Menu Tuesday

Ginger Steak Salad with Warm Garlic Pitas

This was the only food photo I took last week. Not the greatest picture -- but it was a great dinner! The dressing and marinade were very easy and very tasty. We added snow peas and radishes to the salad mix, which gave it some extra crunch. The warm steak was especially good, but it made for a yummy (cold) leftover lunch, too. I thought I had lots of pita to use up, but I only had one...which is a shame! Because the warm garlic pitas were so good. I'll even forgive them for being a Guy Fieri recipe...

{Steak Salad Recipe Here}
{Pita Recipe Here}

Since we were out of town over the weekend, I had to go to the grocery store yesterday after work. And I was reminded why we usually go on Sunday mornings! I finally got out of the store just in time to witness a parking lot fender-bender, which resulted in a full-fledged, arm-flailing adult meltdown. Happy Monday, people! But I digress...

We did, however, use our weekend car time to plan our menu for the week. I brought along the August issue of Real Simple, and it had a feature on 16 "marvelous" 20-minute meals. We found four of those that sounded good...aaand done!

This Week's Menu:

Sesame Lime Chicken Salad

Pork Chops with [Kale] & White Beans

Pasta with Zucchini, Tomatoes, Bacon & [Mozzarella]

Grilled Chicken Sausage & Peach Skewers with Mustard Green Beans

As an extra treat this week, Andrew is going to cook our dinner for my birthday! Since now-Hurricane Isaac is scheduled to arrive in town tomorrow, we decided to just stay in. But don't worry,  he promised to take me out this weekend. ;)

Boro Wedding

After work on Friday, we headed south to the Boro for my cousin Sara's wedding! We've tried to devise some strategies for getting out of the city quickly on Friday afternoons, but as we found (and always find), there is just nothing quick about it.

Shark Week cloud?

So the sun was setting as we were still on I-16, but it made for a pretty drive! We picked up a Sugar Mag pizza on our way into town. (Artichoke, red onion and Kalamata olive...yum!)

On Saturday, we ran a few hometown errands before Meema took us to McAlister's for lunch. After that, it was time for a little nap before heading out to the country for the wedding.

The wedding was at a place called Camelot -- a really nice cabin with a big pond. Aside from wedding guests, there were also many other "guests" of the stuffed variety...

The ceremony was outside by the water, and the wedding party came down the aisle from the cabin.

Cousin Jessica & Baby Brent

Here comes the bride...

After a few family pictures, we went back inside to get some BBQ and cake. We enjoyed getting to spend time with most of my dad's family all in one place!

 

Congratulations, Sara & Adam!

Menu Monday (+ Dessert!)

Skillet Gnocchi with Spinach & White Beans

This was a great one-dish dinner. It's a vegetarian meal but really filling (and not too heavy for summer). I had leftover strained tomatoes (sauce), so I used that instead of the diced tomatoes. We also opted for spinach instead of chard, because chard can be a little too..."earthy." And what dish isn't delicious topped off with melty mozzarella? (Thanks again for this one, M!)
{Recipe Here}

This Week's Menu:
Caprese Pasta Salad

Ginger Steak Salad with Warm Garlic Pitas

Creamy Chicken Taquitos with Guac, Rice & Beans

BLPs (Bacon, Lettuce* & Peach Sandwiches) with Basil Dijon & Chips

*I use a spring mix, which I think I would prefer over a crunchier lettuce...

And for dessert this week, we're having...this giant Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie! It is so very good, and you probably already have the ingredients in your pantry. It would really be a shame if you didn't make it!

Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

{From Tasty Kitchen}

-1 stick butter

-1/2 c granulated sugar

-1/2 c brown sugar

-1 tsp pure vanilla extract

-1 egg

-1 1/2 c AP flour

-1/2 tsp baking soda

-1/4 tsp salt

-1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips*
(*or 1c semi-sweet chocolate, chopped)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place an 8-inch, cast iron skillet over medium-low heat, and melt the stick of butter.
3. Stir in the brown and white sugars, and mix until sugars are fully incorporated into butter. (Will still be a little grainy.)
4. Remove skillet from the heat and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes. Pan and butter-sugar mixture should still be warm--but not hot.
5. Stir in the vanilla extract and egg. (If you're worried about the egg, temper it with a little of the sugar.) Stir/whisk until combined.
6. Add in dry ingredients, and continue stirring until batter forms. (This will take a few minutes!)
7. Fold in chocolate chips or chunks.
8. Place skillet in oven and bake for 15-25 minutes, or until cookie is done.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream!

Notes:
-Can double recipe for a larger skillet.
-I baked for the full 25 minutes, because I thought it didn't look "done" on the top. However, I discovered that it was actually just a shiny, sugar-y crust on top! Yum. (When the edges turn golden, shake the skillet. If it doesn't wiggle, it's done.)
-It's soft and chewy, so good luck getting a slice out in-tact. This one was re-constructed, but it didn't take away from the flavor one little bit.

