January 15 - 19

Well, it finally feels like winter...  and I was kind of thinking that things might just jump straight to spring. I'm ready to be done eating oranges and soup.  But it's only the middle of January, so even though I wrote a generic "fruit" on the grocery list, I still came home with my weekly bag of clementines.  Sure, there are other fruits at the store, but they're looking about as vibrant as you'd expect cherries to look in January...  (not very).

So we're still working hard on reminding ourselves what real food tastes and feels like.  And since it's January, we're roasting lots of things.  Here we go...

Sunday
Broiled barramundi (rubbed with a bit of olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper)
Roasted brussels sprouts (again, olive oil, salt & pepper, perhaps a bit -- or a lot -- of garlic, and maybe some parmesan cheese at the end, when there are only a few minutes left to cook)
Salad, perhaps with some of those orange pieces (hey, if I'm gonna buy 'em, I gotta eat 'em, right?) and some fancy olive oil and vinegar we got for Christmas:  tangerine balsamic and blood orange olive oil from The Olive Grove in Farmington, MI.

Monday
It's a big old salad day.  Here's what I'm thinking:
Salad greens
roasted asparagus
sauteed mushrooms and onions
roasted red pepper (I can it in the fall in a mix of white wine vinegar and olive oil, so it has a lovely tanginess?  tangy-ness?)
feta cheese
olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing
top it with a gorgeous fried egg

I can't wait.

Wednesday
Tuscan white bean soup with escarole

And we're gonna try something new...

Last night, as we had our usual really long wait for a table at one of our favorite restaurants (the French Laundry -- the Fenton one, not the California one), we began to reflect on this practice of going out to eat on Saturday nights.  Lovely, yes, but a bit claustrophobia-inducing as we huddle closer together as more and more swarms of folks come in the door.

There are some places we've really been craving lately (especially Union Woodshop -- but since it appeared on that Food Network show with Guy Fieri, we hear the wait is REALLY awful) but haven't gone since we'd be sitting around for hours waiting.

And Phil had this excellent thought:
1.  We like to cook.  It's hard to find time during the week, but we have more time on weekends.
2.  We like to go out to eat.  Often, it's a time-saver as well.
3.  The restaurants we love best are crazy crowded on the weekends.  Still full during the week, but not as bad.
4.  What if we swapped our Saturday for a weeknight?  We could go to our favorite restaurants again, and spend our weekends cooking elaborate & gorgeous (or at least a bit more time-consuming) dinners than we attempt during the week.

I like it.

But we have to make sure we're not just turning it into going out MORE.  Because that would mean that we're cheating something, somehow...  sort of.

So we'll see how this goes...  Have a great week!