Sunday Night Dinner FAIL - Vodka Penne Pasta

In celebration of Dexter and Homeland starting up again, we had a couple of friends over and Mo decided to treat us by making dinner.   Well, so far, she's 0-2.  Earlier last week, she she tried burgers.  Half way through dinner, Don literally got up mid-bite because the food was making him sick...

Vodka Penne Pasta was round two.  We're not quite sure what happened...all the ingredients were right (onions, garlic, parsley, parm, tomatoes, vodka, cream); but the watery, tasteless sauce just wasn't.  Better luck next time, sista!

Monday Night Dinner - Sweet Corn Risotto

I made a commitment to myself to start cooking a nice dinner at least once a week - can't beat a good Sunday night dinner!  Well, on Week #1, I already failed and Sunday night turned into Monday night dinner.  Two calls to my mom (what if I don't have pinot grigio; shallots??) and an unplanned trip to the g-store mid-recipe, we finally sat down for an awesome dinner at 8:30pm.  Don was starving.

I found the recipe on The Novice Chef and altered to our tastes:

Sweet Corn Risotto

ingredients:

1 tablespoon of butter

2 tablespoons of olive oil

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 large onion, chopped

3 cups fresh sweet corn

1 3/4 cup arborio rice

1 cup white wine

5 cups chicken stock

4 oz parmesan cheese, grated

4 tablespoons parsley, minced

salt and peppter to taste

(I also added a grilled boneless/skinless chicken breast to each plate)

directions:

In a large pot, add olive oil and onion, stirring until onion becomes transparent, about 5 minutes

Add garlic, stirring until garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add corn and arborio rice, stirring constantly, until the edges of the rice are translucent, about 6 minutes.

Add wine, stirring constantly, until almost completely absorbed, about 3 minutes.

Add 1 cup chicken stock, stirring constantly, until the stock has been absorbed. Continue adding stock, 1 cup at a time, stirring the risotto until the stock is absorbed before adding more. The risotto is done when the rice is tender.

Stir in the romano cheese, parsley and butter. Season with salt and pepper.

A very simple to make, tasty dish. Enjoy!

Ski-U-Mah

This weekend was the guys' first Gopher football game of the season. Bigley forgot his gold and thought he could hide it by standing in back.  Thanks to Andrea for cooking up breakfast before the game.  The blueberry french toast looked delicious!

Congrats to Mr & Mrs Berscheid!

A lovely weekend up north with a lovely couple...and all of our other friends!  B&R's wedding weekend was FILLED with laughs and memories.  Their ceremony was one of the most touching I have ever seen.  In fact...when I pulled Don's sunglasses off his face to check myself out in the reflection, I wasn't the only one with tears in my eyes.  

If you have ever wondered to yourself..."Should I have dueling pianos at my wedding?"...the answer is yes!  The little gem below depicts the fun Don and I shared on stage, rocking out to the Beastie Boys. 

A few of my favorites from the weekend include a day of boating that ended with B's stepmom in the lake, my first trip to Pizza Ranch (you know, 'home of legendary pizza'...not all its hyped up to be), the Ace Ventura impressions, karaoke, the Wogen's speeches, 'the Bernie' and watching the love between B&R.  Congrats again to the Berscheids!

Seattle

Spending 5 days in Seattle was amazing.  So much to do and see.  Below are a few highlights from the trip out West. 

We had a lovely evening at Chateau Ste. Michelle drinking wine, eating tasty apps and listening to Alison Krauss and Union Station. The scenery was beautiful and the company delightful.

We rode the ferry across Puget Sound over to Bainbridge Island, a quaint fishing town that has been voted the 2nd most desirable place in the US to live (second to whom, I do not know).  On the island we had lunched along the water and strolled along the beach. 

Of course we visited the Fish Market!  Crowded as ever, a few of the highlights include the following: The "throwing of the fish", beautiful summer flowers, Squirrel Butter's bluegrass tunes outside the first ever Starbucks and the famous (gag-worthy) gum wall.  The Market Theater Gum Wall is a local Seattle landmark and has been deemed one of the germiest tourist attractions in the US.

Thanks to Mike and Stacey for a wonderful time and nice Nikes.

Up North with the Stachels