Food comas

I realize that this blog is basically turning into a documentation of how absolutely food-centered my weekends have become, and this past weekend was no different. Rob got back from ten days in Atlanta on Friday night, and since it was his last weekend before launching into busy season (and, coincidentally, his last weekend as a 23 year old!), we had to celebrate. 

Friday night, I prepared an Italian feast. Mind you, I do not like cooking Italian food. I don't particularly enjoy pasta and I'm not very good at making it. Rob, however, requested it for his homecoming meal and since I aim to please, I couldn't say no. I headed to Pasta Provisions, a wonderful Italian market with all the fixings you can imagine, including fresh made pasta. I also had a coupon, so it was clearly meant to be. Rob was hungry when he got home from Atlanta but I wasn't, so I made him a happy hour plate to have a few hours before dinner.

Rosemary focaccia, pesto (nommmmm), manchego, jalapeno-stuffed olives, red wine cheddar, and proscuitto

Arugula salad with asparagus and proscuitto; rosemary-garlic linguini with a pomodoro sauce

Happy Bob

The meal was delish. We stayed in and watched a movie (I fell asleep, oops), and it was an absolutely perfect start to the weekend.

Saturday morning, I had to drop my car off at the dealer for some maintenance so I let the king sleep in. After another session at Hilliard, Rob and I went to get massages at the Charles Grayson Halcyon Days salon in Charlotte. I had a gift card thanks to some very sweet coworkers, and I knew this would be a really good birthday treat. The massage was AMAZING. I want to get one every month...or every day. We ran errands and had a really good lunch at Wolfgang Puck's Pizza Bar (sandwiches and a beet-arugula salad) before heading back home to watch some football. I'll talk about Saturday night in another post!

SUNDAY was pretty fabulous. Hilary spent the afternoon with us and it was so nice to be reunited with my long lost sister. We did some serious shopping (hello, new curtain rod, shoe rack, TV stand, and duvet cover) and baked cookies for her friends. After she left, I spent the rest of the afternoon cooking a pretty extravagant meal for Rob's official birthday dinner (he works through dinner during the week, so we celebrated last night): slow-cooked short ribs, grits with manchego, and roasted veggies.

Short ribs:

Brown the short ribs in a pan with oil, salt, and peppaaa. Make them crispy. Put them in the slow cooker with carrots, onions, garlic, red wine, beef broth, a little coffee, red pepper, balsamic, thyme...whatever. Make it deep. Cook on low for 6-8 hours and the meat will literally fall right off the bones.

For the grits, I brought chicken broth, water, and milk to a boil before adding the grits. I couldnt believe that 1/2 cup of grits turned into ~5 servings, but alas, magic in the kitchen! I added 1/8 stick of butter (I really thought I'd have to add an entire stick, but didn't need to!), ~1/4 cup of manchego, and ~ 1/3 cup of plain Greek yogurt. These were amazing. Rob had some leftovers with his eggs for breakfast this morning. Delish.

Then I just roasted up some brussel sprouts and mushrooms for a little extra oomph.

Finished product:

Nom.

I ALSO made a cake from scratch for the first time. I used Ina Garten's chocolate cake recipe, this frosting recipe, and then another German Chocolate Cake Frosting recipe for the top. Lots of work but it was worth it - this cake is EXTREMELY decadent and delicious.

After the sugar high from the cake, I passed out from a food coma.