Breakfast for Dinner!

I got home from New York Sunday evening so I did not have the chance to do groceries or make dinner (I try to make dinner Sunday night at the very least since Adam does not get home till about eight). Since we needed to eat from the fridge and wanted something quick I suggested breakfast for dinner. I always secretly want breakfast for dinner but it is only on special occasions that Adam says yes and I suppose my return from NY warranted a yes in this case. I had made home-made baked beans the previous weekend so we had those with eggs, bacon, and steamed spinach. The baked beans were OK the day I made them but they had gotten even better after sitting the fridge for a few days and the bacon was super nice and crispy. We had to finish off some spinach and decided that steamed spinach should regularly accompany brunch as it was a really nice pairing to the heavy bacon, eggs and beans.

For dessert we had grapefruit. I am always a fan of grapefruit but having it pre-cut into nice pith free wedges for you is just heaven. One of my top three breakfasts of all time!

Family Dinner

My mom, dad, sister, Sandy, along with my mom's friends Gloria and Keith came over for dinner the other night. It was a lot of people but my mom brought with her the hugest piece of Salmon I have ever seen. My dad made it with tons of dill and olive oil and we ate it with salad, buttery potatoes and some asparagus in this really tasty butter herb sauce (lots of butter in this meal). We don't eat much fish at home because I don't feel like a I know how to pick it out so this was a nice change of pace and tasty to boot!

Kale, White Bean and Orzo soup

This soup came about after Adam made some really nice chicken stock. I had wanted to try this recipe but I was nervous to try it using Adams stock in case it came out gross but I went forth and it was actually really good and super easy. In addition to the standard onions and celery I added a bunch of Kale, a can of white beans and a cup or Orzo. It only took about 15 minutes to cook and we were ready for dinner. Not pictured are the cheesy garlic bread we made to go with it - yum!

Winter Fun

For Adam and me, most winter evenings are spent like this: watching some internet television kept cozy by pj's and slippers. This particular show is an episode of No Reservations which Adam likes because it is all about food.

The other night, however, we decided to head out of doors and burn our Christmas tree. Anna and Peter came over and we had some pizza and went out to burn the tree - it was so dry it burned really fast and made quite the show. Unfortunately we were missing the long slow fire needed to do marshmallow so I was only able to make a few before we called it a night. I really enjoyed it though and it made me appreciate the winter - just a little.

New Years!

I ussually choose to opt out of new years festivities (finding them too expensive and too cold) but this year Peter invited us to his place for a new years party. I was sold as soon as he said we could dress up! I brought out the feather headband and teal heels from Tara's wedding and we went on our way. Peters place is perfect for a party - big open space with an island for snacks and drinks. Margaret came along with Ben, Sandy and Stephy and at midnight we lit sparklers on his terrace. Fun! After the party we tried to find some food. We were hoping for McDonalds or some Asian food but had to settle for some sub-par Middle Eastern food. I was very happy to have it at the time though.
New Years day was spent watching 30 rock, trying to make meals out of the meager pantry stock and taking intermittent naps. An excellent start to the year, I'd say!

Christmas Dinner

As per our tradition, we had a big friends Christmas dinner on Sunday. Tara hosted and she did so much work! We had warm crab dip and baguette with brie and a walnut fig chutney to start. I had to restrain myself to save room for dinner: Turkey (25 lbs!!!) with stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, peas and mushrooms, salad, carrots, corn and buns! I was so excited to eat I forgot to take a picture of the plate. Dessert was also extravagant. Sarah made empire and ginger cookies (both her nana's recipes), Jeff made biscotti and they also brought pumpkin pie. If that was not enough we also had ice cream cookies made with Anna Olsen cookies. I am still full.

I made it!

I made dinner for Adam and Margaret on Saturday. We had an Italian dinner: marinara sauce with bacon, garlic bread, salad and brownies for desert (not really italian but that's all I had the ingredients for). The brownies were a bit dry so adam made some berry sauce which helped.