Have you heard of miracle berries before? Wikipedia tells me it’s also called synsepalum dulcificum (way harder to pronounce!) which is a plant with a berry that makes sour things taste sweet. The tablets are basically ground up miracle berries – all natural

Last night we had our friends Jim and Liz over for dinner to experiment with this “mysterious fruit tab.” We started the dinner by dissolving a tablet on our tongues and then dove into lemons, limes and grapefruit. Not gonna lie, it was a little scary to take the first bite! Would it really work?

Action shots!

Wow, guys. This was crazy. Seriously insane. Everything was SO SWEET – I honestly had no idea how sweet they’d be (and started getting a little nervous that our whole dinner will taste like pure sugar). Biting into a lime and being overwhelmed by its sweetness was surreal (the limes were the sweetest – almost inedible at first because of how sweet they were).

We calmed our palettes for a minute with these clover rolls, which had nothing to do with our experiment but delicious nonetheless. Definitely a must-make again recipe!

Aside from the rolls which were a last minute decision (a brilliant last minute decision!), the rest of the dinner all centered around citrus. I looked for recipes that utilized oranges (already sweet) but used lemons and grapefruit instead, knowing they would be made sweeter because of the tablets.

Grapefruit and avocado salad with a citrus dressing (here is the base recipes, I subbed grapefruit for oranges in everything)

Jalapeno citrus salmon (based on this recipe, I used half grapefruit, half lemon juice for the glaze)

My plate:

My beverage of choice for the night – it had citrus notes which turned sweet. The beer tasted kind of like a beer cocktail as a result. I liked it

The effect lasts between 30 minutes and 2 hours and over the course of dinner we definitely felt it fade. The citrus still tasted very sweet but we could start slowly also tasting mild sour notes. Luckily non-citrusy components made the meal a real dinner – salmon, avocado, jalapenos all stayed true to themselves

Of course we had to finish the meal with some lemon sherbet. This particular brand was super creamy – the perfect ending to a sweet citrus meal!

This was super fun!! Apparently hot sauce and radishes should have been part of our experiment too. I may just have to keep playing around with this stuff. It’s sort of trippy in a good way

Would you want to try this stuff? What would you make? I may use these for nights when my sweet tooth won’t stop nagging. A wedge of lemon would totally do the trick!

So here is the deal. I want to bring some old favorites back. I want to share them with you again. I want you to SEE, not just imagine, how delicious they are. And then hopefully even more of you will be inspired to make them. I’m definitely having a lot of fun making them again!

Let’s start with a little flashback going back to December 2009… when I had my parents and aunt from Russia over for dinner.  When I told you that this Cooking Light recipe for sweet-spicy glazed salmon was a recent favorite. It comes together in less than 15 minutes and is certainly impressive and delicious enough to serve to company. The salmon gets a quick sprinkling of salt and pepper and then bakes for 10-12 minutes. In the mean time, you can work on the sweet and spicy glaze made of brown sugar, soy sauce, rice vinegar and mustard (I now use 100% dijon in place of Chinese mustard). The salmon is finished with a good slathering of the sauce. It’s shiny and sticky and finger-licking good.

Drooooool.

Of course you’ll need a side dish for the salmon. May I recommend this Food & Wine recipe for roasted brussels sprouts with capers, walnuts and anchovies? [Originally found through The Sweets Life] These babies are roasted at the same temperature and the dressing also contains mustard, which makes these two just meant for each other! I cut the oil in the dressing quite a bit and used a little less anchovies (PS – I hope you’re not scared of them, they are salty and just melt into the dressing. Don’t skip them!). This meal was so good that Adam broke the “no fish in the office” rule and took the leftovers (which were originally meant for me) to work for lunch the next day. He said it was worth the looks he got

I’m very seriously considering making these brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving this year. I loved how the sweet caramelized brussels sprouts were balanced by the salty/acidic dressing. Delicious!

