weekly menu (mid week)

Two posts in one day! Craziness! Here's the plan for this week.

Sunday: Oscar party!
Dave didn't join so I made up some white bean tomato saucy thing that vaguely resembled a dish from my Spain cookbook.
Monday: Devil's chicken thighs and braised leeks
This recipe was entirely too complicated for a Monday night but I did it anyway and it was worth every ounce of effort. I didn't make the whole recipe but rather guesstimated for two thighs. I did substitute homemade veggie broth and some broth left over from making chickpeas for the chicken broth. Also didn't have any tarragon so I threw in some chervil. seemed good enough! A breakdown of the recipe can be seen here.
Tuesday: Dave's birthday Yeah!
We went to Father's Office for burgers and sweet potato fries.
Wednesday: Red kidney bean curry
This along with some homemade hummus. On a side note, I have come to love the bulk section at whole foods and predict more grains in our future. Even thinking of planting chick pea plants in the garden?! Uncle Allan if your reading this I'm going to need advice.
Thursday: Pasta with beets and greens
The beets at the farmers market have been looking seriously yummy so wanted to work them in this week.
Friday: Turkey cutlets
Adapted from this recipe and planning to serve it with some asparagus and celeriac.

the first step is admitting you have a problem

I'm addicted to knitting!
My most recent project finally made it to its owner so I can finally share. The pattern for the bag came from a book I got at the library (the central branch is all too conveniently located across the street from my office) and is called the missing piece hobo bag. Its essentially 4 triangles knitted across with decreases. The knitting chart is actually really beautiful looking on its own and I'll try to upload it in my flickr later today. Lastly the yarn is from a loom store right in highland park. Love, that this was all local!

it's someone's birthday!

He is also very good about not looking for presents. Can't wait to celebrate tonight!

really... i do.

abcdef...

A few weeks ago Dave and I threw a Baby 'party' for our friends Mark & Rebecca. They are expecting a little boy in late February and we were excited to share in their excitement on the new addition to their family. Despite Dave's concern I wanted to go with a theme for the party and settled on letters! We created letter mobiles, sewed 'a', 'b', and 'c' table clothes for the food, drinks, and dessert respectively. The best part although turned out to be the activity we planned which was a homemade alphabet book for the new baby. All of the guests colored objects (or words) to coorespond with letters and then the expecting parents practiced by reading to all of us. Very funny. Enjoy the photos below (thanks Analia for taking these!)

weekly menu

I love to cook!  I can thank my Mom (Hi Mom!) and Grandma Mary Lou for my eagerness in the kitchen.  Growing up, some of my greatest times with them are in the kitchen learning their cherished recipes. Now I don't quite have the skills they do but practice makes perfect right?  I saw this done over here and thought it was an interesting idea, so i'll be making an effort to post our weekly menu every sunday.  Let me know what you think.

Moroccan spiced scallops with red lentils - Dave LOVES scallops so this was an easy choice, recipe from February Bon Appetit. Everything fresh per our new diet, including homemade veggie broth.

Arroz - from my new Spain, a culinary road trip, cookbook (thanks Sarah!). It's similar to risotto but with saffron and no oil at the beginning.  This recipe calls for a ton of veggies like turnips, mushrooms, asparagus and zucchini.

Torrijas (dessert) - from same book as above, Mario says "It's like French toast meets bruschetta meets red wine, written by Cervantes somewhere in La Mancha." Yea, we're looking forward to this!

Old-fashioned marinated rib-eye with smashed celeriac -  we had celeriac (celery root) for the first time in London at The Ledbury and it was amazing. It's doubtful that what I make will taste like that version but I figured the rib-eye will be so good maybe Dave won't notice.

Panang tofu curry - after the red meat the day before I thought we might need a reprieve, also we recently have become quite addicted to coconut milk and this gave me an excuse to buy some.

Sichuan Shrimp and Scallion Stir-fry with grilled bok choy -  this looked crazy easy thus its rounding out the week.