It's been a week

I'm tired. I'm still fighting this stupid cold. And, to add insult to injury, I've got my period. Yay cramps!

Okay, I'm done whining.

Dinner and Potato Ricer

Dinner last night was good. I didn't do anything unusual or even new, but Josh said it was very good. In fact he said that the appetizer and the cocktail (a Blood and Sand) worked well to "appetize" him.

Blood and Sand
3/4 oz Scotch
3/4 oz Cherry Heering--difficult to find, but key to the drink
3/4 oz Sweet Vermouth
3/4 oz Orange Juice

It may not sound so good at first, but it is ohhh so good. We first tasted this at McCormick and Shmick's for our anniversary dinner. Peter odered it.

I guess I did make a new appetizer thing. I call it Caprese Bruschetta. It's exactly what it sounds like--tomato, onion, mozzarella and basil all in a small dice. Mix and served with panettini. You could, of course, serve it with French or Italian bread, or if your really brave, crostini. (I nearly burned my kitchen down when I walked away from the oven for 90 seconds. One more thing Rachael Ray and I have in common.)

As for the rest of dinner, it was my stand-by flank steak* ("the best flank steak" Josh had ever tasted--pre-courting**), mashed potatoes (you should have seen me working my new potato ricer--a real She-Ra I was), and oven roasted broccoli (I added grated romano cheese and roasted garlic this time--yummy!).



This is my potato ricer. You load the "basket" portion of the contraption with cooked potato and the you squeeze the "plunger" portion to make the potatoes ooze out like a Play Doh hair salon toy.

Play Doh

Speaking of Play Doh, I watched my friend's 5 year old yesterday...check out what we made (by this I mean I, this poor little thing had no prior experience with Play Doh).












Okay, she did make most of the blue fish, I helped with the details. And she did decide what we would make.

Herb Garden

My herb garden seems to be doing well. My parsley even came in. Woohoo!

When I run my fingers over these teeny tiny herbs, the wonderful aroma fills the air. Especially the basil--three of the seven plants are basil. (And I have more, different varieties, for the next batch.) (These pictures will get more interesting as the plants continue to grow.)

Bookstudy Brunch Update

Things are coming together nicely. One of the "girls" offered to bring champagne flutes for the sparkling juice I bought. Evidently 3 friends got together and bought enough for the congregation. They just keep passing them around. I have pastries, sausages and juice coming in addition to last week's post. I also have the paper products.


Alright, I admit the photo doesn't do them justice. The napkins came from Joli, this awesome little gift and home shop in Beaufort SC, and the plates came from Target. The napkins have pink and white magnolia blooms on a gold ground, thus the plates are white with gold accents. Even though I forgot to bring the napkins with me to Target, I knew that it would be a perfect match.

Last Weekend

Well, we got together with our best friends and went to Josh's grocery store, aka Sam's Wines and Spirits. The boys went and filled their home bars, while the girls sat at the wine bar and enjoyed a glass of wine and solved the world's problems. Not really, we just sat and talked and enjoyed our wine and each other's company. We closed the store (it was Sunday, they close at 6), and went on to enjoy dinner at Wildfire. Maybe our favorite steakhouse. And, the special side dish was, are you ready for this, Brussel Sprouts! Yay me--good friends, good drink, good food, and BRUSSEL SPROUTS. I couldn't have been happier. Okay, I could have. I was beginning to feel the effects of this blasted cold. But you know, as I was recounting the evening here, for your benefit, I didn't remember the not feeling well. Just all the good things.

I think that's all for today. See ya next week!

Footnotes

*1/4c sugar
1/4c soy sauce
1/3c balsamic vinegar
as many shallots as you care mince (2 if they're large, 4 if they're small)

marinate for at least 4 hour and as long as 2 days

**I referred to Josh and as courting as opposed to dating to the CO and Josh called my old fashioned. JOSH called ME old fashioned. What's up with that?