Six months, almost seven and counting….This was how long it has been since we dined out, and left the house to go somewhere for fun.
While I have heard that many are already experiencing pandemic fatigue, I also started to really feel it. As much as I love staying home and (guiltily) enjoying the unhurried time dedicated to reading, cooking, gardening and moments of solitude, it finally hit me. I need to get out! I wanted open space, air and ocean.
The plan was for Mr Sweetie and I go for a drive to Half Moon Bay which is a coastal town south of San Francisco. Since it is October, Half Moon Bay is the perfect place to visit as it is known for its pumpkin patches.
We would get food then eat on the beach or in the car. When Mr Sweetie saw people having outdoor dining at Half Moon Bay Brewery, he insisted that we had a sit down dinner instead. According to him, it has been a long time since we ate at a restaurant which was very true.
I was uncomfortable at first with the idea of removing our masks and eating while everyone was doing the same. However, when I saw how far apart the tables were, and many tables were also purposely not filled, I finally assented.
We waited for a table for an hour and half! Since the restaurant was right across the street from the beach, it was not so bad. Mr Sweetie saw a separate line for craft beer (HMB is a brewery, after all), he ordered for both of us. And of course, he took a couple of sips and put the lid back on. (He only liked that the beers were nicely cold but is really not a drinker.) The beers were poured into resealable aluminum containers so we were able to take them home. I chose the Pumpkin Ale (well, because — pumpkin! LOL!) while he had the Full Swing IPA which I ended up liking more than mine. The raspberry beer that he got extra for me to take home was not something I liked at all. We sipped our beer at the beach while waiting for our table. It was actually very nice and relaxing.
Now on to the food! We ordered almost exactly what we had on our last trip to this restaurant last May 2019. We did go all out. We had grilled artichokes with aioli sauce and dungeness crab cheese bread as our starters. He ordered a seafood platter while I could not resist the dungeness crab roll. Both came with fries. We polished off the appetizers and took most of our main entree home. (They tasted great re-heated in the air fryer.)
Our first pandemic restaurant experience was not bad at all. Being able to get out, the ambiance and delicious seafood were very enjoyable despite the initial worry and stress. As much as I loved this trip, I am still not comfortable going out in the world while Covid-19 is still present and poses as a great risk to our health and safety. I will see how long we are going to last until we have to leave the house again for a mental health trip. For now, I have beautiful memories of this lovely autumn day. After our meal, we went to the Pumpkin Patch. Read about it here.
Leah's Cozy Notebook 