Roma Cafe, Detroit

Last Friday, we went to the auto show. I found my next car- a Buick Regal, and I saw a lot of ladies, dressed to impress, massaging the cars. When we needed a snack, the boyfriend and I shared these.

After we looked at cars, cars, and more cars, we braved the frigid temperatures to do some more things in Detroit. We went to the Shinola store, where I lusted after every single one of those $600 watches. They are beautiful, sleek, and made in Detroit.

We eventually made our way to Roma Cafe near Eastern Market. A girlfriend of mine has been singing the praises of this little place for years, but you know how I feel about ordering pasta while dining out. In short, I don't do it very often. To paraphrase Shania Twain, it don't impress me much.

We plopped down for an early dinner, nestled into a back room with a few other tables of early birds. The servers, wearing tuxedos, were having a snack in preparation of what turned out to be an absolute crush of diners. If we hadn't gotten there at 5pm, we wouldn't have been eating anytime soon.

We sat in the cozy room like sardines. . . or like the anchovies that were presented to one of our neighbors atop his Caesar salad. Yum. I made a Caesar last week- egg yolks, anchovies, and all- and wondered why I hadn't done it sooner.

Having had our fill of Caesars that week, the boyfriend and I chose Antipasta salads. Lord amercy.

I just couldn't stop with this salad. It was full of pepperocinis, garbanzo beans, crisp romaine lettuce, spicy salami, cracked black pepper, hunks of cheese, ham, tomatoes, a deliciously oily dressing. . . I ate the entire thing in record time. I loved it. I put myself through the paces of eating salads several times a week, and this was one of the best ones in recent history.

To counteract any health benefits, we were each presented with a plate covered with bubbling cheese.

There was lasagna under there. My mother was not a lasagna mother, and I'm not an experienced lasagna-eater. I'm trying to learn, since brother has requested that I learn how to make it this year.

At first bite, I wasn't blown away by this. I ate about a third of the big old portion, but since I was so stuffed with salad much of this was packed up to take home.

The next day I dug in for lunch and started to taste things I hadn't the night before. I tasted the quality of the cheese. I noticed the slight bite to the noodles and the zip of garlic in the tomato sauce. Before I knew it, I had devoured the rest of my lasagna and wanted more.

We skipped dessert at Roma and headed to Ann Arbor to see a bunch of the boyfriend's colleagues play in a hockey game. We had a little time to burn, so we hunted down dessert with an Instagram recommendation from Meg Goes Nom Nom, who pointed us toward Iorio's. Sound familiar? They used to have a place in the Lansing City Market, where I used to binge eat.

Yes, the weather was horribly cold. We are Michiganders, so I beg of you to give me a break. I had a combination of gingerbread, turkish coffee, and dark chocolate with mint.

This guy went fruit-flavored with acai berry and tropical.

I bought the gelato, so I think it's reasonable that I ask him to buy me this in exchange.