PS – The photos were taken in my new “photo studio” with a custom white balance and dimmed overhead lights. I like how much more vivid the colors are. The gorgeous orange hue of salmon helped of course!

Do you have any old favorites you’d like to bring back? Also…

Are you making any veggie sides for Thanksgiving? Share some recipes with me, I’m still trying to finalize my contribution to the table!

This week, however, I was on a mission to finally make things that have been on my to-make list for AGES. I bought the ingredients weeks ago and this week was the week!!! Wanna see what I’ve been up to in my kitchen? Come, come!!

Jen posted about these salmon burgers last August during her burger week and raved about them. I love smoked salmon and thought it was such a fun addition to the mix.

Unfortunately wild salmon is very lean and I overcooked these. They tasted like dry smoked salmon patties – the sauce was the only saving grace. I mixed greek yogurt with sriracha and diced grape tomatoes. They added some spice and freshness.

The next night I wanted to make something with goat cheese. I cooked some ww pasta, sauteed mushrooms and spinach, threw in some leftover lamb sausage and then topped it all with creamy sundried tomato and goat cheese sauce.

I was a bit disappointed with how thin the sauce turned out… but it ended up thickening significantly as it cooled.

Adam actually said this was one of the best things I’ve made in a while! After a few bites I was hooked too – creamy and slightly tangy, with a pronounced sun-dried tomato flavor and just a hint of nuttiness from walnuts.

Btw, I only used 2-3T of sun-dried tomato olive oil (from the jar the tomatoes were in) instead of 7. This was plenty rich as is!

Next up, a craving hit. I NEEDED cheesecake asap. Although I live across the street from the Cheesecake Factory, I stay away from their 1,000+ calorie slices.

Instead, I went with an old (healthier!) favorite – honey yogurt cheesecake bars (ick, my photos have improved over the years, huh?).

I did have some meyer lemons so meyer lemon cheesecake bars were born (I added a bunch of juice and zest and subbed agave nectar for honey to let the lemon flavor stand out).

Can you see how light these are? They taste decadent but also very airy unlike the more traditional dense cheesecakes. I really love this recipe!

Agave isn’t as sweet as honey so these weren’t sweet enough for my liking (and the meyer lemon flavor was still lost) so I drizzled some maple syrup over the bars once cooled. I guess they ended up being maple syrup cheesecake bars!

Whatever you call them, these were delicious! How would you make the lemon flavor be more pronounced? I was afraid about too much liquid if I continued to add lemon juice….

Last recipe! I told you I was busy in the kitchen this week!!! GRANOLA.

While most of you (from what I read ) seem to be obsessed with cereal and granola and need a lock on your cupboards, I’m much more of a trailmix/nut/cookie girl. Cereal, as delicious as it is, isn’t a “trigger” food for me.

That was apparently because I’ve never made homemade granola – totally different ball game! I made Flour Bakery‘s granola last month and was amazed at how much I loved it. In fact, I ate a whole container-worth in just a matter of a few days… and it was supposed to be “for Adam.”

So this week I tried again. I followed NY Times’ recipe for olive oil granola (found through Tri to Cook).

I thought you could just throw everything in and bake, but I learned a lesson here. Yeah, someone didn’t read the instructions well! Add the dried fruit at the end - my beautifully sweet dried apricots turned into rocks!!! No worries, I picked them out and carried on with my newly established granola obsession.

Adam said it was the best granola he’s ever had!! I actually can’t choose between this one and Flour’s – both are fantastic. A little salty, crunchy, nutty. Yeah, I’m going to be honest – this granola has been enjoyed more often than not, straight out of the jar. And I’m ok with it

If you meal plan, how often do you deviate from the plan? I was so proud for following through because there is not much better than a delicious homemade meal.

