Halloween!

So, we planned a Halloween party. I made lots of themed snacks, and put together a last-minute costume.

I invited 5 people, and 4 bailed. So it ended up being me, Brandon and Rory hanging out with WAY TOO MUCH FOOD. But it's okay, I needed a laid-back evening. It turned out to be really relaxing.

Photo dump!

I dressed as a 1950's housewife.

We went to the store in the middle of the day, but I didn't break character!

Foods!

Hot spiced apple cider with rum! 

Happy Halloween!

Romantic Dinner

Every now and then Brandon and I decide on a recipe that just begs to be had with a bottle of wine. And so the meal becomes a romantic dinner... at least, in my mind it does. Even if we don't do anything romantic that evening.

I searched through the pile of cooking magazines my mom had sent me for recipes to try and I was able to combine several into what became an extremely successful meal:

-buttermilk biscuits from scratch (by far the most technically difficult baking recipe I've ever put together)
-leeks in a fancy little vinaigrette and topped with a hardboiled egg
-lamb chops broiled and smothered in a rich butter flavored with pesto and sundried tomato


I got the idea to make flavored butter from Bon Appetite, they have a link to the instructions on their website: www.bonappetit.com/go/butter. The lamb chops recipe - although from a totally different magazine - called for butter flavored with pesto and sundried tomato. I cheated slightly and used pre-minced sundried tomatoes in seasoned olive oil.

Okay, this step isn't so lovely... But it tastes amazing!

We had some fresh herbs that needed using up, so I made an herbed butter too.

Another magazine clipping my mother gave me had a buttermilk biscuits recipe. This was, by far, the most technically difficult thing I've ever baked - and it turned out PERFECT. I couldn't be more proud. They are delicious, and pretty, and fluffy... Sorry. I'm just super happy with myself.

Next up are the leeks. I sauteed them lightly in butter and extra-virgin olive oil, then in dry white wine. Then I covered them in chicken broth and stuck the pan in the oven and let it boil down. I removed them from the broth when they were soft and covered them in a white wine vinaigrette with grainy mustard and parsley, and crumbled a hard boiled egg on top. This was another extremely complicated recipe that I never, ever would have come up with on my own. It was well worth the effort. Even Brandon, who does not generally like leeks, said they were the best leeks he had ever had and ate them happily. ^_^

The lamb chops I simply smothered in pepper and broiled, then melted the flavored butter on top. Easy-peasy.

Top it off with a strong, dry red wine and you have a romantic feast.

^_^

So Much Good Food

We didn't really plan it, but this week we went a little crazy with cooking. As a result, our fridge is packed to capacity with amazing, amazing food.

First: fried green tomatoes! I've been wanting to make these since we moved down here, but HEB never carries green tomatoes, and there aren't any good farmer's markets in San Antonio. Eventually we found a great little hipster market that had all kinds of great produce and imported goods. It was pricey, but worth it for the occasional odd ingredient we can't get elsewhere. I grabbed a TON of green tomatoes, and we fried them all up.

I think I was trying to stay out of the picture, but Brandon thought it was too funny not to include.

The breading.

It was a funny faces kind of day.

Satisfaction?

Next, Brandon made hummus from scratch.

 

Prepping the garlic and lemon juice.

I'm not sure where the finished product photo went. Brandon must've taken it with his phone - I'll annoy him for that some time soon. In any case, the consistency was perfect. The flavor was great. The only problem; it was extremely salty. Much, much less salt next time. But otherwise, we've got a perfect hummus recipe now! 

We made fried tofu again and needed a starch to serve it with, so I made an amazing pasta salad with sesame oil and red wine vinegar. It turned out great:

Then, this week they had salmon on sale at HEB, so we grabbed some and served it up with asparagus and quinoa that Brandon's sister had bought and left in our cupboard (great pick, Melissa!) and some white wine. 

Then we shared our crumbs with Myelin. She has no idea how spoiled she is.

That's it for now! Lots of love. ^_^

Embroidery

I finally bought a backup lab coat. I took this as an opportunity to work on a project I had been putting off for some time. I've wanted for a while now to embroider my Hebrew name (Shoshanah) onto my lab coat pocket.
This is partly for show, and partly just to make it easier to find my lab coat amongst all the others. Also it seemed like a fun excuse to teach myself to embroider.

I still have to erase the pencil marks. 

 Modeling the coat.

I think it turned out alright. Keep in mind, this is my first ever attempt at embroidery. Now my mom is all excited and wants me to learn more advanced sewing skills... We'll see.