Return from Williamsburg

Hello, good morning and happy Monday! We are all well rested after our trip to Virginia and Washington, D.C., and back again with a new MM message this week. We enjoyed some great and not so great food (more on this in a minute) during our trip, some of which will be the inspiration for my upcoming recipes. We even got to try some vegan pizza from zpizza, which has been on our list of "Restaurants to Try" for some time now. The pizza was good, but not better than what we get at Bondi's right here in London, so zpizza will not be making the transition to our list of "Favourite Restaurants" (see right hand columns near the bottom).

It just happened that on this Meatless Monday in particular, we were eating at the King's Arms Tavern in the old town portion of Colonial Williamsburg. This is a beautiful setting for a meal, a former gentleman's house turned into a tavern, and the servers dress in period costume and educate diners on what it would have been like to stop there for a meal in the late 18th century. This was our third time eating there and we have always loved the experience. 

Unfortunately, the food this time left a lot to be desired. Despite calling ahead to request a vegan meal to give them lots of notice (as we have done in the past), my meal was several of the vegetables from other menu items mixed up in a tomato sauce and a "side" of fried potatoes. What a spectacular lack of imagination! But one doesn't visit the King's Arms for the food, necessarily, and we really enjoyed the setting, the friendly servers and the music. When we told them that we had journeyed from far off Upper Canada and were United Empire Loyalists to boot, the boot is what we almost got! Lots of fun.

I hope you'll agree that this week's non-traditional take on minestrone is a more imaginative meatless recipe and one that you will enjoy. Future installments of MRM will focus on some of our more positive dining experiences and my best attempt to duplicate those recipes. Stay tuned!