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My weekend kicked off to a great start last night. After what felt like a forever work day, I spent some time wandering and shopping the Copley Square Farmer’s market. It was the perfect way to decompress; you really can not go wrong with lots of sunshine, fresh flowers, and local fruits, veggies, cheeses, and baked goods! Oh how I love the farmer’s market!

One of the things I love about local food is how, before our eyes, the options change and grow, especially as we launch officially into summer. So many of these things were not available a few weeks ago!

I really wanted to stock up, but since we are away all day Saturday and I had dinner plans tonight, I just bought some of these adorable UFO-shaped Patty Pan squash. I plan on stuffing them with some sort of mixture, feta, garlic, and olives maybe?

Copley is such a great place to be on a warm summer Friday! The flowers are certainly different than they were in this photo.

After some more wandering and shopping, I reached my final destination for the evening, Vlora Mediterranean Restaurant. Earlier in the week I had been invited by the ladies from We are not Martha for a blogger get together to meet Erica from Itzy’s Kitchen. Erica went to high school with Chelsee and Susie, and she was in town to visit family, so it was the perfect opportunity for them to reconnect and for the rest of us to meet her. Besides, do a bunch of Boston food bloggers need an excuse to get together? 😉

I had been to Vlora once before for Restaurant Week and enjoyed a really delicious lunch, so I was excited to return. Since I was a little early, I sat at the bar and ordered a Prosecco which was dry and bubbly, ideal for the summery night. Vlora has a great wine selection and a beautiful, airy Mediterranean decor.

While waiting at the bar, I met Erica and got to see Bridget again.

Soon enough, we were all seated at a comfy long table with lots of natural light. Perfect for taking photos! It seems like bloggers ALWAYS have something to talk about! It’s a great community to be a part of.

Vlora was kind enough to let us sample some of their favorite dishes before we ordered. There was the watermelon and feta, an Albanian dish that combines sweet watermelon with salty, creamy feta, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and parsley. I would return to Vlora for several plates of this alone, it was so good, so simple but completely flavorful and delicious.

We also tried the trio of pies which each had a different filling, yogurt, spinach and feta, and tomato and onion. I had the yogurt pie which was flaky and filled with a creamy seasoned yogurt.

We also had arancini, pan roasted zucchini with garlic yogurt, and grilled octopus which was meaty and scrumptious. Everything was so simple and reminded me that good food doesn’t always need a million ingredients, they just need to be good ingredients.

I grabbed a few photos as the sun was setting, and the blue light’s in Vlora’s atrium made for a kind of cool effect.

We then ordered more food, of course. I ended the night with a perfect vegetarian moussaka, layers of eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, potato, Swiss cheese, and tomato, served with garlic yogurt and cucumber sauce.

I had so much fun chatting with Colleen and her sister Meg who is going to be married in Ireland in a week and a half (jealous!). I also spent lots of time talking with Alicia and finally had the chance to meet Naomi.

All in all it was a great night. The food at Vlora is awesome, and I really want to try about 20 other menu items, so we will definitely be going back. And the company was fantastic. I loved meeting Erica and now want to go to Charleston, and it was great to see all of the others. Seriously, we should plan a Boston food blogger conference. Anyone want to co-plan with me?

I have The ALLY Foundation Pink for a Change gala in Newport this evening, so I should be back with some beautiful Newport mansion photos. I am also cooking up a fun giveaway for the week ahead.

Later gators!