Random Eats - No Groceries

We didn't really plan not to buy groceries, but for two weeks in a row we didn't go to the grocery store, and just ate things up around the house.  Some of our dinners were really fancy, like Velveeta mac and cheese:

Haha!  Soooooo good!

We made a shrimp curry over rice:

Pasta with a straight-up jarred sauce:

As you can see, we've really been getting into the gourmet cooking lately ;-)

This was our dinner one evening:

Don't worry.  We got groceries today.  There will be some real cooking around here very soon.

Today we met up with our friend Diana at Flip for lunch.  It was so great to catch up with her and meet her little baby girl! 

I had the spaetzle for lunch; it's one of my favourite dishes in town:

We'll be heading out tonight, as Christopher's band has a show.  Tomorrow, we're takin' it easy.

What are you up to this weekend?

Weekend

Our January weekends have been busy so far.  The weekend following New Years we hosted a wine and cheese party, and then the weekend after that we had dinner guests ... and then this past weekend we were off on a little road trip.

On Friday evening we headed to Saskatoon for the weekend to see my mom.  We got into town only about an hour before our favourite restaurant, Seoul, was closing.  We ordered a Korean beef stew for two, and gobbled that down before heading back to our hotel room to crash for the night. 

The next morning we were up bright and early.  We had breakfast in the hotel before going to see my mom for the day.

I had a bit of a headache, so we ate again around 4:30 p.m., and then headed back to the hotel room for the evening.

Our weekends in Saskatoon can be a little bit emotionally draining sometimes, as it's really hard with my mom being in a care home.  That being said, we tend to spend any time not visiting with her either eating, or in our hotel room just zoning out and relaxing.

The next morning we tried The Brasserie for breakfast, but weren't impressed.  The crepes were more like tortillas, and they weren't very warm.

After breakfast we went grocery shopping for my mom, grabbed her some lunch, and then spent the day with her again, before heading back on the highway in the evening.

We didn't feel like buying groceries when we got home (that makes two weeks in a row now of not buying groceries), so we ate Velveeta mac and cheese for dinner.  Mmmmm, carby-cheesy goodness!

How was your weekend?  What did you do?

Recent Eats

After our wine and cheese party a week and a half ago, we had a lot of cheese left over.  We used some of it to make a lasagna.  It was a four-mushroom, and about eight-cheese lasagna.

On the topic of leftovers, we made buttermilk waffles on Sunday morning to use up some of the fried chicken from the night before.

And then for dinner on Sunday evening we ate more leftovers.  No complaints here!

Last night we made a big pot of chili for dinner.  We topped it with sour cream, shredded cheese, green onions, and cilantro. 

Those toppings take chili to the next level. 

Christopher just finished rinsing and doctoring up a chicken, so tonight we're making a roast chicken with a variety of truffled, roasted veggies.  It's going to start smelling amazing in our house very soon! 

Other recent eats include an Artixen pizza:

And Korean-Ukrainian fusion perogies (the filling was mashed potato, kimchi, and gochujang).

How's your week going so far?

Dinner Guests: Tastes from Five Regions

Yesterday evening my sister Leah, and her sweetheart Riley came over for dinner.  We spent the day cleaning the house, setting the table, and getting dishes prepped.

We weren't sure what to make, and went back and forth with ideas before deciding on a menu, choosing some of our favourite dishes from different regions of the world.

The amuse bouche was Ukranian - a homemade perogy filled with potato, beet, dill and goat cheese.

That got the taste buds dancing!

Next we moved on to a Korean appetizer, seasoned rice pockets. 

We made the rice purple in colour by mixing black rice, and white sticky rice.  The rice is flavoured with a vinegary seasoning, and placed in yummy tofu pockets.

Next on the menu were Indian cilantro squares.  The smell of these frying up is amazing.

The next course was a coconut, red curry, Thai soup with shrimp.

We spaced each course out, and after soup, we moved into the basement to listen to a couple of vinyls.  Leah and Riley wanted to hear Christopher drum a bit, so he did a one minute drum solo, and then played a little jungle beat, while we had a very short dance party.

We moved upstairs for a Southern-U.S. inspired main course.

We had fried chicken:

Baked beans:

Mac and cheese, and coleslaw:

With buttermilk cornbread to round it all (or us) out:

Mmmmm, everything was a hit!

Once we stuffed our guests to the brim, we moved into the living room where the prospect of dessert was looming.

We waited about an hour before cutting into the desserts.

First up was a moist, gingerbread loaf/cake with spiced buttercream.

And then, there was also cherry-berries on a cloud.  It's a light, airy, pavlova-cheese-cakey piece of heaven.

Needless to say, it was a tasty evening. 

We're only satisfied when our dinner guests are in food-comas.   

We're cruel like that.

How was your weekend?  What did you get up to?

Family Dinner

On Sunday evening we went to Christopher's parents' house for dinner.  We started out visiting in the basement, with some yummy snacks.

 

Later on we moved upstairs, where we listened to oldies, and enjoyed leek potato soup with fresh bread. 

 

Then we feasted on Peking duck that Christopher's dad had spent a couple of days making.

He's not only handsome, he's also very talented! 

The duck was served with an orange sauce, and we also had an Asian rice, curried spring rolls,  carrots with lemon, thyme, etc., and chicken wings.  Everything was so good!

This was my tasty plateful ...

We barely had room for dessert after all these dishes, but we squeezed in a couple of cheesecake bites.

What a meal!  We visited in the basement a bit more before heading home.  It was a wonderful evening; we always have so much fun with Christopher's parents. 

Do you have family dinners often?