Our "Virgin Voyage"

It was a night of firsts... First meal to be featured on the new blog, first time using the excellent cast-iron grill pan and (most importantly, for Ines) the first time making chocolate creme anglaise. Sunday night dinners have once again become a staple in my week... When Anna and I first moved to Boston we hosted a weekly dinner. The focus was a bit different then - the ticket in the door for any hungry hopeful was a bottle of red wine (carefully procured on Saturday before Boston allowed the sale of alcohol on Sunday) - and complete consumption of the wine stocks was expected along with something hearty to eat to aid further imbibing. Now the focus has changed quite a bit - we've calmed down the wine and turned the heat up in the kitchen.
This post is going up a bit late - my learning Blogger has been a exercise in procrastination. As you can see from the picture above, last sunday night (4/30) featured a baked potato bar - complete with organic potatoes from my Boston Organics box (definately more on this to come), steamed broccoli (again, from Boston Organics), turkey chili, turkey bacon, pepperjack cheese (mmmm, cheese), sour cream, scallions and garlic sauteed mushrooms. When I was growing up we used to have a baked potato bar meal regularly during football season. It was a great buffet meal that could be taken back to the couch while watching the big Monday night game. In my opinion, the fact that one can eat all of the toppings out of the middle and restock the jacket for the second round is the best part of the whole meal. For the same reasons it makes good football food, it made for a mellow, relaxed sunday night. Everyone loads up on their preferred toppings, makes their way to the living room and we can all visit while devouring our customized spuds.

The dessert was the true adventure of the evening. As mentioned above we took our chances with grilled pineapple, strawberries and honey graham crackers for the chocolate fondue. It ended up splendidly - and was a great way to wrap up dinner before the beginning of Grey's Anatomy (the real reason for the regular Sunday night get together - though I'm newly initiated to the show, I'm already completely addicted).



It is my hope that this blog documents the common excitement Anna and I have developed for all things cooking and food over the past several months. So, now that I've gotten myself in gear with the first post, we're off and running!
~Lissa