dinner last night

I made the BEST dinner last night.  If I do say so myself ;)

Traffic was really light so I was home by 7:15.  Kinda crazy because there was an accident on 395 tying up three lanes, but once I got past that, it was practically empty the rest of the way.  But I was still pretty hungry by the time I got home.  I had bought some tomatoes over the weekend and wanted to use them before they went bad and also had a thing of feta cheese that was calling out to me and there was no way I was ignoring that siren song!

My plan was to just chop up the tomatoes and toss them with some pasta and the feta and be done with it.  But then I remembered my brand new America's Test Kitchen cookbook (yay Christmas!) and how I want to make as many recipes from it as possible.

So I pulled it out and looked up the recipe for Pasta Caprese and it was perfect.  Of course, I used feta instead of mozzerella and I didn't have any basil.  And I used two cloves of garlic instead of one.  And a little less shallot.  And I didn't measure the lemon juice (used 1/2 a lemon) or olive oil.  But it was basically the same and phenomenal.  I scarfed it down and portioned the rest for lunches this week.  Today I ate my lunch at 11am because I made the mistake of trying it cold.  And it was just as good so I finished it then and there.  This would make an excellent pasta salad with maybe a few other vegetables thrown in for crunch.

Highly recommend - both the book and the recipe!

ZOMG it's a squirrel!

Seriously, that was my EXACT reaction when I saw this little critter:

I'm not even a squirrel fan.  I don't know how to explain it.  It might be due to the oversized tail.  It's quite fabulous.

I also liked these new West Elm items:

And that canopy bed did make me say OMG a little bit.  It could be a condender if my current bed ever finally breaks...

to custard or not to custard

I love dinner parties.  I love scouring the internet and poring through cookbooks to come up with the perfect menu that is both easy and impressive.  And holiday dinner parties are even better.  More special.  More glittery.  But holiday dinners are my mom's domain - she's the matriarch of the family so holidays are always celebrated at her house.  I was raised Unitarian Universalist and while we celebrate Christmas, Christmas Eve was always an afterthought.  We don't go to church, we don't have gobs of family to visit, we open presents in the morning, the big dinner with roasted meat is on Christmas Day.  Christmas Eve was for reading 'Twas The Night Before Christmas and that's about it.  So I created an event out of Christmas Eve dinner as something to do - and as a reason for me to be in control of a holiday dinner.  What can I say?  I like being hostess.

I have my menu all planned out.  Brie & crackers to start (probably heated up with pears and/or almonds on top, though not en croute).  Crab & spinach lasagna, roasted Brussels sprouts and a green salad for dinner.  And a pear tart tatin with vanilla ice cream for dessert.

And that's where the custard dilemma comes in.

I have an ice cream maker.  My sister got it for me for Christmas a few years ago and I love it to death, but have only made ice cream once.  I hate making custards and apparently I didn't have everything cold enough because it froze up too hard (though still tasted great).  But I have this ice cream maker!  I should use it!

So I did some research.  If I chill the base properly and let it age in the fridge for 24 hours, it should mix up properly and not become a brick.  If I serve it after freezing for just a few hours, it should be fine either way (though my leftovers will possibly still be rock-hard).  If I add some gelatin or anywhere from a teaspoon to a tablespoon of vodka, it should help it stay scoopable.

But there's still the problem of having to make a custard.  Then I found this recipe from Williams Sonoma (I always have luck with their recipes).  Philadelphia-style ice cream made without eggs.  Oooooooooh.

After more research, I learned that this is how Breyer's Natural Vanilla (the type with the bean specks) is made.  And my sister and my mom really like Breyer's.  But I like Ben & Jerry's and Haagen Dazs better, both of which are made with eggs (and thus probably a custard). 

I don't know what my brother-in-law prefers so am going to assume he's like my niece and would be happy with either.

So should I make the Philadelphia-style ice cream?  Or should I buy a custard-based (or French-style) one?

Making my own ice cream will have to start tonight with freezing the machine and all that.  It will be one more thing for me to do on Christmas Eve day (though really, I could prep the lasagna the night before).  Buying a pint would be a heck of a lot easier and probably will taste better, but it won't be as rewarding.  But I'm often too ambitious and end up running late when entertaining.  Would be nice to be able to not have to spend the whole day cooking.  Or rearrange my freezer to make room for the machine.

I can't decide.  I'm going grocery shopping tonight and will decide on the fly.

my sister's Christmas tree

I love my sister's Christmas tree.  She just put it up this weekend and it's so very pretty.  She put pictures up on her blog, but I think this tree needs to be spread across the internet even more - it's definitely the best one I've seen.

I think my favorite part is the shape of the tree itself.  They went with a fir instead of spruce and it just has a more natural tree shape.  More like something you'd find in real life instead of on a Christmas tree farm.

Alison and I picked our holiday colors years and years ago.  She is blue and silver, I'm red and gold.  As we started collecting our tree decorations, we both mostly kept to these colors and it makes for a coordinated, but not overly perfect tree.  On her tree, there are different shades of blue, brushed and polished silver, and coordinating colors of lime and purple.  It makes for a nice base so the childhood, handmade and gift ornaments stand out - not like sore thumbs, but like special additions.  It's a tree with a giving heart that can accomodate the new and the old, the pretty and the tacky.

These shortest days of the year need extra sparkle.  Putting up lights, shiny ornaments, garlands and trees add a different energy to your house and make everything just a little bit magical.