Out of the pool and into Polish dumplings

Purging the stress of the day through mild exercise, then binging on home-style food cooked by someone else was a sort of diet in reverse -- a perfect contrarian date, beginning with an outdoor swim in the chill fall air and ending with a Polish dumpling dinner.

Some light exercise

Summer’s over, and so are the hordes that have clogged the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center from May through September. Go on a Thursday night, and chances are you’ll even get your own lap lane to kick, swim or flail, as the case may be.

After 15 laps of me doing “the housewife” -- breaststroke, head above water -- watching my boyfriend do the crawl one lane over, the two of us braved the cool night air and made a run for that over-chlorinated bubble blast known as the public Jacuzzi, which, for the first time ever, we had to ourselves.

Our best efforts at cuddling were, however, foiled by the industrial-strength jets, then an endless assault of errant water polo balls missing the net and racing toward our heads, the latter of which we took as our signal to leave for dinner.

Home-style cooking

Exercise typically inspires us to eat light, but the cool air had us craving food that was down-to-earth and delicious in an environment that was warm, comfortable and, most importantly, not finicky about our wet hair.

We found it just a few miles away at Polka, a family-run Polish restaurant that makes you feel like you’ve stumbled into a long lost friend’s living room. Within minutes of sitting down, two bowls of creamy, dill-enhanced soup landed on our table, followed a few minutes later by salad and our matching pierogi dinners -- seasoned pork and chicken dumplings, with steamed vegetables on the side. And we enjoyed it all amid dim lights and soft-playing classic jazz.

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The tab

Exercise $16

Where: Rose Bowl Aquatics Center, 360 N. Arroyo Blvd.,

Pasadena. (626) 564-0330 or www.rosebowlaquatics.org

What: Lap swimming for two, and a dip in the Jacuzzi. Rates decrease by enrolling in membership programs. (Recreational swimming costs $1 for adults.)

Dinner $32.30

Where: Polka, 4112 Verdugo Road, L.A. (323) 255-7807. www.polkacatering.com

What: Soup, salad, pierogi, coffee and dessert, plus tip.

Total $48.30