Pretty good life

Maybe because I'd just woken up from a nap, but I was in the mood for pancakes or waffles for dinner on Saturday night.  I was in the kitchen, flipping through the cookbook.  "Pancakes or waffles?" I asked no one in particular.

Braeden's friend, Brian, was over.  He said, "It doesn't matter which one you make, as long as you have buttermilk syrup."

I looked at him to gauge his seriousness.  He seemed sincere.

"Buttermilk syrup?  Is that a thing?"

He assured me it was.

"How can you have buttermilk syrup?  I've never heard of it."

He said, "You make it."

"I don't believe you," I said.  So I Googled it.

And buttermilk syrup.  It's a thing.

I followed this recipe except I didn't have buttermilk so I mixed milk and vinegar instead.  Adam and I made a quadruple recipe of whole wheat pancakes (because teenage boys) and I'm now firmly in love with buttermilk syrup.  The stuff is amazing.

Brian told us that he has an aunt, the only person in his family that isn't rail thin, who insists they call her Fat Aunt Pam.  Fat Aunt Pam is the one that introduced Brian to buttermilk syrup.

(For the record, if any of my nieces or nephews call me Fat Aunt Thelma, I won't give you any buttermilk syrup.)

Buttermilk syrup, though.  I think it changed my life.

Brian's parents were out of town for the weekend so, along with Clarissa, he was over on Sunday too.  I was in and out, but the Seahawks game was on...for awhile.  They turned it off after the fourth interception.  It was too much agony.

We were upstairs and Adam went down eventually to check on the score.  We heard a strangled sound coming from him and Braeden bolted for the stairs.  The Seahawks were back in the game!  It was very intense and when the Seahawks won in overtime, I think Clarissa saw a new side of her Uncle Adam that she'd never seen before.

(I told Clarissa that believe it or not, Adam is the most calm one in his family.)

After the triumphant game, we played some games and Braeden and Emma and Clarissa and Brian sang together some.  (I told Braeden if he didn't want to sing when his friends visit he should invite less talented friends over.)  I loved hearing them.  The harmony!

Later in the evening, Adam and I were sitting together in the darkened living room, reflecting on the weekend.

"We have a pretty good life," Adam said.

And we do.  It's as imperfect as can be, but when the sun shines, that helps along our inept furnace. Our kids are healthy and happy.  We have good things to eat (still thinking about that syrup) and a football team to cheer for, and after inviting over a few key people, our home can be filled with beautiful music.

As lives go, it's pretty good.

Monday we had another fleet of boys over to play Diplomacy.  I also had them move furniture because I'm an opportunist.  I called down to the basement for a few strong boys and five ran up the stairs (Braeden was not one of them...not his first rodeo).  They made short work of moving a bookcase.  Later, I chided Braeden for not coming to help too.  He said, "Mom, one of them is a linebacker.  I figured I'd let him do it."

Which is true.  The linebacker was useful.

Here are a few goofy shots of a few goofy boys.

This is an Austrian military uniform from WWII that Brian found in a thrift store a few years ago.  He (naturally) wore it to our house for the big Diplomacy battle (yes, that's the hat tucked under his arm...he walked around like that all day too).  I laughed every time I saw him.  Clarissa marveled when she met Brian.  She wondered how Braeden could find a friend so like him, when Braeden is sort of one of a kind.

It's a good question.  I'm glad there are others in the world too though.

Better together

There's this thing about my mom.  She knows how to feed people and she always always errs on the side of two much food.  (You've got to love people like that.)

My sisters were cut from the same cloth.  When they were visiting me, they bought some fruit for the birthday party.  A LOT of fruit.  After they went home, I didn't know what to do with all the fruit.

I put some in my blender.  Just to see.

A star was born.

The fabulous thing about this concoction that has sort of become my passion is that unlike other culinary passions of mine, this one is pretty guiltless and healthy.  It's just fruit (and a few ice cubes).

You start with:

Then you do this:

And you end up with this:

pouring equally is not my strong suit but I evened them out--no Mark was slighted in the creation of this blog post

I love it.  Mark and I are considering other fruit options.  He wants to try kiwi fruit and I told him when we're out of milk we'll go to Costco and get some kiwi fruit (and milk).  He checks milk levels several times of day.  Lucky for him he has a brother named Braeden that could keep an entire dairy in business.