On next week’s agenda – take ice cream and granola bars off the list. I hope to report back next week with some pictures for evidence

On Saturday, we were invited to our friends’ Kevin and Trisha’s house for a beer vs. wine pairing party. The idea was to bring a dish that pairs well with one or the other and have some fun! Almost immediately I thought of bringing something spicy to pair with a Riesling, and then a moment of brilliance hit me – mini banh mi sliders. Oh yes I did!

Of course it’s me and I can’t just make a favorite recipe and call it good. And well, dessert needed to happen as well (just in case we didn’t have enough). I made some meyer lemon curd a few days prior so the idea of white wine cupcakes with meyer lemon curd filling and marshmallow wine frosting was born. Sounds fitting for a beer vs. wine party, no?

I started with the white wine cupcake recipe base (using half all purpose and half white whole wheat flour – they were perfectly tender, no whole wheatiness in sight. Yes, that’s a word!)

Then scooped a bit of the cupcake insides (which I saved for a little snack later ) and filled the cavities with the meyer lemon curd (don’t overfill them with the curd or they’ll be too intense).

Lastly came the frosting part. I used 1/2 of this recipe for the marshmallow frosting – it wouldn’t harden so I added extra cream of tartar until it came to the right consistency) and it really tasted like marshmallows. I was so excited I forgot to add a bit of wine to it. Oh well, still amazingly delicious! [Adam said it was one of the best desserts I’ve ever made!!]

The recipe made 18 cupcakes. 18 addictively delicious cupcakes. Good thing I had some friends to share it with!!

So now on to the party. We had some super talented cooks, that’s for sure. Andrew impressed us all with his salmon tartar cornets with sweet red onion crème fraiche (recipe from The French Laundry Cookbook!!)

Unfortunately, while I was totally drooling over this, I couldn’t taste the final product given the ahem, red onions. I am certain it’s the most amazing appetizer though (I mean, common – it’s Thomas Keller’s recipe!!) so I plan on tackling it one day. How impressed are you with Andrew? He even made the little cones from scratch!

For his pairing, he chose the pale ale by the Victory brewery since he just passed his PHD exam. I liked all the pairings from this dinner so I’m going to direct you to Kevin’s post for more comprehensive beer reviews since he knows a lot more about beer than I do. All I can say is that it went down easy!

Next up – my banh mi sliders!! I used grass fed beef instead of turkey, but otherwise followed the recipe to the T. It’s really the best!! I love how the meatballs have a bit of heat, which is enhanced by the spicy mayo and sliced jalapenos and then cooled off by the pickled carrots and daikon radish. Man, I loved these little guys!!

This sweet Riesling was a really good pairing for this spicy dish.

Happy customers

More finger food! Mac & cheese mini cakes to be exact! I believe Melissa used the Wine & Food magazine recipe but don’t quote me on this. These little cakes were perfectly portable, cheesy and indulgent.

… and paired really well with this crisp prosecco. Seriously, best party idea ever!!

Onto some Mexican cilantro chicken with all the fixins (cheese, salsa, tortillas), paired with the Hennepin Belgian style saison.

The chicken had so much flavor and I just love the body of saisons – kind of like wheat beer but with so much more character. Yummmmm.

Our stomachs were getting quite full but there was just one more savory course. Pizza!!

Prosciutto, mozzarella

and balsamic caramelized onion and goat cheese

Paired with a surprisingly light Syrah. Can’t go wrong with pizza + wine!

At this point all of us really needed an eating break so we moved to the living room for some couch (and more drinking) time.

Eventually these molten chocolate cakes (from the Flour bakery cookbook) baked and well, you can’t let perfectly molten chocolate deliciousness wait for you! Now can you? (don’t answer that!)

Paired with this aged Mikkeller Belgian strong ale (brewed with chocolate!).

Heaven!

My cupcakes were a bonus dessert and we all enjoyed them at our leisure.

Someone kept hoping to sneak a bite but we were a bit quicker

What do you prefer – beer or wine? What’s the coolest “theme party” you’ve ever been to? I’m totally stealing this idea and plan on hosting one of my own this summer!

