Saturday, 1/31/26

 Dinner with Jen and John and Laurie...an interesting Blue Apron of a sort of pierogi soup with spinach and dill. We let it sit a bit too long while gabbing and drinking, so the pierogis got a little mushy and the spinach lost its joie de vivre, but the flavors were good, especially with a little sour cream swirled in. Laurie brought some parm, olive oil and Balsamic from her recent tip to Italy---really nice with Jason's bread. I wanted to make something easy and comforting, so I did a boxed yellow cake with chocolate frosting (American buttercream from Sally's Baking Addiction; the cocoa powder tamps the sweetness). Turns out everyone was in the mood for a nostalgic cake. Home late again, bit at least it was a shorter drive!

Friday, 1/30/26

 Our Game Night friends invited us up to Stockbridge to check out their new condo, so that was an adventure. We all met for dinner in Lenox at a pizza place called Boema. I liked it, Jason was predictably underwhelmed. We shared some meatballs and a cheese pizza. Too late, I remembered that they offered  free hot honey as an add-on; I think it would have been an excellent addition. it was my turn to make dessert and I made Mexican hot chocolate cookies from the NYT. I think they went over well, especially with Scott. Games were fun, but we got home LATE. Maybe we should have taken them up on the offer to sleep over?

Thursday, 1/29/26

 Killed a small bag of wedge fries from the freezer, plus the last of an elderly loaf of cranberry-walnut bread. Turned out we also had three kinds of cheddar opened? I roasted some broccoli to tie it all together.

Wednesday, 1/28/26

 Sometimes I don't know what draws me to a recipe....what was it about  "One-Pot Cheesy Orecchiette With Cabbage and Paprika" that made me think it would be delicious? The word cheesy? I have no idea. It was fine, but the sour cream you add at the end (or in my case, yogurt) made it unpleasantly soupy. I might make it again with no yogurt and more cabbage and something to brighten it up a bit. Oddly enough, Jason loved it. You never know what will grab him

ps the leftovers, having soaked up the sauce, were better

pps didn't have orecchiette and used cavatappi

Tuesday, 1/27/26

 Beans and rice, but make it complicated. I had cooked the pinto beans in the Instant pot on Sunday, so that was easy, but then I decided that we needed guacamole, some pickled red onion, and zucchini that I roasted in a hot oven with cherry tomatoes and mini bell peppers. So it wasn't as quick as it could be. Doused the whole thing with my new obsession, taijin seasoning.

Monday, 1/26/26

 Another snow day! I was planning on beans and rice, but Liz invited us over for pizza so we postponed. The roads were still pretty dicey, so we made in an early night.

Sunday, 1/25/26

 Snow Day! I made a big pan of SK's cauliflower gratin ; I added some pasta and some green beans and we called that a whole meal. The other changes I make are so minor (omit nutmeg, panko instead of regular breadcrumbs) that they hardly count. This batch was a little light on sauce, but it baked up so crunchy and tasty that I didn't mind.