My favorite meal from last week- I bite my scone at you.

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Shakespeare in Love is my second or third favorite movie (it switches places with Stranger than Fiction depending on what’s going on in my life).

The Alamo Drafthouse ( our new favorite movie theater) had a special afternoon Shakespeare in Love inspired tea. This was a big deal for me because 1) I’ve never seen SIL on the big screen and 2) I love tea. Huzzah!

I thought it would just be regular tea and scones, but no, it was a tea flight. Each tea and afternoon snack was brought out at specific times during the movie. We started off with a robust green tea, and a olive, tomato and mozzarella cheese finger sandwich. Then when everyone was falling in love, we had a lemon rosebud tea with sweet potato scones and creme frache. And for the grand finally a (spoiler alert) a bittersweet berry tea with a rosemary almond scone (rosemary is for remembrance if you know your Hamlet).

Sigh. The lemon and rosebud and sweet potato scone combo was my favorite, but I am happy to say I couldn’t take a picture even if I wanted to. This is a post tea pic on the fancy placemat they gave us. The Alamo has a strict no phone policy and anyway, some things are better left to the imagination.

My favorite meal from last week– grilled cheese

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You can’t under estimate the power of a humble grilled cheese sandwich on a cold winter’s night.

This one was a Buffalo Mozzarella with garlic and a little olive oil. There was soup. It was good too, but it was the grilled cheese that warmed my soul.

the year of the horse…..a feast for chinese new year

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a dinner party is always the answer

a dinner party is always the answer

while new year’s eve is a night for me, i figured why not make a new annual tradition of celebrating the chinese new year with a full-out dinner party. as i said in the invite “it’s the year of the horse so lets gallop into it my stuffing ourselves!” and that is exactly what we did. a pack of people showed up some even bearing chinese new year themed gifts…..Darsi brought me an authentic chinese fan and loren & michelle made up origami horses (yes we know its a japanese art form bought it was the idea of it) and decorated my apartment with them!

we almost didn't fit around the table!

we almost didn’t fit around the table!

on the menu was: basil jasmine rice, vegetable dumplings, crispy tofu with a peanut ginger sauce, stir-fryed veggies, cashew rangoon and of course for dessert fortune cookies!

so much yum!

so much yum!

overall it was a grand success. our bellies were full, the laughter was plentiful and you know it’s a success when one of your guests informs you that “it was the best dinner party they had ever been too!” just wait till next year i’m seeing visions of fried rice, a duck stuffed full of oranges and chili peppers…..i might need to invest in a larger dining room table!

there always must be decorations

there always must be decorations

meatless monday: eggs bandito

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i'm no ordinary egg, amigo

i’m no ordinary egg, amigo

what is eggs bandito? why just my own little twist on the classic breakfast dish of eggs benedict. breakfast for dinner is one of my favorites. i love it because you can do the more complicated dishes that you just don’t have the time for at the crack of dawn….waffles, pancakes, biscuit sandwiches and hollandaise sauce. however while craving some eggs benedict i wasn’t wanting the ham and i wasn’t wanting the hollandaise i wanted something new! and along came “eggs bandito” an english muffin topped with guacamole, a poached egg and creamy spicy queso dip. needless to say it was a fiesta of flavors!

 

meatless monday: a giant pot of pasta

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i want it all!!!!

i want it all!!!!

having been snowed in for almost an entire month you start looking around for activities to occupy your day, so why not cooking!! on one of my many recent days off i decided to spend the whole day fussing over a pot of sunday sauce. sunday sauce aka that american-italian tradition of starting a pot of spaghetti sauce, tweaking it and simmering it all day. now of course i have a freezer full of spicy tomato sauce! time to start making up some yummy meals with it. this meatless monday i took one of the larger containers cooked it up with tons and tons of noodles combined all that yum together and i have enough spaghetti to last me the whole week. oh i’m in pasta heaven!

"its a nice an spicy just like mama used to make"

“its a nice an spicy just like mama used to make”

 

My favorite meal of last week!

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An open faced sandwich made of hard boiled egg slices, melted cheddar cheese, smears of spicy mustard and mayo, topped with spinach (all on slices of whole wheat bread).

This sandwich was so easy (and filling) it’s probably going to become a standard for when I need a quick meal that’s hardy.

When all you have to do is rinse off some veg, slice a few things and broil– it doesn’t get much easier than that!
(I hard boiled the eggs a few days earlier).

Oh, and there were some leftover malt vinegar potatoes on the side, but they were old news.