Weekend Warriors

The kitchen was unpacked last Sunday, not this past Sunday but the Sunday before. Nancy gave us a hydrangea (pictured below) and some granite counter-top sealer, cleaner and disinfectant for a move in gift and so I went to work getting the counters sealed to prevent the granite from staining via oils, water, juices, etc. Plus, it's more sanitary to have them sealed.


This past Saturday was Paul's birthday, and was the first big cooking day in the kitchen. When he was in Sweden I didn't bother cooking dinner- it was mainly cereal and leftovers and one indulgent night of Taco Bell. I made Paul a meat and potatoes meal-his food of choice- and got a fantastic recipe from my new Rachel Ray's Just in Time Cookbook. I learned to not count on it taking 30 minutes as she says, because by the time you add in all the chopping, you've added 15-30 minutes if you're a slow chopper like me.

By golly the recipes are good though. This was a grilled steak, thinly sliced and topped with sauteed mushrooms and green onions with a side of warm potato salad with bacon and dijon mustard and scallions. This was a hit! I made broccoli too to get some veggies in.

I also made a birthday cake on Saturday for Paul....

....and finished one panel of the curtains (for the window that faces the neighbors) so that we could eat our cake in the bath.

Cake in the bath with candles and sparkling berry juice (red wine for Paul) topped the birthday party of two!
I'll post the recipe for dinner another time when I have the cookbook handy.