We'll need more milk soon enough.

Life changing

If you heard a big sigh coming from a northwest direction, I think that was me because my week ended and another started.

One of the things that happened last week was I made cookie pops for the first time.

I wanted to make something to sell at the concession stands for Braeden's play.  I wanted to be a little creative.  I had the parameters of limited skill/time/inspiration.  Enter the internet.

I found this posted on a terribly creative blog.  (Isn't that internet something else?)

I obediently bought the edible writers that she recommended.

I made cookies and inserted popsicle sticks without incident.  It was a lot easier than I thought it would be.  I may quit my day job and become a cookie pop maker.  (If I had a day job.)

I drew a clock face on the cookies:

I'm realizing this isn't my best sampling of the cookies.  These were the ones I did first and the icing wasn't quite set and they got a little smeary.  I'm also wondering if smeary is a word.

I placed the cookies in a lovely little vase to encourage people to buy them.

It didn't really work.  They weren't huge sellers.  Emma bought one.  Mark bought three.  Adam's sister bought one with money Adam gave her.  A handful of other people bought them as well. 

Here's the upside though.  Emma watched me draw the clock faces on the cookies.  She said, "You have changed my life.  When can I make some cookies and use those pens?"  I will not be at all surprised if Emma starts writing her poetry on cookies.

So my cookies were not a smash success in the concession stand but Emma's life was changed.

Not bad in the balance.

Braeden's play was fun to watch by the way.  I was proud of my boy.  He rocks being an 80s soap opera star.  It was great to see both casts interpret their characters differently.  I really like those kids!

Chocolate Menaces

Yesterday our house was chilly and the box in my freezer where I keep cookies ready to put in school lunches was empty.

Time to bake cookies.

I decided to try something different.  (Marianne, I added my own special touch.) I changed up a recipe I already had.  Tweaking cookie recipes=my new thing.

Here's the recipe:

2 c flour
3/4 c cocoa
1/2 t salt
1 t baking soda
1 c butter
1/4 c peanut butter
a little less than 2 c sugar (I think the peanut butter adds sweetness so I cut the sugar back a bit)
2 eggs
2 t vanilla
1 c oatmeal
1 c (more or less) chocolate chips/peanut butter chips

The directions are the same as typical cookies:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butters and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients.  Add chocolate/peanut butter chips.  I had some peanut butter chips but not enough so I added some chocolate.  I'm not sure I needed either but you can't really go wrong adding chocolate chips, right?

Bake 10 minutes.

Mark helped me.  By that I mean he read his history aloud to me while I scooped cookie dough onto baking sheets and he was there to sample the finished product.

He said, "Do you have a name for these?"

I said no.

He said, "How about Chocolate Menaces?"

"Menaces?"

"Yeah," he said, "They're so good it's...criminal."  Then he smiled and took another cookie.

Sometimes I feel like Mark has a really arduous life.  I guess we both do.

Adam said they reminded him of No Bake Cookies (you know the peanut butter/chocolate/oatmeal kind).  So if you like those...

A significant blog post

Usually this blog is somewhere between inconsequential and trivial.  Occasionally it enters into the realm of frivolous.

Today is different.

Today I am going to write about something Important--chocolate chip cookies.

(See?  Now I have your attention.)

Over a year ago, I wrote about this.  I have been on a quest.  I have been trying to find The Perfect chocolate chip cookies.  I've tried several recipes.  I've tweaked, I've sampled, I've baked.

Here's what I have found:

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

(I know!)

I used a recipe I like and changed it a little and added oatmeal because I like them a bit more substantial.  (Especially since they march two by two into my kids' lunch bags.)  I don't take this claim lightly that these are the best.  They're good.

If you have a recipe you like better, please share.  In a world with hassles and to do lists and hard work and headstrong children and disease and laundry and dishes, at least there are chocolate chip cookies!

the recipe:

2 c. plus 2 T. flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
3/4 c. butter (melted and cooled until warm)
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla (I never measure this, just a generous splash.  This horrifies Emma.  She's a measurer.)
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips
1 c. old fashioned oats (these cookies are good without the oatmeal, I just like oatmeal cookies...you could use quick oatmeal if you want a happy medium)

Preheat oven to 325.  In a mixer, combine butter and sugars, beat in eggs and vanilla.  Add the dry ingredients and beat until just combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.

