Monday-My intended Red Beans and Rice dish was postponed due to too much fun playing at the beach today. After lunch at Rogue, shopping at the Bay, and playing in the sand we had to opt for leftover chili and cornbread. It was totally worth it!
Tuesday-Lasagna and Rum cake at a friend's house for her house blessing. It was a nice dinner especially after such a crummy day-the day's highlight of course being locking my keys in the truck...in the bus lane...nice work eh? The quote of the dinner was "i don't like alcohol and i don't like cake, but i love rum cake!"
Wednesday-The much anticipated red beans and rice. The smells were fabulous and the taste was good. I did feel that the smell and taste ratio was disproportionate and that always bothers me. That sometimes happens with tea and that always bums me out. Smells amazing but then somehow the taste is not as full bodied. I felt that happened with the beans and rice but it was very good none the less and i am prepared to make some helpful adjustments next time. The recipe came from my Cooks Illustrated cook book that i LOVE. If you want the recipe i would be happy to share-it is definitely worth having!
Thursday-Deck the Halls, it is Christmas in Charlottesville. Before opening our stack of presents under the very secret blankets we had our Christmas dinner: homemade macaroni and cheese and broccoli. Delish. There were two selections of macs and cheese for this particular Christmas feast. One was the more traditional dish: a four cheese dish baked to perfect crispiness. The second dish, also a four cheese macaroni, had bacon on top and was spiced up with cayenne and red pepper flakes. Both were fantastic. "tis the season"...at least on our mountain.
Friday-Second home meet for the OSU gymnastics team, currently undefeated. OSU! Before heading to the meet, mom and I visited our local pasta joint, Pastini, for dinner. We both had their small salad. Salads are not always worth mentioning but I believe this one is. It is a perfect pre-dinner salad. It is a small salad (though not too small) with perfectly crisp greens, and, they are not just crisp but flavorful including the spicy lettuce I always enjoy. The salad includes a light vineagarette as well as cucumbers, mushrooms, and radish. What a good vegetable combination. The salad is fresh and fulfilling. For just $.99 you can add gorgonzola cheese, which i believe is completely necessary. The cheese is the perfect top to the salad. Additionally, the salad is filling enough to then only eat half of your pasta and save the rest for lunch the following day, also a favorite of mine. We both had overly satisfying pasta dishes and left with extras for later. Plus, we had to save room for popcorn...
Saturday-Trench diggers need hearty, warm, comfort food. So, we trench diggers had stroganoff for dinner. I believe that the key to great stroganoff is lots of mushroom and black pepper. It was warm and very filling. Charlotte, who has a case of the sniffles, opted for her comfort food as well...nanas. She passed on the stroganoff and filled up on bananas and cozy-shack, yum for everyone.
Sunday-Braised Short Ribs with Carrots and mashed potatoes. It was lovely; rich in flavor. I believe that was mostly due to the carmelized onion, tomato, red wine combination that had an intoxicating smell. Then the carrots and other spices were mixed in with the already browned ribs to stew for a couple of hours. It was so good. We made mashed potatoes and green beans to compliment the dish and it was quite the compliment. We thoroughly enjoyed it. We finished off the meal with a warm chocolate cake from the oven. Winter meals are so cozy.
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