Dinner Party for Ten!

About six months ago, I bought a You Swoop for an in-home cooking lesson & dinner party with a private chef. Little did I know that I would start dating a chef of my own.....but, on Thursday, I finally took advantage of my You Swoop.

I coordinated the menu with our chef, Brian, and arranged for an intimate dinner party with some great friends. It was a wonderful evening! If only I didn't have to work the next day....

On the menu...

Starter: Crab Cake with Creole Remoloude

Main: Southern Rubbed NY Strip with Garlic Green Beans & Mash Potatoes

Dessert: Dark Chocolate Molten Cake with Triple Berry Sauce

Comfort Food

Comfort food was cooking in the kitchen this week!

On Tuesday night, I made risotto with asparagus and spinach while I sipped a glass of white wine - yum! On Wednesday night, I made one of my favorite dishes from childhood - creamed chipped beef - absolutely nothing high-class or special about this dish, but it reminded me of mom in the kitchen. :)

Otis & Zegna's Playdate

Otis finally got to meet my friend Cheryl's dog - a French bulldog named Zegna.

I was so proud of both of them - they hit it off and played really well together! I forsee more play dates in the future!

Kitchen Creations

I love it when I have the time to cook up some good grub!

The other night, I was craving salt - so I made a pan of roasted kale chips and ate them with a both of ramen noodles. Yum!

This creation was a blend of sesame flavored chicken, wilted spinach and udon noodles.

Again, craving salt (a theme here?) and Asian flavors, I roasted some more kale chips and ate them with some pork pot stickers and a dipping sauce made of soy, sambal, hoisin and sesame seeds.

This dish was inspired by a Rachel Ray show - it's a buffalo chicken pot pie. The filling is made of poached chicken, carrots, celery, onions and a homemade buffalo sauce. It's topped with a cheesy corn bread. So good!

Ultimate Burger

Dan made these amazing burgers with ground beef that we picked up at the farmer's market. We topped them off with grilled onions & spinach and morel mushroom cheese. On the side, we had roasted asparagus and tater tots. Yum!

HOT L Baltimore

Dan and I went to see Hot L Baltimore at the Steppenwolf Theatre. Dan is a big fan of the playwright Lanford Wilson - so he was jazzed to get tickets to a preview showing of this play. It was an interesting show with very intriguing characters.

My Boys

Caught a few pics of Dan and Otis lounging in the sunroom. :)

Belly Shack

Last Saturday, Dan and I had lunch at Belly Shack (a place that I've been wanting to try for a long time!) The food was excellent! I had the Korean BBQ Beef, Dan had the Pork Meatball Sandwich and we shared the Togarashi Fries. I couldn't quite pin-point the flavors in the fries - so I looked up togarashi and it's a blend of red chili pepper, Sichuan pepper, roasted orange peel, black sesame seed, white sesame seed, ground ginger, hemp seed and nori - no wonder it had a deep, complex flavor! I will be going back to Belly Shack sometime again soon!

Saturday in Lincoln Park

Last Saturday, Dan and I ventured to Lincoln Park to sample the produce, fresh baked goods and other yummy goodies at the Green City Market. We picked up a lot of great stuff - including some pretzel bread, crackers, apples, cheese, ground beef and apple cider donuts (those didn't make it home).

Since we were already in Lincoln Park, we took a leisurely stroll through the Lincoln Park Zoo and the Conservatory. Dan had his camera with him (as did I), so we spent some time taking pictures of all the beautiful flowers in the conservatory.