Reunited

We went to Andrew's ten year high school reunion this weekend...and I didn't take a single picture! Oops. Instead of being a hometown reunion, it was actually at a place near his office, which I hear is a frequent lunch spot for him. (He did not get an award for "Traveled the Shortest" though.) Before we went, we took the opportunity to go to one of our favorites -- South City Kitchen -- for dinner. And I did take some pictures there! Go figure.

("Smile!" "...I'm eating!" Note the biscuit.)

Now, I think almost every time we have gone to SCK for dinner (which is a lot), I've gotten the fried chicken. But this time, they had a filet with blue cheese butter on top. Who can turn that down??

 Creekstone Farms Filet Mignon with Bacon-Poached Fingerlings, Vidalia Onions, Baby Carrots, Asher Blue Cheese Butter & Fig Jus
The butter was melting fast....yum!

I also got to try the High Road Craft Red Berries & Prosecco sorbet that we learned about on our tour. It tasted like really good raspberry sorbet with a little extra zzzzip!

After we ate, we headed over to the reunion. It was sort of like a college reunion for me, because I actually became friends with a lot of Andrew's high school classmates at UGA. (That's how we eventually met!) So, thankfully that eliminated the awkward "don't know anybody" feeling for me.

Nelly, the Big Tymers, Vanessa Carlton, and other Class of '02 jamz added a special touch to the atmosphere, and Andrew enjoyed talking to some classmates he hadn't seen in a long time. I had heard (good) stories about a lot of them, so it was nice to finally meet them all in person. In some ways, it's hard to believe it has been ten years since high school...and in other ways, that seems about right. But either way, we had fun reuniting for a night!

Hope you had a good weekend!

Menu Monday

Broken Lasagna with Zucchini-Tomato Sauce
This is from a while back, but it was yummy! I never would have thought to make a "sauce" out of grated zucchini, but it was really good.

{Recipe Here}

After a few weeks of being out of the menu planning routine, I am so happy to have a full menu ready for this week! What can I say -- I love a plan. ;)

This Week's Menu:
Beef & Mushroom Stir-Fry with Rice (Had this last night with spinach...just okay.)
Baked Chicken Fajitas with Fixin's and Black Beans

Philly Cheesesteak Pita Pizzas with Salad

Skillet Gnocchi with [Spinach] & White Beans (Thanks, MacKenzie!)

Cheesy Bacon Potato Frittata (Subbing plain hashbrowns and sharp cheddar)

Montreal 2012 {The End}

We got up Sunday morning (a week ago today!) to get ready to leave. We had packed everything the night before, so we just got to enjoy a nice breakfast and a few more minutes visiting before we headed to the airport. And the storm clouds were rolling in... Our flight was scheduled for just after lunch, and we did the same thing at the airport that we did waiting on our last return international (Jamaica) flight:

Ha! It was one of the only restaurants we saw listed on the directory, but we later turned a corner and found every type of restaurant you could want! Oh well. We enjoyed spending some of our last Canadian dollars on Whopper Juniors. ;)

Our flight was oversold, and combined with some administrative delays, we were still waiting to take off after 1. We did a lot of gate sitting. (If you're an ATL music scene fan, those are the Black Lips sitting behind us. I'd also like to add that I was having a good hair day before the cab driver decided to drive on the highway to the airport with all the windows down.)

We finally boarded, just in time for a little thunderstorm! We waited a few more minutes on the runway before taking off into a storm cloud remnant, and it wasn't necessarily the smoothest flight ever...but we still got to Atlanta on time. :)

Even though we bypassed the international terminal on the way out, we did have the privilege of traveling all the way down to it to pick up our luggage when we returned. Fortunately, we pre-cleared customs in Montreal, so we were able to just pick up our bags and leave.

A long and winding shuttle ride back around to the domestic terminal later, we were on our way home! We had a great time and are so glad we got to go. Thanks for following along in posts and pictures!

Birthday Burger

We interrupt this trip re-cap programming to bring you a special birthday post.

We enjoyed a dinner out at Farm Burger Buckhead,
and someone had a burger creation fit for a 28 year old.

Lettuce, Tomato, Pickles, Red Onions, Maytag Blue Cheese,
FB Sauce & Pork Belly(!)

Happy birthday, Andrew. :)

Montreal 2012 {Samedi: Marché Jean-Talon et Oratoire Saint-Joseph}

{Saturday: Jean Talon Market & St. Joseph's Oratory}

Saturday was our last full day in Montreal, so we wanted to make the most of it! One of the places we knew we definitely wanted to go on our trip was the Jean Talon Market -- another of Andrew's favorites. So we saved it for Saturday morning when we knew it would be full of action.