I use silicone baking sheets but you could use parchment paper.  In the absence of either of those, I don't know if you should grease the pans or not.  (I never promised you good recipe instructions, just good cookies.)

Bake 11-14 minutes, depending on how big you make your cookies.

Saving sunshine

I don't know why but it seems like I'm enjoying this summer weather more than I ever have.  Maybe because I'm grateful to be home.  Maybe because I am remembering to appreciate the world around me more.  Maybe because Seattle in July is the loveliest spot on the planet.

Who knows.

How I wish I could bottle it up and save some of the sunshine and warmth and blue blue skies.  (Well, yesterday was cloudy but that's the exception!)

Last week, Emma and I made raspberry jam.  Five batches.  We used raspberries that had been picked that morning at a local farm.  Popping one of them in my mouth made me swoon.  An explosion of warm sweetness and sunshine and the good earth.  Times like that make me grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves me.  Why else would there be such delicious decadence in the world?

As I surveyed the pretty jewel toned jars on the counter when we were done, I realized I had successfully bottled up some of July.  In that bottle were sweet fruit, laughter I shared with Emma while she crushed berries and I stirred jam, and sunshine.

All winter when I am making sandwiches for my children to take to school, I will not be spreading raspberry jam on the bread.

I will be spreading sunshine.

(That's what I'll tell myself...I will be needing some sunshine.)

May I suggest

There are some recipes that are quick and easy to prepare.

There are some recipes that are something you can get ready in minutes when you are squeezing dinner in with superhuman strength.

There are some recipes that everyone in your family loves and is excited when they find out what's for dinner.

There are some recipes that are all three.

(I love those recipes.)

This is incredibly simple.  It is found here.  (I provide the link because as Jill...and Janet... can attest, my transference of recipes can be a little dodgy.)

I don't think even I can mess this up though.

Put a pork roast or pork tenderloin (about 2 1/2 pounds) in your slow cooker along with 1 cup of water.  Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 5 hours.  Remove the pork from the slow cooker and shred it with forks.  (The tenderloin is easier to shred but usually costs more so find it on sale.)  Add barbecue sauce--Sweet Baby Ray's.  Is there any other kind?  I just keep adding and mixing it until I think it's enough.  But I'm really exact like that.  Then I mix up a packaged cole slaw mix.  (You can make your own if you want.  I applaud you.)  Serve on toasted buns.

And be happy, because it is good stuff.

May I suggest

I am not opposed to artificial sugar.  (Except I chew cinnamon gum to make Stephanie happy...it has no aspartame.) Diet Coke is delicious--add a little lime, you've got pure delight.

Artificial fat though?  That's a little suspect.  For example, 99% fat free butter popcorn...wha?  If there's no fat, then what is it?

Seems wrong.

I don't like the full fat kind either though, that super salty bright yellow substance doesn't resemble the butter in my fridge.

I learned that you can microwave popcorn in a plain brown paper lunch sack.  Am I the last person to find out about this? I put 1/4 cup of unpopped kernels in a bag and fold the bag over twice.  Then I microwave it about 3 minutes until I  hear the popping slow down.  (Microwaves are different so whatever time you usually use to pop popcorn should work.)

Then I add a little bit of melted butter and salt if I want or just have plain popcorn which I like too.

Here's a bonus:  this appeals to my frugal side.  At the store, the cheapest microwave popcorn was $2.22 per pound.  Buying the kernels was $.54 per pound.  Adam said it was my way of "sticking it to the man."  Is the man Orville Redenbacher?

Look at me all healthy and frugal...maybe reducing my carbon footprint as well? (Probably not but I wish because we had a Mark related recycling bin snafu last week and our recycling is full and we are throwing everything away-gasp-until it is recycling time again.  You can't imagine how guilty I feel throwing away a soup can.  That's what happens when you live in the Pacific Northwest for any length of time...recycling devotion.)

(I know a better blogger would have included helpful and artsy photos along with this.  1) I am too distracted. 2) my pictures aren't that great anyway. 3) I am taking it for granted that you know what popcorn and a microwave and a brown paper bag look like.)

Now go make some popcorn!

May I suggest

Jill told me about Land O Lakes cinnamon sugar butter.  It seems like it's not that hard to get your own butter and cinnamon and sugar instead of buying it already formulated.

But I sort of think this stuff is magic.

