Bling Toes and Plates

Perhaps sensing that his overly pregnant wife has not been in the best of moods this week, my amazing husband decided to book me an appointment to get my toes painted. Since I haven't had a visit from Mom lately, my polish was looking sad and in need of some sprucing up. So, Tim made an appointment for both of us--him for a haircut (yay) and me for "bling toes". I have to admit, I had no idea what bling toes are, but a lot of people in this area have been advertising them lately. Turns out, it's an acrylic-based powder, mixed with a primer and applied with a brush (similar to fake nails, but no tips) and then finished off with gel. The "bling" part comes from the powder that they mix the acrylic with--it comes in a variety of super sparkly colors...



Afterwards, we ate lunch at a relatively new place in downtown CDA called Le Piastre ("the plates"). For those of you familiar with the restaurants in the area, this one is owned by the head chef at Brix, and we were very pleasantly surprised. The name comes from the style of dining--smaller portions (or plates) designed to be mixed and matched to fit your taste di giorno. The menu reminded me of San Francisco style bistro dining and was very tasty. I had their smoky-peanut chicken tacos and an apple endive salad, while Tim had their ricotta gnocchi (which was even the right texture, a miracle) and a crab sandwich. Neither of us could resist their homemade gelato for dessert, and I particularly recommend the red wine grape gelato...a flavor explosion of fresh grape with a hint of wine that's not too sweet, not too tart. They're open all day, but I'd say the menu is probably best suited to the Brunch - Late Lunch time of day, the perfect compliment to downtown shopping. We were even entertained by a few moms and their ~18 month old daughters who sat near us...it's nice to occasionally be reminded that pregnancy is worth it. (It's worth it, it's worth it...it's really really really worth it...just keep telling yourself that, Mandy ;o).