And so it begins.............again

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since my last post! I thought having a job sitting at a computer all day would be conducive to my writing...I could just bang out quick posts here & there in my downtime, but as it turns out it had the opposite effect! Not only have I NOT taken advantages of the spaces between tasks, when I get home the last thing I want to do is get back to work on a computer...what's a lazy blogger to do?

Guess the only thing I really can do is to pick back up and get better about keeping my blog updated, yes?

Since there's no time like the present, I have several new projects I want to share with you....I have been a very busy girl! A few months back, I was asked if I had any interest in catering end-of-program receptions at my local meditation center, The Shambhala Meditation Center of Atlanta.

The first couple of receptions I catered, I kept it simple - mainly because I just wanted to get a feel for it and to see what people tended to like or dislike. I made mostly vegetarian stuff like

Tarts,

Salads

Zucchini Boats

and various other dishes...which were all good, but then I discovered that several of the teachers and participants were vegan and a few had gluten allergies and/or sensitivities.

I began to experiment with recipes that catered more to their special needs. The challenge has been to find a way to prepare them not just healthy, but also delicious...I have embraced this challenge wholeheartedly and the results have been more rewarding than I ever imagined!

I'll put more pics in my next post! Until then............

Rainy weekends are perfect

I know a lot of people really look forward to the weekend and get bummed out if the weather is less than great, and I'm sure I've had my share of disappointments in this department, but I can also say I absolutely LOVE rainy weekends!

If I have something planned outdoors that gets postponed because of it then yeah, maybe it sucks a little, but in general there's so much to do indoors that I get over it pretty fast!

Take this weekend, for example...ok, maybe this weekend is not a good example because we weren't planning on doing anything outside anyway, but we CAN get a lot of enjoyment from it!

For starters, I've got a pot of etouffe on the stove

and a couple of loaves of french bread in the oven

dinner's gonna be yummy!

Besides that, rainy nights in are great for wine and candlelight with my love ...
I just love being snuggled up on the sofa watching a movie, reading or just talking and "being" together ~ it's nice!

Tomorrow is a great day to head over to the High & check out some art...

go to a local coffee shop or hang out at my favorite book store

the Atlanta Book Exchange ~ I could spend hours there!

And there's always knitting to be done...I haven't made nearly the progress I should have on my friend's scarf by now!

it's only maybe 1/5 done and I still have to make the hat!

See? Busy, Busy! Oh, and speaking of that dinner...

Yep, now that's gooooooooooooood stuff!

and this really has got to be my best loaf of French bread yet ~ perfectly crisp on the outside yet fluffy and light as air in the center ~ all it takes is a little practice and some tweaking of the technique, and the results are SO rewarding, not to mention delicious! Who knew?!

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After a few days...

So ~ after a whirlwind weekend of theater, birthday dinners, and Sunday brunch I need to get back into the swing of blogging...but perhaps more importantly, of cooking!

Pepper Mill, E.V.O.O., and Wine...The "Holy Trinity" of my kitchen


I enjoyed having a little break, but really have missed my kitchen time. It's about the only time lately I can just hang out alone and think while doing something useful and contemplative.

For dinner tonight, I made a dish called Engagement Roast Chicken

it's an Ina Garten recipe I found on FoodNetwork.com...I don't know why she calls it that, but it looked good and turned out beautifully!

...but you can't just have chicken for dinner. Last week I bought a 5 lb bag of potatoes, and after several days of not cooking I decided to get the most bang for my buck and use the maximum amount of taters in one dish, so I made potatoes au gratin as a side.

Having not made it from scratch in a while, i consulted Foodnetwork (again), which is my go-to site, and wound up combining two different recipes. A couple of ingredients from this one, technique from that, and ended up with a dish that was pretty much my own.

I sliced up 6 potatoes, 2 onions, a shallot and several cloves of garlic in my food processor and tossed them with melted butter, cream, salt, pepper, thyme and parmesan cheese, then put them into a dish

Oh, I also sauteed some garlic and bacon together and mixed them in with the potatoes, which I baked for about 30 minutes...

I then took them out, covered them with shredded cheddar cheese and put them back into the oven until they were nice and browned...YUM!

Every meat and starch meal needs something green, so a few young peas should do nicely...

Dinner was great!

I haven't been completely useless while slacking off and not cooking or blogging, though. I've started a new knitting project for my friend Sam - he saw the one I made for Mike and asked if I'd make a purple hat/scarf set for him, so of course I had to say yes!

After trying several different techniques (ok, 3), I settled on a design and got going on the scarf last night. It's not really far enough along to warrant pics yet, but I should be ready to post some up tomorrow...

Don't worry, Kristen ~ you're next!

Day two...still struggling with the discipline

Ok, so it's day two of my "blog experience" and I find myself wandering...looking for a good reason - or at least a half-assed excuse - not to write, but having come up with none, here I am.  Today was actually pretty productive and I've got plenty to share, so why is this difficult? 

They say that after 28 days things become habit, which means 2 down, 26 to go, right?  It's amazing to me how easy it is to develop bad habits and how hard it is to develop good ones....and on the flip side of that, how hard it is to break bad habits and how effortless falling out of good ones can be.

Anyway, I had to work 3 extra hours today so I didn't have time to make my planned dinner and instead improvised.  Not that Hungarian Chicken Paprikash requires an insane amount of time to prepare, but I wanted to serve it over egg noodles, which meant a trip to the supermarket.  I opted instead to make a nice chicken curry... 

I always just throw in whatever I feel like when making curries.....they're forgiving in that respect.  A few chicken breasts, whatever random fresh veggies I've got, a pinch of this, dash of that, and a few spoonfuls of the other and Voila!  Easy and delicious served over rice, and Mike cleaned the kitchen when we were done eating....for those of you who don't know, Mike is my very awesome beau...

After dinner I worked on my latest knitting project.  I started making a scarf for Mike a couple of weeks ago, and after a slow start (I'm noticing a pattern here!) I'm seeing some very good progress.  It's a pattern I've not tried before and fairly detailed,

which translates into "easy to lose your place" so I'm keeping a chart and trying to stay true to the pattern, but (don't tell him) I think I've messed up a time or two.  I don't think he'll ever notice, though, and if he does, I can just tell him it "adds character"...think he'll buy it?

Actually, in looking at this pic again, I realize how bad a job I'm doing on mine!

Oh well....it's a gift from the heart made by the hands so I suppose there's merit in its making, yes?