fancy schmancy

it was friday with a pile of produce to use.  and, well, chopsticks is deserving.  let's get fancy for a date night.  

the menu (27aug10): 

• pan-seared duck breast with an apple, cherry, red wine reduction
• sweet potato and acorn squash purée
• wilted spinach

what do two adults and one dog do with a watermelon?

in a busy kitchen, one adult was prepping dinner.  another was so hungry she needed a snack.  and a dog ensured she was constantly in the way, hoping for something, begging, "come on, mom! share!"


after chopsticks enjoyed her snack....


and we laughed hysterically at ojp and her snack....

ojp enjoying her watermelon

i prepared a drink.

watermelon cooler

the joy of eating cold leftovers

i heard a dj talking about eating cold leftovers on radio the other day.  a heated debate ensued, namely along the gender line, on the acceptable vs. disgusting nature of consuming cold leftovers.  the host had just finished some cold chinese, male callers were singing the praises of cold pizza and other lukewarm, day-after delicacies while the female callers seemed disgusted by it.


all i could think about was cold macaroni and cheese....


but for the joy of cold leftovers, we had to start with some warm dinner.  not that i'm complaining here, it was delicious that night too.


menu (21aug10):

• another turkey burger
• butternut squash macaroni & cheese
• banana oatmeal cream pie

butternut squash mac n' cheese

the morning after leftovers were even better...

chopsticks vs. the cilantro

"we need some cilantro.  you get that, i'll get us some basil." 


and so the adventure began.  i walked away to get the basil; chopsticks got the cilantro.  skip ahead to dinner prep.  chop a handful of both basil and cilantro... wait... this isn't right.


um, chopsticks, what were you supposed to pick out?  "cilantro!"  well, this is parsley.  "oh, no fair!  they were right next to each other!" 


good reason to keep dried cilantro in the spice rack i guess.  regardless, dinner turned out good.


menu (19aug10):

• soba noodles with shiitake mushrooms
• pesto & lemon marinated chicken 
• citrus tomato salad (topping for the chicken)

soba noodles with shiitake mushrooms, pesto & lemon marinated chicken topped with a citrus tomato salad

week 18: add on week

we were really hoping for the spicy sweet dill pickles to be an add on this week after having demolished the entire jar last week.  and, of course, we were getting some more salsa as that mysteriously disappeared last week too (look at you, ojp!).


but, wait, what's this?!  shiitake mushrooms?!  yes, please.


to supplement out add-ons we went with box "b" this week.

clockwise from top left: tomatoes, shiitake mushrooms (add on), butternut squash, cherry tomatoes, lee's produce fresh salsa (add on), sprite melon, peaches, red potatoes, bell pepper