It is just the right mix of everything and it's lovely and spreadable and delicious. 

delightful on bread

better on toast...so good it made the photo blurry (I should be fired from photography--also, by the time I saw the blurry picture, I'd eaten the toast.  What can you do?)

May I Suggest

I made a new discovery via my dear cousin Hannah's pinterest account.  (I am beginning to think that anything wonderful in this world somehow involves Hannah.

They are called Energy Bites.  I make them on the weekend and they never make it to the next weekend.  Last weekend I even made a double batch.  On Tuesday, Adam said, "Who has been eating all of these?"  Mark and I looked at each other, a little sheepish.

But they're good.  And they seem all healthy and virtuous.

And they're really good.

I think I found the original source of the recipe here.

I am grateful.

Here's the recipe:

Smashed Peas and Carrots: No-Bake Energy Bites {Recipe}
http://smashedpeasandcarrots.blogspot.com/2011/08/no-bake-energy-bites-recipe.html August 23, 2011
No-Bake Energy Bites
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)
1/3 cup honey
1 cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla
Mix everything above in a medium bowl until thoroughly incorporated. Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls and enjoy! Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.

I toast the coconut first which I like.  Also I have used peanut butter chips and I think I'll make them with craisins next time.  Of course you can't go wrong with chocolate chips.

My Own Special Touch

My sisters and mom are the only people on the planet that will get the title of this post.  It's still worth it though.

I decided to make a cake on Friday.   I found this recipe called Grandma's Chocolate Layer Cake.

(Which is sort of misnamed if you ask me because the cake is not chocolate, just the frosting.)

(But who am I to judge?)

I more or less followed the recipe.  (Following recipes to the letter is not exactly my forte.)

I don't know if I didn't grease the pans sufficiently or if I should have taken them out of the pans earlier (it was silent reading time and I lost track of time) or maybe it was something else altogether.  But the cake would not come out of the pans.  I tried all my usual tricks and ended up with this:

I (naturally) nibbled some of the crumbs and the cake was very good.  I had to salvage it somehow.

I remembered cake pops which are delicious but troublesome.  They are made with cake crumbs and frosting.  (And I had cake crumbs!)

I cut the frosting recipe by 1/3 (probably--my math in my head skills are dodgy).  And why 1/3?  I don't know.  I also had neither bittersweet chocolate nor milk chocolate.  I used a combination of semi sweet, unsweetened and white chocolate.  It worked.  Can you go wrong with chocolate?

Then I added pieces of cake:

It resulted in a sort of indefinable creation:

It was the consistency of cookie dough and reminded me of the pudding cakes Adam used to bring me back from London.  Delicious.

Later, after dinner, I arranged balls of the concoction with raspberries and whipped cream.  Gavin was here with us and watching me arrange. He asked, "Are you making faces?"  I told him I was making something much more exciting than faces.

He said, "What is more exciting than faces?"

Probably nothing now that I think about it.

But if ever you ever wreck a cake, don't despair.  This was pretty good.

Food Love

For a few years we've been celebrating a Valentine's dinner with our children (and Grandma Geri) with a seven course meal.  We decided to have the dinner last night since our weeknights resemble a poorly orchestrated circus most of the time.  We wanted to have time to savor and enjoy.

And we did.  Savor and enjoy.

My favorite part of any meal, besides the dessert, is setting the table.

There is no such thing as too much red.  (The M&Ms are dark chocolate cherry cordial...buy some, do.)

First course: shrimp cocktail

Second course: tomato bisque

Third course:  caprese salad

(Tragically, no picture. I forgot and then the salad was gone.  It was lovely though.  Arugula, grape tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella tossed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  I drizzled a little extra balsamic vinegar on mine.  I love that stuff.  It makes my tongue sizzle.)

Fourth course:  a palette cleansing lemon sorbet

it looks a little like a pickled egg but it tasted like a gloriously sour lemon

Fifth course:  steak, scallops, roasted sweet potatoes

Sixth course:  caramel walnut brownie and a raspberry tartlett

Seventh course: double gloucester and gouda cheese (not smoked gouda...cheese should not be smoked if you ask me), biscoff cookies and dark chocolate with lemon and black pepper.  Geri brought the chocolate.  The idea of black pepper gave me pause but once I tried it, I realized it is definitely something I can get behind.

