All I want for Christmas...

...actually, I have no clue what I want for Christmas. People are already asking for my list! Any ideas? :-)

Adventures in food

Matt and I have been doing a lot of cooking lately. Well, okay, Matt's been cooking. I've mostly been eating and washing a few dishes.

This dish is cod baked in parchment paper with fresh herbs and lemons, accompanied by jasmine rice and perfectly salted edamame. Delicious.

The above is a giant Chilean sandwich called a chacarero (I think that's spelled right). This one was divided between 6 people, and contains marinated beef, muenster cheese, tomatoes, green beans and an avocado spread. In my opinion, this is one of the best things that Matt makes. A chacarero sandwich always brightens my day.

Now this is something entirely different. I have been trying to learn to eat more generic foods, so long as I feel they don't taste much different than my favorite name brands. For example, I'm now willing to eat Kroger brand cheese over Kraft, and Kroger brand Rice and Corn Squares over Chex. However, I've always held out in peanut butter, insisting that I will eat Jif and only creamy, full-sugared Jif.

Recently, I started to feel like I should try to adapt. On a whim, I bought Kroger brand peanut butter. Well, it wasn't so much of a whim as it was on sale for $1.00. Hard to resist. Matt and I decided to set up a blind taste test to see if I could tell the difference between the two. Though I felt loyal to my classic Jif, I was hoping that I'd see there was no difference and I'd be satisfied with the much cheaper store brand.

The results of the blind taste test were not totally conclusive. In two of the rows, I couldn't taste the difference between the peanut butters, and assumed they were the same though they werent. However, in the other two rows, I was able to pick one as good and one as bad - both times, the "good' peanut butter was Jif.

What does this mean? I have no clue. But that taste test finished off the jar of Jif, and only cracked the surface of the brand new store brand jar. I'll work on it for awhile and see if I grow into it. :)

It's been awhile, again.

Since I last updated, much has happened.

On the wedding front: I met my mom in Chicago and went shopping for a wedding dress. We found one that was absolutely lovely, and shockingly, was the cheapest one I tried on! We bought it and I'm so excited. We went out to dinner with my friend Em, who I hadn't seen since her wedding a few weeks ago. She's positively glowing - clearly married life suits her! (Or maybe it was her Hawaii honeymoon tan.) Also, Matt and I booked a photographer and a DJ. Our photographer is terrific - friendly, a great photographer at a good price, and willing to spend the whole day with us! Gary, our DJ, is also terrific. He was recommended by the country club, and his claims to fame include DJing for John Stamos and Dave Coulier. Hehe. How could we not book him?

On other fronts, I visited Mom's side of the family in Cedar Falls and had a great reunion dinner at the Brown Bottle. Matt passed the bar (can't remember if I mentioned it before - either way, wahoo!). We had friends Heather and Dan over for dinner, and Matt put together a delicious dinner including pumpkin soup and beet "ravioli". We went out to the dinners I mentioned a post ago - Chop House and Real Seafood Company. The Chop House was delicious as usual. The Real Seafood Company disappointed me but not Matt - my fish was completely unseasoned and plain, and the rice underneath was drenched in soy sauce. His seafood cakes were better. Alison, Meredith, Alex, Matt and I watched the finale of Project Runway and were shocked but not too disappointed when Jeffrey won. His collection was surprisingly good (and Michael's, our previous favorite, was shockingly disappointing and tacky).

I'm sure I'm missing dozens of things, but that's all the scoop I can think of right now. Bethany and Eric are coming to visit for the weekend and will be here in a couple hours; brownies are already in the oven to welcome them. Yum!

Birthday discount

Today, Matt and I are taking full advantage of the birthday discount at all Mainstreet Ventures restaurants. At all Mainstreet Venture restaurants (think Palio, Gratzi, the Chop House, Real Seafood Company), your party of two gets half off of the total food bill if you and your dinner companion each buy an entree. What a deal! So we're lunching at the Real Seafood Company for lunch - neither of us have been there before - and we're having dinner at the Chop House. In between, we're meeting with another wedding photographer, and afterwards, we'll watch the Amazing Race and eat cake.

Happy birthday, Matt!

Birthday Dinner

To celebrate Matt's thirtieth birthday, a bunch of us went out to eat at his favorite restaurant in town, Rush Street. The restaurant has a variety of tapas-style small plates which are almost all fantastic - seared tuna, scallops, flank steak, roasted garlic, salted almonds, baked goat cheese and more, nothing over $8. Our friends Heather, Alison, Patrick, Jessica, Alex, Meredith, Mike and Maren all joined us out for the festivities. We had a bunch of wine (including an inexpensive light and wonderful Chateau St. Jean Chardonnay) and had a great time hanging out together.


Thanks, everyone, for making Matt's birthday so special!

What I'm Watching

Anyone who knows me knows that I love television, maybe more than is good for me. However, this year, I've had to narrow down my tv watching - things are a little busy here in Ann Arbor with classes, work and wedding planning. Here's what I'm watching:

Project Runway - I began watching Project Runway last season with my friend Mary, who has sadly moved to Seattle. Now, I've got a new group to watch with: Mer, Alex, Fiance Matt and Alison. They're coming over tomorrow night to watch last week's episode (we missed it - don't tell me what happened!) and the reunion show. The show is fun even if you aren't big on design or clothes, though half of the time, the judges and I completely disagree as to which designs are good and which are terrible. The four contestants left have all been pretty good, but my call is on Michael to win. Laura makes the same cocktail dress everytime; Uli makes the same flowy patterned dress everytime; Jeffrey makes weird stuff that I would never wear.

The Amazing Race - My favorite show on TV, hands down. It serves as a sort of travel show for me and Matt, too - since it started three weeks ago, they have gone to China, Mongolia and Vietnam. Everytime we watch we get new ideas for our honeymoon. The cast this season is great and mostly likeable. If you aren't watching the show, you should start.

Gilmore Girls - Okay, it's a sentimental favorite. It's not that good anymore, and I'm entirely frustrated by Luke and Lorelai's breakup and Lorelai being with Christopher, but I can't tear myself away. I've been watching the show since the first season. Now I'm just waiting it out until it's cancelled.

College football - College football is on in my house every Saturday, regardless of the game. I just spread my books out in front of me, go to work and enjoy the sounds of a great sport in the background.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - This show is new this season. So far, it's pretty good. The characters seem well written and they've got some good actors. I try to stick around on Monday nights to catch it, but wouldn't be heartbroken if I missed it. Worth checking out if you haven't seen it yet.