November 11th, 2011 (11.11.11)

We are going out for a fun family dinner to our favorite neighborhood Italian place, Roberto’s Trattoria.  We absolutely love it, and I mean the whole family.  I have talked about Roberto’s many, many times.  This time I’m going to let the pictures do all most of the talking.

We started off with their calamari.  Lauren, Trent, and I love it.  We have to separate ours from Lauren’s because we like to squeeze lemon juice on it and Ms. Lauren is not a fan of anything citrusy. 

There’s another thing Lauren doesn’t like.  Take a guess.

My super ultra yummy dinner, smoked salmon.  I also had the caprese salad and was too busy eating it to take a picture.

The girls split the rigatoni bolognese.  Lauren ate the whole thing.

Trent’s dinner, chicken florentine.

With a side of bolognese.

Everything was delicious!  Fun family night out.  See our little tower of to go containers?  We had enough for a delicious lunch the next day, which hit the spot after a grueling spinning class.  We reverse carbed. 

November 10th, 2011

A couple of tidbits.

The little black do-hickey thing broke on my watch and I couldn’t tape it back together.  So this is the look I’m currently sporting.  I’m on my 3rd safety pin because the last 2 fell off somewhere in the house.  Thankfully I do not have a crawling baby or I’d feel pretty concerned about this.

Sydney’s been in dance class for 2 and a half months.  The whole time she’s been taking her dance shoes in a pink backpack with the name Lauren on it.  I’m all for reusing, but that was just too 2nd child hand me down for me.  The fact she didn’t care made me feel worse.  When Sally visited us for a week, we made a special trip to get Sydney a proper dance bag….with her own name on it.

My new favorite estate sale find.  For Christmas I can’t wait to weave a ribbon in it and serve cookies.

This is my new favorite picture of Sydney’s.  Sydney is a tough self critic of her artwork.  I think it’s because she sees Lauren’s pictures and expects to pump out the same product.  So if Sydney feels like she “messes up” she scribbles 90% of the picture and either declares it’s something in a cage or a design.  I guess on this one she got through it successfully and presented it to me.  It’s Sacajawea, Lewis, Clark, and….wait for it….Tinkerbelle.  Why Tinkerbelle I asked her?  Because Lewis needed her to fight off wild animals in the forest.  I guess Tinkerbelle packs big game in the wilderness, who knew.

I have talked about my favorite go to sauce many times.  I still use it quite a lot….like a couple times a month lot.  In fact, 2 nights ago it was the perfect accessory for fish.

But lately I’ve been revisiting an even older favorite go to sauce.  2004 old, to be exact.  I have entertained MANY a meals with this recipe from Cooking Light for pork tenderloin with rosemary.  It’s so easy and a crowd pleaser.  It is supposed to be with thyme too, but sometimes I leave it out.  I’ve branched out and also now use it for chicken and potatoes, crazy stuff here.  I also have tweaked/simplified it.

2 tablespoons dijon

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon chopped up rosemary

salt

pepper

mix together and top protein or vegetable of your choice and roast, sauté, or barbecue.

This night I picked boneless skinless chicken thighs.

And served it with roasted sweet potatoes, salad, and bread.  The leftover chicken was fantastic for lunchtime salad. 

Apparently I’m feeling saucy.

November 5th, 2011

So what do you have as appetizers when a bunch of Italian cousins get together for dinner?

Too much food.  I feel the need to mention there was only 8 of us and there was a big dinner following.  Also I don’t have pictures of all the salami and cheeses. 

Little Cesare preparing our meal while we nosh and cocktail.

What, this isn’t how you toss your salad?

Polenta frying on the stove.

Julie’s homemade bread. 

Our beautiful hostess!

Little Cesare’s gnocchi carbonara.

Little Cesare’s pork stew served over the polenta.  No one went hungry this night.

After the dinner, we trimmed Angel’s Christmas Tree.

Lots of fun and laughter!

Big Cesare finished our task with the star.

We all talk loudly, we laugh loudly, we talk with our hands, we tell lots of stories, we love to eat, drink, and be merry.  We had a great time.

October 31st, 2011

We had a busy and fun filled day ahead of us!  Sydney has gymnastic class on Monday mornings and I  have spinning and TRX class (TRX is this rope suspension thing that is all the rage at our YMCA, I found a goofy promo video on youtube about it here).  Then we had to get to Lauren’s Halloween parade and party at 1:20.  The only catch was the parking at Lauren’s school is a situation, the situation that there normally is no parking spots at big events.  They had a shuttle, but we live closer to the school than the shuttle site. I decided to walk it.  It’s really not a far walk at all, just an awkward one because it’s on a busy 4 lane street with no sidewalks, but a decent shoulder.  I put Sydney in the double stroller to make sure she was contained.  We made it just in time and the all school parade was adorable!  Then was the class party.

Sydney scored big time at the party!  She got a treat bag, pizza, krispy kreme donut, and got to participate in the games.  She loved being a 1st grader for an hour and a half.

After the party I walked Lauren and Sydney home double stroller style.  We were having my parents and Grandpa Coco over for dinner.  I decided to do up Halloween dinner pizza party style.

Pizza #1: fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, and arugula.

Pizza #2: with tomato sauce, provel cheese (which is Lauren’s favorite pizza cheese, she’s such a St. Louis girl), and yellow tomatoes on half of it.

Pizza #3: bacon, mushrooms, and mozzarella cheese.

And a salad!

For dessert I got an assortment of donuts from Krispy Kremes.  My Grandpa Coco and Mom went nuts.  They got out a knife so they could “sample” each kind….until the box suddenly became empty.

This is mom and Grandpa doing donut cheers!  They are very proud of themselves.

Treats from my parents!

I then took my cutie patootie trick or treaters around our neighborhood.  It’s one of my favorite traditions.  I absolutely LOVE watching the kids trick or treating and chatting with all our neighbors. 

Lauren’s 2011 joke: What does a witch put in her hair? SCAREspray.

Sydney’s 2011 joke: Who did Frankenstein take to the dance? His GHOULfriend.

Now I know your abs are going to be hurting tomorrow from laughing so much, you’re welcome for the impromptu workout.