Table for One

I had some extra time the other night to actually whip up something other than a frozen meal or mac and cheese (don't get me wrong...I love me some mac and cheese) but this is one of my favorite pasta meals to make. Erin who stayed with me almost exactly a year ago gave me this delish recipe. I really suggest you give it a try!

1/4 cups butter
1/2 cups oil
1 tbs flour
1 clove garlic (pressed or minced) (I use like 3-4 cloves but I am a HUGE fan of the garlic)
1 (14 oz.) can of artichoke hearts in water
1 cup chicken broth
1 tbs minced parsley (fresh or dried)
3 tsp lemon juice (better if straight from a lemon and not the bottled stuff, about 2 lemons)
2 tbs parmesan cheese
2 tsp capers
salt and pepper (to taste)
linguine noodles

To cook:
1.) In a large pan, melt butter with oil, add flour, and stir (3 minutes, on about high medium heat. Just don't let the butter burn!)
2.) Stir in broth (1 minute), reduce heat and add garlic, parsley, lemon juice, and salt and pepper
3.) Stir constantly for 5 minutes
4.) Mix in artichoke (with water from can), cheese, and capers. I like to break apart the artichoke hearts with a spoon if they are maintaining their shape in the pan.
5.) Cover and simmer (8 minutes) You can simmer longer, it gets thicker the longer you simmer.
6.) While simmering, boil up the noodles.

Add more of any ingredient to soothe your desires. I usually add more garlic and lemon than what is called for. This also re-heats for days later which is awesome left-overs!!

Anyone else have any good recipes they want to swap??

These are some of my favorite things...

These are some things that are making me happy. (However this is a simplified list that I am sure all of you can use your imaginations to add to)

• Starbucks finally has the holiday season red cups! (Yes I know they also have their holiday drinks out too, but I tend to stick to my staple chai)

• Google today was amazing:
  

• These darling note cards from Papersource

• The care package my wonderful mom sent to me. She mailed me a beautiful scarf, pen and pencil set and a great journal! My parents really are awesome.

But yes....I am happy. Very happy.

Rustico

I have wanted to go to this restaurant for a very long time, and for some reason or another it just never really happened. But at last, I finally made to Rustico in Alexandria! It is right across the street from my coffee house (well my old coffee house) and had a great little outside sitting area which we were able to get a table on. The beer offerings were awesome and I tried out a Smuttynose browndog ale (we are totally guessing if that was the right name) but it was dark, nutty and completely delish!

We ordered three of their "small dishes":


PEI MUSSELS
white wine broth & creamy chorizo polenta

CREAMY ACORN POLENTA
orange braised pork shoulder,
sweet and spicy pumpkin seeds


SALT ROASTED BEET SALAD
goat cheese fondue, blood orange vinaigrette,
pistachio dust

The polenta was amazing. I seriously have dreams about eating it. It is an experience for one's mouth that is blissful. After dinner we headed to get a sweet treat at the Dairy Godmother. This place will keep me coming back to Alexandria for sure!

Edible bliss was the theme for the evening for sure!

Elevate your Burger

Through co-workers I learned about Elevation Burger, which was started by a few ex-employees from my company. The concept seems simple: great ingredients thus creating amazing burgers. The meat is top quality, healthy and delish. I was also very impressed with the toppings! My pickles were thin sliced to perfect, my raw onions were crisp and obviously had not been wilting all day, and the cheese was generous in quantity.

It was fun to eat some place that I knew a little bit about the behind the scenes and I wish the people I do know involved with Elevation Burger all the best wishes (I encourage all in the area to give it a try) because they really did elevate my burger experience.

Halloween 2009

I must say for Halloween (not exactly my favorite holiday as I get older) this one was pretty fun and at the same time, low key.

Friday my office had a in-office happy hour (yes I know you are jealous that we drink beer at 3pm in the office, on the offices wallet too!). My boss and I actually stepped it up, compared to our loser (i say that with sarcasm) co-workers and dressed up. When Lindsey and Dan were visiting me the weekend before (blog on that weekend coming soon) Lindsey came up with the brilliant idea for me to go as a "Hot" Potato. I wore brown leggings, an over sized brown shirt that I belted. And to create the inside of the potato, I attached curled ribbon to me (sour cream/potato insides), with orange and green pipe cleaners ( chives and cheese) and a sponge that was my butter. Add a Grown in Idaho logo and a Idaho Potato pin...swirl, spin and viola! Insta-potato. It thought it was good.

Idaho....No.. UDaho!

Where in the world is Carmen SanDiego?

Anyways...that night I headed to a house party than Erin threw to celebrate Halloween AND her Birthday. This year I didn't make her a banner, but I did take her cupcakes from Hello Cupcake during her lunch. Erin and her bf Paul rocked some amazing "Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego" (which brought some discussion with people about who was the host and the phrase "Let's go to the Map!").

The next day I lulled around in bed which was amazing ( I have been exhausted lately!), took care of some laundry and cleaning issues and then headed to elevation burger (there will need to be a follow up post to this since this has been a long time in the coming), and then to Dairy Godmother for some PUMPKIN custard...ohmygod, Thanksgiving in a cup!

Later in the evening I found myself drinking some beer, making fun of other people's costumes and participating in a pastime I haven't had a lot of time to do: Buck Hunting.

Nothing like shooting some animated animals to get me all riled up!

Back in Idaho, Wyatt wins the prize for cutest baby and cutest costume. He was a BEE!!!

Flying bee!! (Look how happy he is!) Love it!

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!!