We were at it all morning, “cutting the fat” as I keep calling it – getting rid of books we’ll never read or reference, clearing out full drawers… it’s been exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. And now it’s time for lunch!

All the way on the bottom of our freezer I found 2 salmon patties (apparently they’ve been hanging out there since June when I made the salmon burgers with strawberry and tomato salsa – mmm, this dish even made it onto the top 10 of 2010 list!). I quickly put them to use… we have more cleaning to do!!

English muffin with wild salmon patty, tomato, cucumber and yogurt caper sauce + baby carrots. Yum!!

Yogurt caper sauce: 1/4 cup nonfat yogurt, 1T capers (chopped), 1 sm. garlic clove (minced), salt, pepper, a tiny bit of caper “juice” and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Lunch is served!

Do you ever go on serious reorganization sprees? Looking at my newly reorganized bookshelf just makes me smile. I hope we can finish this project over the next few weeks – it’s going to look SO good!!

Next up on my-to: going through all of my Cooking Light magazines… such a tough job

- It was my aunt’s birthday yesterday (thus leaving work early) – happy birthday, Dodina!!

- Roasted rhubarb is genius. I added it to my salmon/hummus/avocado wrap and it contributed a fun sour/tangy flavor to it. Yum

- Dinner at my first Persian restaurant, Lala Rokh, (remember it from here?) was not as great as I hoped it would be. Too much lamb, not enough vegetarian/seafood options as legit meals (lots of vegetarian apps though!).

- It is possible that I can get used to the taste of caramelized onions!!!! They were added to the bulgur with my dish and I didn’t even taste them. The bulgur was delicious! I need to research this one a little more. This could be a pretty awesome discovery (I hate my serious aversion to onions. Maybe there is hope for me after all )

- The look on my aunt’s face when the waiter brought out a giant chocolate cake that had her name on it (I pre-arranged that, brought one from Whole Foods) was priceless. I love surprising people with things I know they’ll like! Dodina is her nickname btw (doda = aunt in Hebrew, many years ago we just made Dodina into a word and called her that ever since).

- A spontaneous stop at Charlesmark Hotel for another drink with the hubs (because we were having too much fun on our walk home and didn’t want it to end) was one of the reasons I love living in the middle of a City. There is always something to do, you just have to get away from that office desk!

- Not randomly going for more food because I wasn’t stuffed (something I’m supposed to feel after a restaurant meal?) was my most proud personal accomplishment of the day.

- Bootcamp at lunch rocked (I’m getting better already!!). I told you I’ll make it there!

Thursday in pictures:

We shared the appetizers. The mushrooms and eggplants were phenomenal!

Have a great weekend! I’ll be working but I’ll definitely try to spend a little time in the kitchen so please stay tuned

So here we go, nice and simple today. Work is crazy but I still found time to take a minute and mindfully enjoy some very delicious foods.

BREAKFAST

Breakfast started with a little help from this weekend’s trip to the City Market in Burlington, VT. This is a community-owned grocery store, which means that many products from small local producers were available (for a few pictures of what it’s like inside the market, check out my previous post – you can click on the pictures to enlarge). I came in to find Liz Lovely cookies, which I discovered just days prior to our trip to Vermont through the Foodzie blog (which is very dangerous by the way, I’m a sucker for all the cute stories of small producers) and ended up clearing out their dessert bar. Ok, this may be a slight exaggeration but you better believe that the only thing that stopped me from doing exactly that is the expiration dates on the products. They were freshly baked and clearly should be consumed asap. One of the products that I just could not resist was this package of Butterfly Bakery raspberry apricot breakfast scones.

I absolutely adore apricots and these plump cookie-like scones (looks-wise) were a love at first sight. The first bite sealed the deal for me. Soft and buttery, with real raspberry and apricot chunks – this is the best scone I’ve ever tasted and I don’t think any future scone can stand a chance. These are perfect! I think I may freeze one and see how it preserves, because I’d love to stock up on a future trip to Burlington. And there will be a future trip. I’m obsessed.

