Dinner with an Old Friend

Pin It now! We had dinner with one of my closest friends, Alysse, and her (new!) fiance last night.  She just got engaged and we met her fiance for the first time.  It was only dinner and dessert, but I can tell he adores and loves her to pieces.  Alysse and I go way back - we met during college orientation, almost 15 years ago!  She's the kind of friend that knows all your secrets and insecurities and still loves you without judgment.  She's the kind of friend that calls you up from another country because she needs to hear a familiar voice.  She sends cards... by regular mail... just because.

Alysse and Matt were in town just for the night and it happened that we were able to grab dinner at Morandi.  It was a lovely night and perfect for sitting outside.  We ordered the stuffed olives (of course) and I had the perfect portion of linguine with clam sauce.  Michael suggested we go to the pastry shop, Rocco's, after dinner but this weekend it unexpectedly closed, so we went for gelato at Grom in stead.  We got a combination of tiramisu and pistachio.  Delicious!

She's starting her residency in New York in June so I'm lucky enough to have her in the same city for now.  I can't wait until she's moved and settled in!

Breakfast for Dinner

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hubby is having his monthly IT happy hour tonight so i'm at home and cooking for one, which means i can make whatever i want!  egg and bacon sandwich with a large side spinach salad and homemade balsamic

vinaigrette.  i feel like i'm breaking the rules by having breakfast for dinner.  i have all the food groups though - lots of protein, carbs and veggies.  i'm sure hubby will be jealous!

 {photo by hummingbirdappetite}

Home in NJ

Pin It now! this weekend my sister and i went home to my parents' house in nj. i haven't visited since december and the visit is long overdue! i love being back here...it's home after all. it's comfy and homey...all the good things that make coming home so sweet. my parents had an anniversary dinner tonight, so i made dinner for my sister and i - fresh jersey corn, a thick rib eye steak (secret homemade steak sauce) and veggies with a healthy dab of butter. for dessert, my mom made a big pot of red bean soup. obviously i don't have much else to blog about so i'm just going to show you a picture of what i made.

Homemade Pasta in Lemon Butter Sauce

Pin It now! i made homemade orecchiete and gnocchi in a lemon butter sauce for dinner tonight. i was inspired by not eating out in new york's fabulous recipe, and it came out delicious. i couldn't find broccoli rabe in gristedes so i substituted spinach, and just like her, i didn't have a food mill (at least in the apartment, everything is still at my parents' house!) so i used a colander. it's hard work people! i pushed that mashed potato through the colander for 10 minutes and now i won't need to work out for a couple of days.

plus, kneading the dough and forming the orecchiete is time-consuming. after two batches of making the orecchiete, i was tired so i just cut the pasta into gnocchi shapes. dinner took me about 2 1/2 hrs to make, but it still came out delicious.

i also made enough for lunch tomorrow, so i'm on a roll for the spending hiatus.

Fish Tacos again...

Pin It now! have you seen those GE electrolux appliance commercials with kelly ripa where she makes a fabulous meal for her dinner party, whips up dessert for her kids' slumber party and cleans everything up in 5 seconds with the help of her fabulous and ultra-expensive appliances....i want to be this fabulous kelly ripa-like wife. in reality though, when i get home from work, i'm exhausted and so un-creative for dinner. all i can think of cooking is turkey burgers or stir-fry. tonight i wanted to snap out of it. i rumaged through smitten kitchen recipes, and finally got inspired by fish tacos. when in doubt, make fish tacos. it's so easy and totally delicious...tonight i used cod instead of tilapia since the tilapia at whole foods looked a little fishy.

my point...get creative! we all can't be like the fake commercial kelly ripa, but we can make our hubby's happy by simply making fish tacos.