Well, Easter has passed. Our trip to NY went... okay. Reilly - apparently - hates puppies. Mona had an absolute ball nipping at his ears, and rolling around him, taking his toys and laying in his bed; Reilly had a miserable holiday hiding from her and growling at her, and occasionally barking at her. I'm sure, though, that they'll get along fine once she's grown out of the whole rambunctious puppy-thing. I got only one picture of the two of them together.
This past weekend, I had a visitor! My friend Caitlin came by bus from NY to see me and to meet Mona. We ended up, by chance, staying in both Friday and Saturday nights and cooking for ourselves and a guest (a different third party joined us on each night). And, if you don't mind, I'd love to tell you about our dinners. They were each so close to unbelievable - especially for a couple of novices.
Friday had begun as a Mediterranean-style idea. I was thinking stuffed pork chops with feta and pesto, some kind of a rice or couscous side and a greek salad. But, it turned into a night of tag-team cooking and experimenting and included some green wine. When we finally sat for our meal at around 9:30, we had quite a spread: feta and pesto stuffed (delicious) pork chops for the two non-vegie's; a yummy tomato, cucumber, and feta salad; a stuffed artichoke each, which had a tasty stuffing, but were altogether a flop; and a plate of sliced, breaded, and fried-up eggplants (yuck), which ended up being thrown out. But it was fun!
Saturday had a slightly different crowd, with a much different dynamic. I did most of the cooking, with some help in preparations from my friends. Everything was a lot less rowdy. We ended up having grilled steaks with some compound butter melted on top. Spectacular! Really, there is absolutely nothing better than a chive/garlic/sage/rosemary/whatever (we had chive) compounded butter on a medium-rare steak. Nothing. We amended the meal with crispy roasted asparagus (yum!) and a big big salad with Brianna's dressings: Ginger Mandarin and the New American dressing. Too much yum.
Everyone loved Mona, of course, and Caitlin took a video of her on her camera playing with Genie from Staten Island, without anyone knowing. It's poor lighting, and sideways, but it's still a video of Mona in my living room!
Although, we didn't only cook and entertain ourselves with a puppy. We shopped too. It was such a nice day Saturday, almost 60 degrees, and sunny. Totally unlike today: our Nor'Easter has arrived. So we trotted aroud town. I bought, and am thrilled with, some new shoes. They're Vans Slip-Ons. Checkered (throw back to high school, no?), only not rudeboy black-white, they're multi. I love them on my feet. I haven't worn Vans in years and years...
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