I enjoyed the scone with coffee and an oikos (this batch is the best for some reason – so fluffy!). I didn’t end up eating the strawberries until dinner time. This was one good breakfast!

LUNCH

Lunch was pretty special too. I had a lunch date with Lauren and Shannon. It’s been forever since I’ve seen Lauren and I’m so glad that Shannon keeps popping in during lunch to my neck of the woods because that means we can see each other more often. Caffe Jaffa was our meeting place.

Look who I spotted already at the table… hi, Lauren! (hehe, I was trying to be sneaky but she noticed me)

Caffe Jaffa features American and Middle Eastern fare. I wanted nothing more than hummus. So that’s pretty much what I ordered – a hummus plate that came with a Greek side salad.

The lettuce was fresh, the feta and dressing (which I had on the side and just dipped my fork into) were both delicious. A great simple starter!

Mmm, hummus! Standard stuff (maybe even a tad too grainy for my liking). I ate about half with a warm pita.

The girls both ordered the hummus/baba ganoush/falafel platters (which is SO the way to go!) and I snuck a taste of Lauren’s baba ganoush and had one of Shannon’s falafel balls. Both were outstanding! The baba ganoush was very creamy, the falafel was flavorful and not at all greasy (although of course, it is still deep fried so one should enjoy such things in moderation).

This lunch was so fun! We chatted for a while, only stopping to take bites of our food. It was hard to go back to work, I’m not going to lie.

SNACKS

Before heading back to the office, Shannon and I did stop by the Copley farmers market. I bought more shelling peas. I think I have a problem (good thing they’re just nutritious peas).

Snack of champions!

DINNER

Since we’ve been out all weekend, there was not much in the fridge for groceries (I bought beets and greens at the farmers market – these would take too long to cook for a weeknight). I’m still impressed with how I pulled dinner off. And it was a good one, let me tell you!

About 3 weeks ago, Jen posted this recipe for salmon with strawberry and tomato salsa that I’ve been dreaming of ever since. The only problem is – wild salmon is expensive. I was waiting for it to go on sale but the day never came. Strawberries are only going to be in season for a few weeks and I happened to have some amazingly sweet ones from Quebec on hand. We also had half a container of grape tomatoes in the veggie drawer in the fridge and wild salmon burgers in the freezer. Hey, how about a salmon burger with strawberry and tomato salsa? Oh yeah!

The strawberry tomato salsa is the prefect balance of sweet and savory with balsamic vinegar’s acidity balanced out by the smooth and creamy laughing cow cheese I topped the ww burger buns with and of course by the incredibly juicy wild salmon burger (the burgers were from Whole Foods by the way – I highly recommend them!). Adam and I couldn’t get enough of this – so unique and fresh. Summer fare with a twist. This recipe is definitely going on the favorites list!! Thank you, Jen, for the inspiration!

Dessert was another City Market purchase.

Think 7-layer bar but better. I ate 1/2 of the package and it took a lot of will power not to go back to the kitchen and finish the rest. The white and semi-sweet chocolate chunks worked beautifully with walnuts, almost short bread-like crust, and of course the toasted coconut. I’m stopping now because the kitchen is not that far away.

The little pleasures in life. I don’t hate this.

Have a great day! And say hello if you have a second to spare. I was feeling a bit abandoned earlier but something tells me these yummies will bring you back.

Plan B – breakfast pizza! Yeah, unfortunately that did not go very smoothly either. I burnt the first tortilla!! I nearly gave up on the whole-breakfast thing but persevered. My second pizza was delicious.

