There was a baker at my local farmers' market today, offering a "seasonal"
chocolate-cherry bread. It was only slightly sweet, and used sour cherries.
Inspired by this unusual ingredient, I went for a Creole-style dinner:

Boiled Rock Shrimp (which taste like little lobsters, and which came from
Trader Joe's) with a dip of melted cream cheese, hot sauce, Worcestershire
sauce, lemon juice, and a Creole spice mix, served with freshly-made French
bread from my local supermarket. (Dip the shrimp, eat with the bread, dip
the bread, put the shrimp on the bread, make little sandwiches and dip
them; my girlfriend and I fed morsels to each other...just a whole lot of
fun playing with the food!)

Tossed salad with butter lettuce, spinach, sliced red onion, orange
sections, and fresh buttered croutons (made from half of the French bread),
with a honey-pepper vinaigrette

Chicken-and-Pepperoni Gumbo with Rice (I thought the pepperoni was an
interesting twist on the more usual andouille sausage. Since pepperoni is a
bit harder than andouille, it was also a bit more substantial in the gumbo.)

Chocolate-Cherry Bread Pudding Soufflé with Apricot-Amaretto Cream Sauce
(I recently posted the recipe for Bread Pudding Soufflé with Whiskey Sauce;
this was only a slight variation, substituting a mixture of apricot brandy
and amaretto for the whiskey, substituting the chocolate-cherry bread for
the "normal" bread, and adding a few chunks of chocolate and a couple
teaspoons of Dutch-processed cocoa to the custard.)

With everything but dessert, we had iced tea with lemon syrup. With dessert,
I had milk; my girlfriend had a White Russian.

(I work nights, and I'm only going to get about five-and-a-half hours of
sleep now, so I chose not to imbibe any alcohol other than the spiked
dessert sauce. But I think it was worth staying up to catch the farmers'
market and then cook dinner! I should have plenty of time to sleep
tomorrow.)

Bob