Great weekend.

Even though I've probably gained weight because of it, my weekend was awesome. I had a lovely anniversary celebration with pierceheart on Saturday. We exchanged presents in the morning, then went out to have our old favourite breakfast of Santa Monica sandwiches (at Espresso Royale Cafe instead of Bagel Rising) before heading off to the winery. We took the tour and tasted many wines and beers. Most were excellent. I only tasted two things I didn't like (an apple-elderberry wine called Chrysleton which just tasted kind of odd, and a honey-apple liqueur called Barenfang, which was far too sweet on its own). We each bought half a dozen bottles of wine (OY!) to bring home. Then we got dressed in somewhat nicer clothes for dinner, and went to Mistral. OMG, the foodgasm. That place was simply wonderful. Expensive as all hell, but wonderful. Yum. And I have leftovers! Dinner tonight, methinks, put into a salad. :D There were some interesting discussions after dinner. Not all of them were easy things to talk about, but it was all GOOD, I feel, and good things have come of it.

Sunday was a bit hectic trying to get ready for my friend T's wedding, but we made it on time. I managed to find a quesadilla maker for her on Friday night that I think she will LOVE. Normally I frown on giving people one-use appliances that they didn't specifically ask for as wedding presents, but I know how T feels about quesadillas. :) The ceremony was a Gujarati-style Hindu ceremony, even though the boy she married is of Greek extraction, and the blending of the two families was interesting to see. She looked absolutely beautiful in the full bridal regalia, and it was great to see her and a couple other people from high school, even though somehow we got seated at a table across the room from all the other people I knew at the wedding! Oy. But the dinner was great (Indian food with Greek baklava for dessert, yum!) and we left after that to pick up my stuff and go back to pierceheart's place to spend the night.

Ok, I should probably get back to work now...

So many veggies, so little time!

Literally. I have tons of gorgeous produce from my Boston Organics box, and no time to use it! :( I won't have time to really COOK until Thursday night. I guess I just have to hope it all stays good until then. Especially the callaloo. I am SO gung-ho to try callaloo in the traditional West Indian soup. ! I mean: coconut milk, okra, crab, butternut squash, scotch bonnet...how could I NOT? YUM. But I also have yellow squash, lots of lettuce (at least I can eat some of that tonight), cucumber (ditto), green beans, and a bell pepper. Maybe I can use some of that for Wednesday's potluck, though I have to ask pierceheart how much time I'm likely to have for cooking after his promotion ceremony and reception. Anyway, I really wanted to make something bread-y for that since no one else has volunteered to do so yet, and my beer bread is teh awesome.

I wish I could just go home and cook! :)