oh right, my weekend...
my weekend had many highlights. perhaps i should exercise my HTML skills by using a bulleted list...
whew! yesterday, i was still sore from saturday, but after going to the gym and really working out my legs, i'm feeling much better today. last night i made my grandma's escarole soup for the marshall and i. it was just as good as i remembered eating it as a kid. so warm and brothy with big pieces of yummy escarole and perfectly cooked pasta. i ended up putting a little too much pasta, so i'll need to add more broth tonight for leftovers, but it's all good. later this week i'll be making my first quiche. i bought frozen pie crusts, since i didn't feel like making my own (plus, i don't have a food processor big enough for dough), frozen spinach, bacon and gruyere cheese. i think i'll render the bacon, sautee some onions and let them cool before adding them to eggs, milk (plus a dash of half-and-half) and drained spinach. i'll season with salt and pepper and add copious amounts of shredded cheese. i'm hoping my off-the-cuff recipe works out...
this coming saturday is our housewarming party. i'm really looking forward to it. i sent out maps of where to park to our guests yesterday. the marshall and i have been going over what kind of food to have. we're going to try making these artichoke heart and feta wontons and then having a vegetarian and meat 7-layer bean dip with chips, plus salsa and a veggie platter. i might get around to making some cookies, too. i think that'll be plenty for all of us. :) plus, we'll have plenty of drinks. :D
+_+_+
next weekend, we're headed down for a quick trip to LA. the marshall's step-mom invited us over for seder next saturday and to celebrate passover. she hasn't held a seder in 6 years and i'm actually happy she's doing it. it's been a rough few years for her and hopefully bringing back family tradition will help lift her from her funk. i've also never been to a seder before, so i'm looking forward to learning. i'm a catholic girl and most jewish traditions are totally out of my realm. all i know is that safeway's been having their passover-supplies area set up for the last 2 months, now. i don't think i've ever seen that many brans/packages of matzo on one shelf!. :)
- sushi: friday night, the marshall and i joined my sister and her kids for dinner at one of the many local sushi places around here. this one happens to be my sister's favorite. i would like to point out that we introduced my sister to sushi about 2 years ago. before then, she was very opposed to the idea/concept of sushi that she wouldn't even touch the stuff. now, she can't get enough of it. in some cases, she may be a little obsessed, but i love sushi, so i forgive that. :) anyway, the kids usually get a plate of gyoza each to eat when they go out to sushi. they love the dumplings. i sat next to my nephew who didn't even think that they may be hot when they were served to him; he just started stuffing them into his mouth like he hadn't eaten in years. my niece was a little more delicate. she even used her chopsticks to pick up each dumpling, dip it into the sauce and take little bites. very clean and very precise, she is. she was interested in the plate of rolls and nigiri my sister and i ordered. she started to poke and massage the hamachi. my sister asked if she wanted to try it. she did and my sister picked it up and held it out for her to try. as soon as it touched her lips, she shut her mouth. i'm not quite sure she was expecting the texture. HOWEVER, she was still interested in the spider roll. my sister gave her a piece. my niece picked it up and shoved the whole thing into her mouth. she smiled and wanted more. the fact that a 3-yr-old was excited about sushi was just amazing to see. how many people can say they were witness to something like that? :D they're such great kids!
- the LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG saturday: so long, it needs a nested bulleted list...
- breakfast: the marshall and i met up with celtcub, norcalpaco, and damneddonkey for breakfast saturday morning. we tried something different. even though i enjoy the usual spot (cup and saucer), i thought i'd throw out a suggestion to try the los gatos cafe, instead. everyone agreed and everyone seemed to enjoy it, even though we had to wait longer for a table. it was also funny to realize that the los gatos cafe uses the same menu style/design as cup and saucer and even some of their items were similar, too. apparently both places shop/order their menus from the same company. :) after breakfast, we ran by petco so liam, paco, and paul could pick up various pet supplies. since the marshall and i don't have any pets, as of yet, we didn't need anything. BUT, i took this opportunity to stop by the cat adoption booth to see which cats they had this week. we found 2 that we really liked, but we need to wait. soon, though, very soon. we would've hung out for the rest of the day, but i had other plans, such as...
- the bachelorette party: i started preparing for the party right after breakfast. i offered to help out nicole with dinner by bringing a salad and garlic bread. i ran to the store, got my stuff, and ran home. made the compound butter for the bread (butter, olive oil, parsley and fresh garlic), spread it over 2 loaves and wrapped them each in tin foil and set them aside. the salad was easy, just had to chop up a bunch of veggies and bag them. then i decided to make my own dressing: olive oil, italian seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic powder, red wine vinegar and dijon mustard. i got everything together and got to work on my costume. for what? oh, ya know, for our pole dancing class. that's right, our activity for the party was a pole dancing class. it was very professional and TONS of fun. what was even better is that everyone was such good sports about it. our instructor was awesome and very cool. the dance studio is actually not far from my apartment. perhaps i'll look into their other classes - it was such an intense workout you don't even know! after the class, everyone showered and got ready for dinner and clubbin. we were all out dancing until almost 2. after the pole dancing (with all those squats and pole spins - ALL done in 5-inch heals, mind you), i was barely able to move. it seriously, though, was tons of fun! :D
- sunday: the marshall and i relaxed sunday. we had breakfast at home and read the paper together. his main goal was to finally buy his new desk. he did exceed that goal, too. we found the desk he wanted at a different staples across town and brought it home. it was much easier to put together than my desk, which was nice and it looks very nice in our office. now, all he needs to do it unpack that box that's been in the corner since february... that night we went to willow street for a dinner eval and had some yummy pizza. it was definitely nice to have a day to relax after the saturday i had!
whew! yesterday, i was still sore from saturday, but after going to the gym and really working out my legs, i'm feeling much better today. last night i made my grandma's escarole soup for the marshall and i. it was just as good as i remembered eating it as a kid. so warm and brothy with big pieces of yummy escarole and perfectly cooked pasta. i ended up putting a little too much pasta, so i'll need to add more broth tonight for leftovers, but it's all good. later this week i'll be making my first quiche. i bought frozen pie crusts, since i didn't feel like making my own (plus, i don't have a food processor big enough for dough), frozen spinach, bacon and gruyere cheese. i think i'll render the bacon, sautee some onions and let them cool before adding them to eggs, milk (plus a dash of half-and-half) and drained spinach. i'll season with salt and pepper and add copious amounts of shredded cheese. i'm hoping my off-the-cuff recipe works out...
this coming saturday is our housewarming party. i'm really looking forward to it. i sent out maps of where to park to our guests yesterday. the marshall and i have been going over what kind of food to have. we're going to try making these artichoke heart and feta wontons and then having a vegetarian and meat 7-layer bean dip with chips, plus salsa and a veggie platter. i might get around to making some cookies, too. i think that'll be plenty for all of us. :) plus, we'll have plenty of drinks. :D
+_+_+
next weekend, we're headed down for a quick trip to LA. the marshall's step-mom invited us over for seder next saturday and to celebrate passover. she hasn't held a seder in 6 years and i'm actually happy she's doing it. it's been a rough few years for her and hopefully bringing back family tradition will help lift her from her funk. i've also never been to a seder before, so i'm looking forward to learning. i'm a catholic girl and most jewish traditions are totally out of my realm. all i know is that safeway's been having their passover-supplies area set up for the last 2 months, now. i don't think i've ever seen that many brans/packages of matzo on one shelf!. :)