It’s a question I get rather regularly. “You must eat out all the time, huh?”

You’d be surprised. For one, I pay for all of my meals, so I’d be broke as a joke if I dined out every night. And we do a whole lot of cooking in our household, which is why the kitchen is always a splattered disaster and the fridge is always full of leftovers. But every so often I’ll find myself on a prolonged, multi-day stretch of restaurant visits.

And lucky for you, I’ve got a brand-new iPhone 5. Here’s a waterfall of photos to make you hungry.

Hartford restaurants participated in the city’s biannual Taste of Hartford promotion last week, with three dozen or so spots offering multi-course meals for $20.13 (or slightly higher.) On Thursday night, we ate our way through the farm-to-table menu at Firebox.

Happy hour: Blood orange martini

Grilled Black Pearl salmon with sweet potato puree, garlic braised kale, pickled shallots, pistachios, tarragon oil

Duck confit and short rib ravioli with pea tendrils, crispy shallots

And for something a little extra, we decided to try the charcuterie plate, with chicken liver mousse, duck prosciutto and salmon pastrami. And a random quail egg.

On Friday, I took the office DSLR to Cana in Chicopee and wrote up a story, complete with photo gallery, about Western Massachusetts’ newest Korean restaurant. We had to sample some bulgogi and bibimbap while we were there…

Lunch special with pork bulgogi, rice, salad and dumplings

Stone pot bibimbap: vegetables, rice, beef and fried egg. To be mixed together with liberal amounts of gochujang (chili paste)

On Friday night, we took advantage of the Taste of Hartford week again, dining at Max Downtown. I put the camera away for most of the evening, regretfully, because my NY strip with red wine jus, potato/bacon cake and roasted winter veggies was beyond stellar. Juicy red center, ideal amount of seasoning, minimal gristle.

But, here’s the hedonistic, are-you-kidding-me-right-now chocolate brioche bread pudding that closed our meal. “Get the pudding!” our server urged us a split second after we ordered our entrees.

Death by chocolate and carbs

And I did snap a shot of my cocktail: the “Pink Panther” with reposado tequila, vanilla liqueur, fresh-squeezed grapefruit and lemon juices and a delightful housemade pink peppercorn simple syrup with just a bit of zip.

I would like to try this at home.

And on Saturday, a birthday celebration at Max’s Oyster Bar yielded some more culinary treasures: East Coast oysters, complimentary champagne, a pistachio/chocolate/citrus dessert sampler and this outrageously delicious pan-roasted lobster in sweet chili cream sauce with fennel and mashed potatoes.

wanted to lick the plate clean. almost did.

This week? Gym. Green juice.