Eats: Old Stone Church Restaurant

For this month's date night, we decided to try out this nice little mid-range eatery and bar in Castle Rock. The 30-minute drive there was worth our while; I'd say it is a great date night destination.

Reservations	SeatMe
When we visited	Friday evening (03/21/2014)
Party size	Just the two of us
Wait time to be seated	None
Ambiance/feel	Great lighting, lively, festive, warm.
Appetizers we had	Flat bread with chimi churi sauce, zesty wings.
Their drink menu	Good selection of wines, mixes, and beer. Generous "glass of wine" serving, can sample wines before ordering.
Their entrée menu	Limited (one-page) but good options. Had Colorado rib-eye steak and pan-seared duck. Both good. See their menus here.
Desserts	Small selection. The tiramisu was great!
Prices	Expensive. Full course dinner for two plus tip totalled $90.
Noise levels	Quite loud, very easy to overhear other patrons' conversations. Background music loud.
Service	Good, friendly.
Wait time for food	10 - 15 minutes.
Our rating (out of 5)	4
Their website	http://www.oscrestaurant.com/
Reviews	84% at urbanspoon.com 4/5 at yelp.com 81% at tripadvisor.com 4.3/5 in Google reviews

Nutritional Adjustment

The disclaimer is that we are not becoming vegetarians, but we recognize that processed and genetically-modified foods are not good for us. So we are on a sure nutritional adjustment towards whole and natural foods. In this arena, farmers markets and local foods are the talk, along with juicing and raw food diets (still skeptical about these diets). Our goal is to have nutritionally balanced food for healthier lives and fewer illnesses.

So we are starting with juicing, replacing one regular meal with a juiced drink. Breakfast didn't quite work, but lunch has seemed to work well as a replacement. To meet the daily caloric requirements of our busy lives, we beef up breakfast, daytime snacks, and dinner to cover what the juicing does not (obviously). Two weeks in, I haven't felt much difference in energy and mood, perhaps because our juicing is not yet targeted. But I've noticed that I can focus longer on my usual tasks and my skin is rejuvenated. I also have a crazy craving for french fries.

Over the last couple of weeks, we also wanted to know how much this adjustment might cost. So far, $60 worth of fruits and vegetables is estimated to make enough juice that would last us about 2 weeks. The time commitment is less than an hour to make a batch that can last a week (certainly depends on how good your juicer is and how much time is required to prepare the ingredients). I think a $30/week for one hour commitment to juicing will be worth it in the long run.

We'll still do meats and diary but in moderation. We still love chicken, steak, fish, eggs, and milk. If we can find organic or farm-raised varieties, that's what we'll get, even if they might be slightly more expensive. We'll also still do other crazy recipes in our cooking experiments.