Other annoying mishaps of the day:

• The eggs I planned on using for my lunch salad went bad. I had to go to plan B once again – chicken.
• I dropped the rest of the grape tomatoes all over the floor after prepping my salad.
• I put down a bag with groceries on the ground while looking for my keys – it went sideways and spilled all over the stairwell.
• I opened a water bottle to have with dinner and half of it squirted all over me, the couch and the floor.
• The grape tomato with dinner I pierced with a fork fought back and ended up all over my pants.
• The power was tripped twice while making Adam’s dinner.

I am NOT making this up. It was one of those days. I’m ready to pretty much relax and not touch anything for the rest of the night!

BREAKFAST

Breakfast pizza!!!

TJ’s flour tortilla with Barney Butter, ground flaxseed, TJ’s european style nonfat yogurt, 1/2 banana, Zoe’s granola, dried bing cherries + coffee

How about a slice?

[419 calories]

PRE-WORKOUT SNACK

Walnut stuffed date

[80 calories]

WORKOUT

My ankle is almost all better, but I decided to be smart and take a low impact spin class instead of running. It was a good class. Shannon even joined me.

LUNCH

Mixed greens, grape tomatoes, broccoli, snow peas, shredded carrots + grilled chicken…

… dressed with 1T Annie’s goddess dressing

[269 calories]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this dressing. I really think it transforms a boring salad into something nutritious AND delicious. It’s high in fat and calories though, so I always stick to 1 tablespoon at a time. It’s thick, so it coats the greens well if you shake the salad bowl.

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK ATTACK

I always crave something sweet and bad for me in the afternoon. This guy did the trick today. I have a few boxes stashed at the office for “emergencies.”

[120 calories]

DINNER

Not having a microwave at home is making things even more difficult these days. I got creative by using our griddler for these crepes.

The star(s) of dinner were Trader Joe’s smoked salmon and spinach crepes that I picked up tonight + grape tomatoes and an apple

Open wide…

The filling was kind of bland so I added some capers. Much better!!

A crispy fuji apple was great for dessert. I’m trying to be good.

[all together = 322 calories]

Total calories consumed (so far): 1241

I aim to eat at least 1475 calories (my BMR) so I’m sure I’ll make a little snack in a bit. Funny how last night I was starving after consuming over 1600 calories, and today I’m totally fine with less than 1300.

Speaking of calorie counting… I received a question on my previous post that I figured I’d address right here on the blog since some of you may be wondering this as well.

Q: How do you get such accurate calorie counts?

A: I own a food scale so I weight most of my food while prepping it and write it all down. I then input all the ingredients into Sparkpeople.com. It’s not 100% exact but I think I get pretty close. For most of my meals out, I just try to order something healthy or treat it as a splurge. For those circumstances, estimating the calorie counts is usually a guessing game that I don’t find particularly useful. I hope that answers it. Let me know if you guys have any other questions for me

Biggest Loser and Lost are BOTH on tonight. What to do, what to do… Are watching tv tonight?

Edited to add: While watching Lost, I ate 3 coconut macaroons, 1 orange and a few spoonfuls of Barney Butter. Total calories consumed ~1,575. See, nothing to worry about!

The restaurant has a really clean, yet cozy atmosphere (btw, by clean I mean clean lines – not the levels of dirt ).

The menu is centered around comfort foods as well as lots of creative salads. My eyes almost instantly locked on the salad I just “had to have” but we’ll get there in a minute. First there was wine… the l’Oca ciuca “the drunken goose” sangiovese blend to be exact. Hehe, drunken goose. Yeah, yeah, I’m that mature. I had this glass:

The lighting was dim so please forgive me for the slightly blurry photos. I hope you can imagine the deliciousness of this garlic baguette. It was soaked in garlicky butter and was definitely worth the calories. I had 2 little pieces.

For my entree, I ordered the miso glazed salmon salad: fresh Atlantic salmon, shaved romaine, pickled vegetables, sesame seaweed salad, sliced avocado and fried ginger served with sesame honey vinaigrette and ponzu. I love that I can get a large salad for an entree and Adam can get something a little more hearty at the same place!

