Last Friday, I went for my first appointment for contacts. I never wore them before, mainly because my mother insisted that I would be careless with them and would somehow lose my vision. Now that I pay for my own insurance, I decided to try them out since my vision is getting really bad, and I hate glasses, mainly because they actually hurt my face. As it turns out, I may have to get used to it because I was a miserable failure with putting contacts in. It took me about 20 minutes to get just one in, and then I couldn't get it out. I get another try, but the place won't let me go home with them until I can take them in and out three times. My hopes are not high. That night, I made a chicken enchilada casserole. It was good, but our friend Parissa's (featured in 'The Reel Belles') is much better.
The entire casserole-we cut it by 1/3, making 5 instead of 8 enchiladas.
Saturday, we went out to dinner at a local sushi restaurant that everyone raves about. We went skating at a free rink downtown, then went for sushi. It was cool because we got our own private room (mainly because they forgot our reservation) and watched Finding Nemo during dinner. The sushi was good, but expensive. I've had better sushi for cheaper, but I can say our service was amazing.
Sunday was the super bowl, the cornucopia of a football fan's year. The Ravens won, as I expected. So far, Ray Lewis has not gone out and killed anyone. Yet. For the game, we went to a friend's house and snacked on sandwiches, pizza, pigs in a blanket, and some assorted dips.
Monday we went back to the grind. I made a corn and potato chowder. This has been the first time since I decided on wedding registry gifts that I regretted not putting an immersion blender on it. I had to transfer the soup to a blender slowly to finish it, which was what the recipe called for, but I think the immersion blender would have made the job much easier, and made for less clean up.
Tuesday, which is my late day at work, I made something simple, chicken and bacon roll ups. Sounds bigger than what it really is. Essentially, it's a sandwich. The "mayo" was miracle whip, tarragon, and lemon juice, and it was really good. Deli chicken, bacon, tomatoes and lettuce all wrapped up was all this recipe needed. I took a picture of it before because when it's all rolled up, it totally looks like we ate a tree branch for dinner.
Wednesday I made a pork and potato skillet. I liked that I had to cut up a ton of vegetables and used the skills I learned in my knife class. I also liked that you essentially made everything in one pan, making cleanup nice and easy. The potatoes were frozen hash browns, and there were tons of vegetables in the dish-peppers, onions, peas, and carrots. It was fairly bland, but with a little salt it really picked the dish up.
Thursday I made braised beef short ribs. I used to love making this in South Carolina mainly because I could find short ribs at the grocery store for $2 a pound. Back in Buffalo, I can't find a good cut of beef for making this for under $5. Actual short ribs are almost $8! So we bought a fatty cut of beef and prayed for the best. Again, I cut the original recipe, this time in a quarter. This is helpful when we are working on portion control, and also helpful when your husband does not like "the taste" of leftovers. Whatever that means. 45 minutes in the oven and this is what came out.
It was pretty good, but it was very clear that the beef we bought was not short ribs. In Carolina when we made it there was no need for a knife, the beef fell apart with a fork. We had to use a knife with dinner tonight, and it was still tasty, but the beef wasn't melt in your mouth good. I personally like the juice it's cooked in best. It consists of blasamic vinegar, beef broth, red wine, onions and tomatoes. I usually end up eating extra onions and tomatoes before I do the dishes.
Friday was my Birthday, so we went to my parents house for dinner. My mom made me ham and potatoes, and then carrot cake for dessert. My dad attempted to help on this cake matter, because if you know my father, you know he loves dessert almost as much as his firstborn. Last week was their dog's birthday and my father not only baked and frosted the entire cake, but also wrote out "Happy Birthday Bismarck" in red and blue sprinkle colors and placed them on the cake carefully with tweezers. He tried to do the same thing for me- not baking and frosting, but just the lettering. Apparently he got tired of it because mine was in all sorts of colors and it read "Happy Birthdy Annn." Not joking. In case you didn't know, my name is Anna. Le sigh.
Saturday Ryan took me out to what is arguably one of my favorite restaurants in Buffalo: Frank's Sunny Italy. They have the best sweet sauce ever! I had ravioli, which is odd because I have only ever gotten spaghetti at Franks. Normally I ask for my sauce on the side because it gives me such bad heartburn (any tomato based sauce does this to me, not just Franks.). I went for gusto, and the ravioli was good, but I should have stuck to old faithful.
Afterwards, we went to a housewarming party for our friends who recently bought a house. Our friend Morgan was there and she was drinking something called skinny wine. So of course, we both tried some, and loved it. We were at Premier when they opened today, along with some other alcoholics who must have ran out last night, and bought
Tonight we're having the leftovers my mom gave us from Friday. Simple, and it saves us money. Next week begins Lent, which is Catholic for "no meat on Friday." The next 40 days should promise some interesting twists on fish as well as some soups. Until next time!
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