On Friday, Brien and I went to a Brazilian restaurant in our neighborhood. The place itself was just okay; we’d made a reservation, but were put into the back room which wasn’t quite as atmospheric as the front, and was empty when we first sat down. Still, we spent a romantic evening over a bottle of Malbec and four shared plates. My favorites were the grilled octopus (one of my favorite things)…
… and passion fruit mousse, which I split with myself and pretended I was in the Caribbean.
In the morning, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before driving out to Long Island to look at our future wedding venue, aka my parents’ house. We decided to make a relaxing day out of it, so we stopped at Provisions for lunch. Provisions is a health food store store + organic cafe, which we only discovered a couple years ago. I love it, but it gets so busy! Luckily we were able to snag a table after a short wait, and it was well worth it because my meal was amazing. If it weren’t a daily special I might even think of going back there next weekend to eat it again! It was a millet cake layered over miso-shitake-mushrooms over curried red lentils.
When we got to the house, it had just started snowing. Racing against the clock, my engineer fiancé took out his pencil and tape measure…
… and we figured out that yes, we’ll be able to get married out there!
Hopefully, the weather will be on our side in September…
Imagine green grass and blooming flowers, instead of a sea of white.
231 days to go!
We stopped at a Whole Foods in Long Island on the way home, stocking up for the week… it wasn’t nearly as crowded as a Saturday night in the City would have been!
We’ve been eating a lot of polenta bowls lately, and this one was inspired by our friend Jonathan, who introduced us to the Cajun seasoning at Whole Foods! (It’s near the seafood… try it.) I just mixed a bit of the blend as the millet finished cooking, then sautéed some frozen shrimp and onions in olive oil and more seasoning. Topped with sautéed broccolini, seasoned with- yes!- Cajun spice, and a little goat cheese.
We’ve also been buying seafood each week at our local farmer’s market, and it’s been great in helping me to expand my repertoire. Making fish doesn’t have to be a big production, and this recipe for Monkfish in Tomato Garlic Sauce was so easy. We added chopped olives to the sauce, and served it with thinly sliced potatoes cooked with olive oil and rosemary, and fennel salad with clementines and pomegranate.
Right now, I’ve got these cooking:
Creamy Parmesan White Beans with Spicy Greens (subbing feta)
Curried Carrot Ginger Soup (no recipe)
What’s on your menu for the week?