happy hochzeitsfeier!

i just returned to portland from a quick weekend trip to san francisco for a friend's wedding celebration. i added celebration because she and her hubby tied the knot in the spring and then held a celebration in august. i'm all for the wedding being a small, intimate event and then an ensuing party.

this party was held in the beautiful waterfront restaurant at pier 7 on san francisco's legendary embarcadero. a pretty nice address. with a view to match. the reason i'm mentioning this all here is because i loved how the food was handled for the party. we were treated to trays of passed hors d'oeuvres that served as dinner. i love variety. i also love when parties have the sense to not have too much food out. it keeps me from eating too much of it. as i learned later, the joint "ran out" of food at 9:30pm. to the contrary, i was happy with the amount i got and still had room for the melt-in-my-mouth german chocolate cake they served.

note to self: when i'm rich enough to cater parties like that, serve appetizers. it's elegant and it's a whole lot easier than picking one or two entrees that will work for everyone.

latenight dinner antics

last night, i returned home from extended happy hour at around 8pm. i wasn't too hungry. but all week, with ben away in boston for work, i've been plagued by the fact that i bought too much food for the week and need to consume it, lest it be wasted (think of all the starving children in africa, my mom would protest).

so, i'd made a long to do list before going out to happy hour. probably not the wisest plan, but i'm good about over-committing. good news is, two drinks in the system makes even chores seem fun. on my list:
- chop cantaloupe for lunch fruit
- stem & sautee a mélange of mushrooms (shiitake and cremini) with olive oil, white wine, s & p and some butter to finish it off
- use fresh mozzarella before it goes bad: this turned into a simple salad of cut up mozz and multi-hued cherry tomatoes (yellow, orange, and red), dressed with olive oil, SALT & pepper and a touch of balsalmic

all of work i did to save vegetables from the garbage disposal produced great side dished for the rosemary garlic marinated lamb shoulder i'd sautéed in the afternoon to save it from the trash.

wow. this stuff tasted a lot better on my plate (at 9:30pm) than it would have smelled in a landfill.

i don't think the bowl of Target brand Golden Grahams at 10pm was necessary, though. hmmm.