It was a delightful meal.  It's fun to pull out all the stops once in awhile.

Afterwards we sat around in a happy state, chatting.  Geri gave me ideas for Emma's room and we talked over paint chips for a scheme I'm hatching elsewhere.

Sometimes life is just really lovely.

Fudge

I love my mom's fudge with all my heart.  It's the best fudge the world over.  Maybe fudge is like stuffing and potato salad, you like best what you grew up with.  I don't know.  But I do know that this fudge is my soul food.

  

I make it early in December (without the nuts because my children don't like nuts...what is wrong with those people?) and keep it in the refrigerator and cut dainty little squares whenever I want.  Which is often.  It lasts until New Year's.  

The heart wants what the heart wants.

This year, I decided to make some variations on the recipe.

I added crushed candy canes to some:

Pistachios and dried cranberries to some:

Topped some fudge with sea salt:

And mixed in some peanut butter chips to other fudge:

Of course, I also left some smooth and unadorned:

Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.

Mae West

The Quest: Chocolate Cake

I made my first entry in The Chocolate Cake Quest when I made Mark's half birthday cake.  It was from Our Best Bites.  I made the cake and the frosting.  They weren't too labor intensive which is important.  I dirtied a lot more dishes than if I'd made a cake mix and my regular frosting, but this is, after all, The Quest.

The cake was a tiny bit dry.  Not really dry, but not as moist as I'd like.  The frosting was a little too rich.  I liked it, but I should have used a thinner layer.

I had enough extra frosting to make these:

I should have made more.

I didn't need such a thick layer of frosting and frosting on graham crackers is maybe the ambrosia the Greek gods ate on Mt. Olympus.

The Quest continues.

The Quest

I am, at my core, a very boring person.  I like what I like and I don't venture too far from it.  At Chipotle, I always get a chicken burrito; at any Thai restaurant, I get showering rama; at The Spaghetti Factory, I get spaghetti with browned butter and mizithra cheese; at The Diamond Knot, I get the Old Darby Calzone.  You get what I mean...

I am in the process of cleaning my kitchen.  (send help)  Here's a problem:  I merrily tear recipes out of magazines and set them aside to try.  I have them in a neat little stack in neat little folders with neat little paper clips.

But I don't like them.  I either want to add them in my permanent recipe book or get rid of them.

But what if there's The Perfect Recipe contained in those stacks?

(Everyone can't be vexed with such pressing problems...only some of us can handle the pressure.)

One reason I continue to rip out recipes is that I want The Perfect Recipe for a few items.  Among them, chocolate cake, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, chocolate lava cakes...

Are you sensing a theme?

But also, pizza dough.  THE pizza dough.  That's what I want.

And also chicken tortilla soup.  I have several reams of paper full of recipes for chicken tortilla soup.  Which one is the best one?  Why mess with recipes that aren't the Best One?

So if you thought this blog was all about trivialities, you were mistaken, my dears.  I am going to document my (occasional) progress in these various (mostly chocolate) quests.

Gather in your resources, rally all your faculties, marshal all your energies, focus all your capacities upon mastery of at least one field of endeavor. 

-John Haggai

How To Make Pumpkin Muffins

Among her many and varied good qualities, Jill brings me muffins every now and then.  Really good muffins.

A while ago she brought me two muffins, one for Mark and one for me.

I ate Mark's.  (What?  He said I could.)

They were amazing.  I told Jill and she told me the recipe and now I'll tell you.



1 spice cake mix

15 oz can pumpkin puree

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice



Mix together and place in muffin tins.  Sprinkle with brown sugar and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

I think spice cake mix and pumpkin puree are a match made in heaven.  I have written about these cookies made out of the same lovely combination.

Now I'm wondering if I should make the muffins with chocolate chips.

I wonder if I should skip the brown sugar and frost them with cream cheese frosting elevating them past that thin, thin line that separates muffins from cupcakes.

I wonder if I should buy more spice cake mixes and pumpkin puree.

(I know this post would have been better with a picture or two...we ate the muffins before I thought about it.)

How To Make Dinner for Wednesday Night

...or whatever night happens to be your awful night where you have to be 35 places at once and your family still expects dinner.

After you've exhausted the drive-thru option one too many times.

After you've made this more often than you care to remember:

Here's something to try:

In your crockpot place 4 chicken breasts  (it's OK if they're frozen), 2 or 3 cans of beans (any combination of refried beans or drained black beans or whatever), a jar of salsa, and a couple of cups of chicken broth.

