I'll Be Back!

Sorry that I've been MIA these past few weeks. I'm hibernating this month, but I promise I'll be back in February. In the meantime, happy eating!

Sick People Food

I've been sick most of this week, and I finally went to the doctor yesterday. His diagnosis: mild bronchitis. At least he didn't say strep throat.

Topher has been a wonderful nurse. He's been giving me lots of tea - Yogi Throat Comfort and Traditional Medicinals Throat Coat - and he made chicken noodle soup again.

Tonight's "get well soon" meal is creamy roasted tomato & carrot soup (a Bobby Flay recipe - my new favorite) with a grilled cheese sandwich. It's not the greatest picture, but it was the perfect meal for a cold day when you're sick in bed.

Christmas Vittles

Let's just say that, despite the snow, we didn't starve over the holidays this year. We were blessed with three consecutive days of delicious meals, followed by a week of yummy leftovers.

On Christmas Eve Eve (December 23rd), my parents arrived from Georgia, and we celebrated with my dad's side of the family at my cousin's house in Norfolk.

What We Ate:

• for starters: marinated goat cheese with French bread
• beef burgundy (or "boeuf bourguignon" as Julia Child's would say)
• greens beans with garlic
• to drink:
• for dessert: cheesecake topped with cherry compote & rosemary (thanks, Topher!)

On Christmas Eve, Topher's parents drove up from North Carolina, and we had a casual, buffet-style lunch-dinner ... eat what you want, when you want, graze your way through the afternoon ... you get the idea. Afterwards we went to the candlelight Christmas Eve service at our church.

What We Ate:

• chili with a choice of topping (cilantro, scallions, corn chips, shredded cheese)
• homemade corn bread
• salmon log with crackers
• sriracha & wasabi deviled eggs (a Food & Wine recipe)
• Waldorf salad
• apple cake
• chocolate peppermint pinwheel cookies (an Alton Brown recipe, but we left out the crushed candy canes)

On Christmas Day, all six of us - my parents, Topher's parents, and the two of us - were together again to open presents and share a meal (which I forgot to photograph - oops).

Topher gave me three amazing gifts: an incredibly warm & comfortable merino wool jacket (it kinda feels like wearing a blanket, and I didn't want to take it off), all seven of the Harry Potter books on CD (for me to listen to while I'm driving back & forth to work), and bound copies of The Strand magazine from 1892 - the original publication of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories!

What We Ate:

• bourbon-ginger ham (the one that he practiced last week)
• creamed spinach
• three-cheese macaroni (with parmesan, mozzarella, & fontina)
• to drink: Shoofly viognier (Australian)
• for dessert: leftover apple cake and chocolate peppermint pinwheel cookies; creme de menthe brownies (thanks, Jinks!); sugar cookies (made by my mother-in-law); dark chocolate-covered almonds (thanks, Randy!) ... clearly we weren't short on sweets

And then it snowed, and I mean really snowed. We got 8-10 inches on the day after Christmas. Topher & I were scheduled to play on the worship team that day, so we dutifully got up early and drove the un-plowed roads to church. About two dozen people came to the first service; another two dozen showed up for the second service; and the third service was cancelled. But it was beautiful to see our church all blanketed in white.

I hope you and your family had a joyful, relaxing, and delicious Christmas as well!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

This past week we had quite a bit of winter weather in the Hampton Roads area. The snow "storm" that came last Thursday only left 1-3 inches of powder, but it clogged up the highways and interstates for hours. My regular one-hour, 40-mile commute turned into a 3-hour saga. But when I got home, our neighborhood sure looked beautiful all covered in white.

On Saturday night, Topher & I went had dinner with a bunch of our friends to celebrate one of the guys' birthday.

Aren't we a festive-looking bunch? Even the lampshades got in on the color scheme. :)

What We Ate:

• tomato, mozzarella, basil leaf, & balsamic vinegar - I could have eaten 10 of these
• lobster risotto - creamy & delicious
• green beans with roasted walnuts & goat cheese - if this is the way I'd had green beans as a kid, there's no way I'd dislike them!
• steak with chimichurri sauce
• for dessert: chocolate swirl cheesecake

There's nothing better than sharing meals during the holidays, and I'm so thankful for our friends & their amazing skills in the kitchen!

Determined Not to Get Sick

This morning I woke up with my throat burning - not cool. It's a week before Christmas, and I'm determined not to get sick!

So today I'm sucking on Halls honey-lemon cough drops, sipping Yogi Throat Comfort Tea, and eating the most delicious homemade chicken noodle soup ever. It's chock full of carrots, celery, and mushrooms (there's some evidence that mushrooms help boost the immune system).

For a week's worth of immunity-boosting dishes, check out WebMD's "7-Day Menu for Cold and Flu Season."

Southern Comfort

After several evenings in a row of us being out or having people over, Topher suggested that we have a date night at home on Tuesday. Isn't he great? Knowing that his Georgia girl likes Southern cooking, he made a feast of comfort foods.

What We Ate:

• baked ham in a mustard-bourbon-brown sugar-ginger glaze - incredibly delicious! He used an Alton Brown recipe (this was a dress rehearsal for Christmas dinner, when both sets of parents will be in town and eating at our house!)
• collard greens
• baked macaroni & cheese
• homemade biscuits - we used the leftovers to make ham biscuits for breakfast the next morning
• Atlas Peak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon - a true Cab! very oaky & dry, but with a good finish

After dinner, we watched "The Interpreter" (2005) starring Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, and Katherine Keener. Kidman plays a UN interpreter who accidentally overhears a conversation about a plot to assassinate a corrupt African leader while he's delivering a speech to the UN General Assembly later that week. Penn plays the US Secret Service agent assigned to first investigate, and then protect her.