First, though, we stopped at Dupond & Dupont, another of Dort's neighborhood spots, for croissants and coffee. It was the Sugar Magnolia of TMR!

After breakfast, Andrew drove us over to the market, which was indeed super busy. This is not your average farmers market!

They have every fruit, vegetable, cheese, meat, and flower you could ever imagine. With plenty of samples too! Andrew started out by buying a little basket of raspberries to snack on while we walked around.

We were specifically on the hunt for beans, corn, and tomatoes for dinner, but we took our time touring and tasting. (And as you can see -- taking pictures.)

This celery was literally the length of my arm.

Of course, we also had to make a stop for some maple goodies. What trip to Canada would be complete without some of those?

After our morning at the market, we came home for an early lunch before making our last stop on the "Tour de Montreal". We added it at the last minute -- because how can you resist visiting a church high above the city, up to which people are known to climb on their knees for healing?!

Oratoire Saint-Joseph

We caught a bus out of TMR that dropped us right near the church -- St. Joseph's Oratory. (That was a good thing since I think Saturday was the hottest day of our trip, and as you can see, no clouds.)

The guidebook said some people find it inspiring while others find it "forbidding". It's actually a newer structure that was built in place of a small church in which a man named Brother (now Saint) Andre Bessette is said to have healed many people. The many flights of stone stairs leading up to the building -- which you can see in the first picture -- are hard enough to climb as it is, but the center wooden set is reserved for those seeking healing. They climb them on their knees.

Abandoned Shoes

While the other churches we saw were just amazingly ornate and brightly beautiful, the Oratory was more...austere.

It was huge, dim, and much more stark than the others. Still impressive, obviously, but we could see why the book called it forbidding. It just didn't feel like a very happy place.

The random stretcher in the hallway outside didn't add much to the charm either. (Tim, if you're reading this, didn't you once see somebody being carried in on this?)

Fortunately though, when things get a little too heavy inside, you can walk outside the doors for a beautiful, panoramic view of the whole city!

Can you spot the Big Orange?

We also visited the museum, which featured a few historical items from the Oratory's history but (sort of oddly) mostly contained nativity scenes of every size, shape, and variety.

Bowling Pin Nativity

There was also a creepy red hallway (the glow didn't show up in that picture) that contained life-size depictions of scenes from Jesus's life. Hopefully it's not sacrilegious to call it creepy, but it was totally empty except for us, unnaturally silent, and filled with fake people. A little unsettling.

Speaking of unsettling, did I mention that Brother Andre's heart is on display here too? Well, it is. It's formalin-fixed and back-lit in red inside a little cage. (The cage is there because it was stolen once before. Really.)

As you can see, this relic did not want to be photographed. Actually, Andrew got a "tsk tsk" from a lady when he tried to take a picture, so maybe we weren't supposed to. You can barely see it, but it's underneath the "RIP" and behind a red ribbon.

Last, we went down to the lowest level of the building to the Votive Chapel, which is also where (the rest of) Brother Andre is entombed in an above-ground vault. The smell of matches/candle smoke was overwhelming in here, and it was in stark contrast to the main part of the basilica. It was almost other-worldly.

This is another part that you could interpret as either inspirational or a bit creepy:

  

All of the wooden crutches and canes that people discarded after being healed on the hill are on display in giant sculpture-like arrangements. There were at least 3 or 4 just like this, and most of them were floor-to-ceiling. This one was over the doorway to Brother Andre's tomb.

We could also hear somber organ music in the chapel, which was coming from the adjacent Crypt Church. It looked infinitely more light and pleasant than its name and music suggested it would. I actually thought it was really pretty.

We headed out of the building just in time for the 2:30 performance of the carillon bells.  It took us a few minutes (and a lot of stairs) to figure out where they were coming from. We thought it would be giant bells in the tower/dome of the Oratory.

Not quite. :) It was a nice performance though, and we were able to see through the little window and watch the girl who played the bells.

    

Rather than have a heat stroke on our walk back to the bus stop (I know - you get it - it was hot), we made a visit to the only place at the Oratory with air conditioning: the gift shop! Once we had cooled off, we walked down to the street to get a few more pictures. The jury is still out on whether this stop was fascinating or disturbing. Maybe a little of both. ;)

We took the bus back to TMR, officially done with all of our sightseeing! I still can't quite believe how many things we managed to see in just a few days. Even though it was tiring, we're so glad we had the opportunity to see it all!

Shuckin' Corn

Back at Dort's house, we spent the rest of the afternoon visiting with some of Andrew's mom's friends who stopped in to see us before prepping our morning market haul for dinner. Then it was time to get packed up and ready to head south!