I don't think I've ever made it the same way twice and it always works.

I let it cook on low for about 6 hours...or whatever (are you getting that this isn't really one of those carefully tested recipes?).

Break up the chicken breasts with a spoon or take them out and slice them (I've done both, the second option is quicker but as you can imagine, messy).

It will be a thick soup consistency.  Serve over tortilla chips and you can top it with grated cheese, sour cream, diced tomatoes, guacamole, etc.

Marie Antoinette Would Approve

You can never recreate the past. But you can shape your own future. And you can make a cake.
-- Jacqueline Duval

Last night I baked a cake.  Soft and fragrant with a mound of cream cheese frosting on top (something went a little awry with the frosting consistency but it still tasted good).

It had been that kind of day so why wouldn't I bake a cake?

There are people in the world that will tell you that cake isn't the answer to whatever ails you.

Don't trust those people.

Guarantee

There are no guarantees.

Except there are some.

I know my boys will turn on every single light downstairs when they wake up in the morning, even if sun is streaming brightly through the windows (they secretly receive kickbacks from the utility company).

Also, every day I will receive more emails from businesses than people (which is sad).

There are some things that aren't guarantees, but I really hope they're true.

Like I hoped that on Saturday the 5 dozen eggs that were balanced on six gallons of milk in my Costco cart wouldn't topple onto the American-Flag-Congratulations-Jason-Eagle-Court-Of-Honor cake that I was picking up.

There was a lot of hope going on there.

I also hope I get comments on my blog (there's a very thinly veiled hint).  I may, or I may not.

But I hope.

Then there are things I can guarantee will not happen.

I know I won't win $10,000 if I participate in the survey on my Jack in the Box receipt so I never try.

I know there are no guarantees about the weather.  I always take a jacket.

Jennifer, years ago, gave me a recipe for some pumpkin/spice/chocolate chip cookies.

She told me that the person who gave her the recipe told her that they're a Weight Watcher recipe.

Can she guarantee it?

Is that something I can absolutely trust?  Hope for?  Absolutely shouldn't rely on?

I'm counting on you, Jennifer.

Because to me "Weight Watcher recipe" is code for "Eat all you want, Thelma."

Last night, after the cookies came out of the oven, I was obliged to eat them, one after another.  Because they're so wonderful hot from the oven, warm and soft and oozing with melted chocolate.

Then this morning I had several more for breakfast because they're so wonderful after they've cooled.  Still soft.  The chocolate is firm again.  And who doesn't like biting into a previously melted but then cooled chocolate chip?  Completely different than a regular chocolate chip.

And I would know.

So here's the recipe.  In addition to good, they're amazingly easy to prepare.

And here's hoping they're actually good for you.  Health food.  Sort of like celery (with no peanut butter or dip).

The Recipe:

spice cake mix
15 oz can of pumpkin
1 c chocolate chips

Mix and drop onto greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes.

Seriously that's all.

You're welcome.

What Can I Say...We're Foodies

Instead of going to dinner like Adam and I often do on Valentine's Day, we treated our children to a fancy dinner at home.  It was a seven course meal.  There is no end of wonder at a seven course meal if you are a kid...this we learned. 

Adam was the genius (and cook) behind the magic.  For your viewing pleasure (and so I can have a record to show our children:  see we did do nice things for you that one time), our meal:

The Appetizer:

bruschetta and crostini

The Soup:

coconut chicken curry soup (purchased soup...he's only one man)

The Salad:

caprese salad (one of my contributions)

The Sorbet:

lemon sorbet:  "to cleanse the palette"  

we weren't messing around

The entree:

thyme steak, shrimp, sauteed mushrooms and asparagus, baby potatoes, spreadable pesto cheese...it was all so amazing...

the servings were small, they had to be, it was so much food

Dessert:

 raspberry mousse from L'Artisan, the local French bakery

Janet introduced us to these marvels of culinary enchantment.

We may never be the same.

The Cheese Course:

 we sampled double gloucester, havarti dill, and cheddar with smoked salmon

ahhhhhh

Our children and I decided I should hang up my apron and let Adam do the cooking from now on.

He said, "I couldn't do this every night."

I told him he could start with every other night and work up from there.  We're patient like that.