My salad was gigantic.. and here is its good side. Mmm, pickled veggies..

Some dressing on the side because they possibly had some onions in it (I didn’t taste any onions – score!).

This salad was so fresh and delicious! All the flavors were well rounded and very Asian (read: lots of ginger) – there were no fillers here (well, I guess the lettuce could be called a filler, but it was great with the sesame vinaigrette). The pickled vegetables (radish? and carrots) were the most unique and since I’m obsessed with everything-pickled lately, I couldn’t get enough of them. The salmon, although small, was super tender and just melted in my mouth (I very rarely say that about salmon outside of a quality sushi restaurant). I definitely could never make this salad in my makeshift kitchen!

Last time I went to Stephi’s, I was able to resist dessert but I couldn’t let this happen twice!! You know where this is going…

When I look at dessert menus, I quickly scan for all things chocolate (sometimes a cherry pie will convince me to make an exception). The fudgy brownie bread pudding with hot fudge, creme anglaise and vanilla ice cream sounded heavenly. According to our waiter, it was freshly made this afternoon. Wow, that’s fresh! It was so pillowy and creamy – I really enjoyed it. Adam stole a few bites but otherwise I pretty much devoured it. My belly was super happy. What a great dinner!

Our date night on a random Tuesday night was a great success! The whole experience was great from the atmosphere to service and of course the food. I was in a fantastic mood when we got to Stephi’s but I left even happier. I hear their brunch is great too, and I can’t wait to check that out.

***

If you’d like to read my other restaurant reviews, check out my Restaurant Reviews page.

Our house smells like Christmas!!

Fresh flowers in the vase…

And the dining room table set…

Everybody – have some wine! [This was a fantastic Chianti my dad brought.]

FIRST COURSE

We started with a nice salad: mixed greens, arugula, roasted apples, pomegranate seeds and hazelnuts

I thought all the salad ingredients complemented each other really well – the sweet and savory balance was spot on (she pats herself on the back…).

I followed this recipe for the dressing (cut the oil by 1/2).

I also decided to make little appetizers with the Pepperidge Farm puff pastry (I received a free coupon for it from Foodbuzz).

These guys were inspired by a pasta I used to love at an old local restaurant in New York.  They’re topped with vodka sauce, roasted asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts and a graded parmesan. Delicious!!

My plate:

SECOND COURSE

The star of the show: sweet-spicy glazed salmon. This is one of my favorite salmon recipes – I follow this recipe from Cooking Light, substituting 1/2 honey mustard and 1/2 country dijon mustard for Chinese-style hot mustard.

Haricot verts, steamed then sauteed in a tiny bit of EVOO with garlic.

Couscous pilaf (recipe based on p. 12 of The Best of Cooking Light, Great Plates) – ww couscous, dried cherries, almond slivers, lemon zest and S&P.

My plate (I ate 1/2 of it… getting stuffed!)

The salmon was a hit! This glaze is fabulous!!

The cherries in the couscous were my favorite. I <3 cherries

Let’s not forget the veggies. Simple preparation doesn’t mean simple taste.

DESSERT

The almond, cherry chocolate clusters made their appearance on the dinner table. This recipe is already becoming a staple in my entertaining repertoire because it takes just minutes to make and everybody loves these clusters!

All 12 were gobbled up!

My aunt also brought a dessert – a local specialty called “chuck chuck.” Her mother-in-law made this particular batch with nearly every ingredient home-grown. This is little homemade pastry noodles, fried then covered in a honey glaze. The eggs are from the chickens they have and the honey is from their own honey-combs. Pretty awesome. We picked on this sticky mess all night. Mmm…..

Teas galore

My first portion (I had a whole lot more of the chuck chuck)

Family pic for evidence Happy bellies…

I’m really in the holiday spirit now!! Thank you, parents, for my early Chanukkah cash. I’m off to shop! Oh, I have to go to work first? Ok, ok…

See you guys later!