Both Topher & I had seen it before, but I like it and wanted to see it again. Sure, there are a few holes in the plot, and some parts are a little predictable; but overall I think it's an entertaining, not-too-violent political thriller - an African conflict film set on the floor of the UN.

My Winter "To Dine" List

I did okay on my fall "to dine" list: we made it two of the four restaurants on the list - A Chef's Kitchen in Williamsburg, VA, and Union Square Cafe in Manhattan.

Here's where I'd like to eat this winter:

• I still haven't made it to the Boot (not for lack of trying!), so it stays on the list.
• Topher & I still haven't made it to One Fish Two Fish either (my fault on that one).
• I'll add Blue Talon Bistro and Fat Canary, both in Williamsburg. (I'm hoping for another weekend getaway!)
• Terrapin - New American cuisine near the Virginia Beach oceanfront (a recommendation from Lisa Has Chickens via her aunt, who's a good friend of mine)

Let's see how well we do this quarter!

Catching Up

My apologies: I haven't blogged in, oh, 10 days or so. I'm not sure where all my time went ... maybe into Christmas shopping, Christmas parties, Christmas concert rehearsals, and addressing Christmas cards? Every year I seem to blink and miss the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas!

What we've been eating
Topher has been making variations of "cream of (insert vegetable here) soup." A few weeks ago he made a creamy mushroom soup; on a chilly night last week we had grilled cheese sandwiches with Bobby Flay's roasted tomato soup (my favorite so far!); and for dinner with friends this past weekend he made a crème d'asperges (cream of asparagus) soup to go with coq au vin and risotto. Yum!

What we've been drinking
- Buena Vista Ramal Vineyard Syrah (over a bowl of chili, for dinner with friends)
- Shafer Napa Valley Merlot (at Press 626 for Topher's birthday, courtesy of our dear friend Jen)
- lots of green tea (from Yogi and Bigelow) - I haven't cut out coffee entirely, but on two out of three mornings I'm drinking green tea instead. And even if I don't drink it for breakfast, I still usually have 2-3 cups of tea per day; so I guess the green tea experiment has been a success!

What I've been reading
- Wendell Berry's Bringing It to the Table: On Farming and Food
- Marion Nestle's blog "Food Politics"
- "Divided We Eat: What food says about class in America" from Newsweek

Hope you're doing well and enjoying this holiday season!

Missing the Harms

The jury is still out on exactly what effects we're going to see from Hurricane Earl, but I can already say that it's messing up my weekend.

I was so excited that our friends Amy & Marty and their two kids were coming from Wisconsin to Hampton Roads this weekend for a visit. (When they lived here, we were in community group together, and Amy served as one of our wedding coordinators.) But Hurricane Earl has thwarted their travel plans, and they're not going to make it. Boo!

We haven't seen them since their visit to Hampton Roads last December, when we hosted a dinner party for them (Topher played chef again). A small group of us was planning to do dinner with them tonight, but since that won't be happening now, I'm revisiting last December's dinner in their honor.

What We Ate:

• Southwestern scallops with avocado puree and jalapeno pesto, served on blue corn chips - the two sauces on this were amazing!
• stuffed mushroom caps
• carnitas tacos with pineapple salsa
• salad with applewood smoked bacon and poached pears
• mini beef Wellingtons, served with three-cheese macaroni & cheese - hearty dishes for a cold winter night
• dessert: pumpkin pie bites and cheesecake
• sparkling red wine - such a fun beverage, but it'll rename nameless here so we can stay family-friendly

We miss y'all, but I hope you have a fun & relaxing Labor Day weekend at home in Wisconsin!

Valentine's Weekend in Charlotte, NC

For Christmas last year, we gave Topher's parents a getaway to Charlotte, NC over Valentine's Day weekend - with us! I know, how romantic, right? But it actually was a great trip: Topher and his dad took a cooking class together on Saturday at Johnson & Wales University's College of Culinary Arts, while his mom and I got facials at a local spa.

We drove separately - Topher and I from Hampton Roads, his parents from their home in NC - and met at the hotel in Charlotte just in time for dinner. True to form, Topher had picked out a delicious restaurant for us to try: Mimosa Grill. Their menu, which they describe as "global cuisine with a southern twist," features meat, poultry, and produce from local and regional farms.

That particular evening, a freak winter storm dumped 4-6 inches on snow on the city. It started just as we were walking to dinner, so by the time we left to head back to the hotel, everything was covered with a soft white blanket. It was really beautiful; I only regretted not bringing more suitable shoes!

What I Ate:

• appetizer: local organic greens with mandarin oranges
• entrée: salmon over grits with mussels, shrimp, & crawfish in tomato & onion broth - now these were some good shrimp & grits!
• dessert: pecan pie with vanilla gelato
• to drink: one mojito, and a few sips of Drambuie - kind of like a second dessert

The Scoop:

Mimosa Grill is located in downtown Charlotte at 327 S. Tryon Street. They're open M-R 11am-10pm, F 11am-11pm, Sat 5pm-11pm, and Sun 5pm-10pm. Reservations can be made online or by calling (704)343-0700. Get information about their cooking classes, wine dinners, and other special events via Facebook or Twitter.