After winning an action packed game against the Richmond Spiders, we settled in at Carini Italian Restaurant. Since we’re playing the “No. 1” team in the nation on Sunday, we were in need of some replenishing carbohydrates and a solid dose of protein for the days ahead. The restaurant was extremely authentic.
I also can’t forget to mention that the service was great. Our two servers put on an A+ performance, serving 37 people salad, dinner and drinks with ease and all while wearing a smile. They even made it fun to receive our meals, serving whomever raised their hand first when the name of their particular dish was called out.
Here’s some of the art we found in the banquet room- can you name all of the characters in the mural? There was some controversy over who all was who:
Banquet Room Art... "Kiss my ring"
We all started off with a classic Italian salad (correct me if I’m wrong, Italian readers) and most of us chose the “homemade Italian” dressing when presented with a few different options.
Italian Salad
The bread came out crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, still warm from the oven. We had to stop ourselves from devouring all of it before our meals were served.
Italian Bread
The main dishes ranged from manicotti to chicken linguine to the classic chicken parmigiana. I stuck with the classic. They were pretty generous with the cheese — most of our entree’s looked the same under their marinara-cheese blankets.
Chicken Parmigiana
We were told not to say a word about dessert after this particular dinner (we usually attempt to demand dessert by chanting for it on the bus). Little did we know we were on the way to Sweet-Frog, a frozen yogurt place in Richmond! Our team is accustomed to eating froyo from Local Yogurt (LoYo), The Yogurt Pump (YoPump) and Tutti-Frutti so we were ready to get crackin’ on our froyo creations upon arrival.
The topping choices were lovely. I was a little bit lost without golden grahams on my caramel froyo, but I made due by crushing up some graham crackers and was pleasantly surprised by mini rolos. The classic fruit toppings along with mochi balls and popping bobas were all present, along with all of their usual chocolatey counterparts.
Here’s how my final creation shaped up. Cake batter and caramel froyo, Reese’s Pieces, Rolos, whipped cream and graham crackers drizzled with chocolate sauce.
This glorious meal should have done us all some good — a definite carbo-load and a sweet treat to top it off. We never forget how lucky we are to have coaches and support staff that do everything to always ensure both our health and happiness- especially in terms of food.
Goalie Spoon 