I am going to the kitchen to throw out the rest of a pan of brownies that my daughter made 2 days ago. She is gone for the weekend and I don’t need the temptation.
LikeLike
hahahaa – awww gina, we’ve all been there. 😀
LikeLike