Fudge on a cute plate

So while we're discussing homemade gifts, an obvious gift is food!  This year I decided to make fudge for my staff and co-workers.  I usually make my mom's fudge recipe (maybe you'll get to see that next year!), but this year I decided to try my friend Lisa's fudge.  A few things influenced that decision.  First off, I tried Lisa's fudge while we were making meatballs for the incredibly fun holiday party that her family hosted (which we sadly ended up missing because the little one was sick!).  It is super good fudge.  Second of all, her fudge recipe makes at least 3 times more fudge than my mom's recipe.  Which is good when you want to give fudge to a truckload of people (As an aside, are you familiar with that expression?  I believe I also occasionally say a "boatload."  My co-worker, Strudel, thought it was quite funny!  Maybe it's the farmer in me?).

OK, now for the backstory about this plate my tasty fudge is sitting on.  Last Friday a friend of mine was going to be in my neighborhood for a work event that was scheduled to end at 4pm.  That's right:  4pm on Friday afternoon before Christmas.  The last day of school.  I should mention this friend lives South of Seattle, while I live North of Seattle.  It usually takes me about an hour to get to work, and her commute isn't the shortest either.  We figured that there would be peace in the Middle East before she managed to get home that Friday.  So instead we convinced our husbands to babysit while we had a mom's night out!  Woo-hoo!

How does this relate to that cute fudge plate?  Hold on to your hats.  I'm getting there.

So my friend and I came up with a plan to meet at my house and then head out to one of the cute restaurants in my neighborhood for happy hour.  Ultimately I decided we should try out this cute little wine bar that just opened up this fall, and is only a few blocks from me.  Unfortunately, the day of mom's night out I woke up with some unfortunate sinus bug, which left me unable to taste much.  Be that as it may, we were both still eager to take advantage of a  night out without children.  So we walked over to the wine bar and I casually asked if they had any tea.  Fortunately for me, they apparently have a B&B above the wine bar, so our server ran upstairs, and grabbed me some tea.

 

Still don't see how this relates to the fudge?  We're really close, I promise.

So after my friend had a couple glasses of wine, and I had several mugs of tea, we decided to order some food.  We had been sitting at the bar for a couple hours, and the place was now packed.  Sitting at the bar was interesting:  we overheard all the gossip of the staff, who didn't seem to be paying much attention to how close we were to their conversations.  We also got to watch the cooking happening just a few feet from us.  Everything was looking good (and apparently smelling good, although I was too stuffed up to smell much).  I ordered their special, while my friend ordered a salad.  Sadly when the food came, it was not great.  I ate part of my meal, and decided to take the rest home for my husband.

I should mention that when we were planning for girls night out, my husband was very excited and declared that the boys would have Macoroni and Cheese with hotdogs!  So you can understand why I thought even my bad leftovers might be a welcome treat for him.

When our server next swung by, I asked if I could have the rest of my meal boxed up.  She returned with my food all wrapped up on this cute little plate.  She explained that they don't use boxes, but send their customers home with a plate from the kitchen.  If we were able, we could bring the plate back, or not.  My friend and I shared a hearty laugh as we headed out of the bar, and off into the dark, chilly night, parading my leftovers through downtown as we walked back to my house.

So that, you see, is how I came upon this plate.  Which I think is really cute.  Overall I'm not sure that I can recommend the wine bar.  Their prices seemed high, and as I mentioned the food wasn't great.  But I do love that I can walk there from my house, and my friend and I had a wonderful time being footloose and kid-free.

OK, so if you want the recipe for the fudge, head over to Lisa's Blog.  While you're there, check out this post, with an awesome picture of our kids making pizzas.  Aren't they adorable?!  Happy Holiday's everyone!