Approaching Holidays

Jesse is home! Holidays are coming! Busy, busy, busy...

Can't say much about cooking lately. Made rosemary lamb chops, papardelle with mushrooms and Greek salad when my mother-in-law came for dinner the other night. Ordered pizza last night :) Tonight's plan (ha ha) is chicken sausage, rice and green beans.

Friday night, however, is a different story. Christmas Eve with the Figliolias and Wisners!!

Our menu is: (If you'd like to be surprised, skip the next paragraphs). Antipasti will include: Cheese board with Manchego, Ciao Angelo and Parmigiano-Reggiano with fig spread, honey, mustard and cornichons. Also, roasted tomatoes, marinated artichokes, olives and baguette and raisin-pumpernickel breads. Along with sauteed shrimp and chorizo.

Dinner is: Turkey lasagna (so all can eat it), Caesar salad, Linguine with white clam sauce, chicken cutlets, foccacia bread and a small baked ziti with no ricotta for Ian. Desert is: Apple and blueberry cobbler with caramel ice cream on the side, along with chocolate chip cookies.

I hope I didn't leave anything out...I am sure Michael will take photos for my next post.

I am making Michael's mom's recipe of sweet and sour meatballs for Christmas Day to take to Denise and Joe's along with a tray of Old Bay chicken wings.

Can't wait to celebrate! Merry Christmas to everyone!

Focaccia

Well, after three tries, I think I finally got it right, or nearly right. I made focaccia on Friday afternoon. Michael, Jill, Lenny and Brett were the usual guinea pigs/testers. They all approved!

Next time, I'll experiment by adding more onions and garlic, or also trying the focaccia as a pizza crust.

Friday night we went to Barosa with Jill and Lenny and Steve and Sue Boyle. We had our usuals: Calamari Barosa, chopped salad, stuffed artichoke. Michael had chicken scarpariello, Lenny had veal francese, Steve had veal Marsala and Sue, Jill and I shared seafood fra diavlo over linguine (I ate half a lobster tail). After all the appetizers, I cannot eat a meal. We all shared wine, dessert and coffee too. It was a very nice evening, made even nicer by Jill and I walking home. There is nothing like a good walk after a big meal.

Today, Michael is riding his bike to Wantagh (to Steve and Lori's) and I am driving there.

Have a nice weekend, before it rains again...

Busy Week

Yesterday afternoon, while I was home waiting for the handymen to change our a/c filters, I decided to try my hand at foccacia. Didn't work out so well for me. I made one batch of dough, tried changing the second one (since the first portion was a failure) but that didn't work either. So they both went in the garbage. I will try again in the future. I am trying to make a lighter, more airy crust for Grandma pizza. The experiment will continue.

For dinner I made mushroom and truffle ravioli (purchased at Fairway) with mushrooms and onions in cream sauce and escarole on the side. No photos :(

Tonight I have two meetings back to back, so no cooking for me.

Wednesday my mom-in-law may come for dinner and I was planning French onion soup, salad and burgers with crispy onions and horseradish sauce. We'll see what happens.

Thursday is up in the air, but I have string beans I must use or they will die.

Friday is a no cooking day, as you know.

Saturday I should be in the city at the Gallery Walk (Madison Avenue from 57th to 86th) and Sunday we will be at Leslie's for Isabelle's 13th birthday party. Always good food, good friends and good wine there!!!