Saturday

We were supposed to be checking on the cottage this weekend.  We had to hang back, taking care of His Handsomeness.  We don't mind.

He is improving every day.  The cone is quite becoming. 



Not ideal but it doesn't hold him back either.


We had a weekend and a meal we didn't plan on having here ... so we decided to make a few favorites. 

My favorite chicken meal is +Paul Kratochwill 's chicken piccata.


served over pasta.


We also make our own salad dressing; tonight was a delicious Caesar dressing.


mustand, anchovy paste, fresh garlic, yum!


and a fabulous wine from friends at +Amy Ruis and Art of the Table!


I love take pictures of wine.  Perhaps there is a profession somewhere at the intersection of wine and photography.  :)  

While the snow continues to fall, we look forward to the promise of spring and our little man's improving health! 

Prime Rib dinner

Last night,  Paul made us a wonderful meal.  The full recipe is over on the foodies blog.  But I needed to take a few pictures for posterity.

In case you are wondering, it's a recipe adapted from How to Cook Meat.  It's a great book.



We skipped the pudding part.



We made my friend Karen's potatoes.







Of course, we had to have something elegant in the glass.



With au jus, it was simply magnificent.



As we head into the New Year, we have much for which to be thankful.  Last night, it was a wonderful meal with great friends.  Cheers to the weekend.

Birthday reign

We had a big birthday in the this house last week.  We had birthday gifts, a big party, a couple of free meals, and now the end of the reign.

The birthday gift was a camera.  One big camera and one little camera. (the little camera took these pictures)

From 2012-12-02

There was lots of celebrating.

From 2012-12-02

From 2012-12-02

With 85 people in the house, we had a to move some furniture.

From 2012-12-02

and raise the chandelier

From 2012-12-02

and serve heaven from a tap.

From 2012-12-02i

It was wonderful to celebrate a major milestone with good friends and good beer.  :)  Parties like that take it out of me.  We can do it again in 10 years. 

Now we head into my favorite season of the year.  Advent and Christmas. Cheers from EGR.

Another year

I am facing the passing and beginning of another year.  I am grateful for having survived another wonderful year.  I could not have done it without Paul.  Or Samson.  Or my wonderful EOTE, a terrific job with incredible people, living in a great community.  All of it.  So much to fill a grateful heart.

And I look forward to spring ... that leads to summer ... that leads to my little slice of heaven.

Some thoughts from my favorite writer.

Yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream.

From 2011-07-09

And that that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space.

From Sunrise, EOTE

~Kahlil Gibran

So it begins.  Cheers to another wonderful year.

Our new year

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was 'thank you' that would suffice.
~Meister Eckhart

Our goal was to make it to midnight.  That's WAY past my bedtime and with the help of a nap, I did it.  :) We had a lovely dinner, marinated ribeyes, rice, and a pear-blue cheese-walnut-Boston bibb salad.  Spectacular. 

From 2011-12-31

From 2011-12-31

The evening started with the most beautiful sunset.  Here we are, January, and not  a flake of the fluffy white stuff on the ground.  [that is all supposed to change by this afternoon].

From 2011-12-31

We enjoyed a few pints of our favorite oat pops while watching the Red Wings pummel the St. Louis Blues.  I love that the Wings play on New Year's Eve. 

From 2011-12-31

A magnificent fire.

From 2011-12-31

And most lovely, the dinner wine.

From 2011-12-31

Thank you.  For everything.  Welcome 2012. 

Friday night dinner

Paul made my very favorite dinner of all time, Tenderloin Deluxe. 

From 2011-12-30

We invited Samson's bff, Aunt Deb, over for dinner.  He loves her.

From 2011-12-30

The secret to the recipe is butter, soy sauce, and scallions.  And medium rare at 125 degrees.

From 2011-12-30

We had a wonderful, post-Christmas gathering around good food, good fire, and great hockey.

From 2011-12-30

We can't wait to do it again.

Christmas ex-post

The days leading up to Christmas were pretty miserable round these parts.  I kept a brave face but boy was I hurting.  I haven't had a cold like that in years ... dayquil and nitequil and advil and a whole bottle of Visine in a few days, well, it was brutal.  I slept.  A ton.

The miserableness started to break on Christmas eve and I felt well enough to venture out.  By Christmas day, I was able to ditch the Visine and pick up the camera.  It was a Christmas miracle.

The good.

Christmas eve dinner Rosemary-garlic Chicken

From Christmas Eve Dinner

From Christmas Eve Dinner

From Christmas Eve Dinner

From Christmas Eve Dinner

music

From Christmas Eve Dinner

and some of the best wine that I have ever had, from our friend Amy and her amazing shop. 

From Christmas Eve Dinner

Christmas day filet Mignon in a Cabernet reduction. 

From 2011-12-25

From 2011-12-25

with shallots

From 2011-12-25

From 2011-12-25

and more of the best wine, ever, really ever.

From 2011-12-25

The less than good?  Well, we watched a move, Trainspotting.  I love the soundtrack (especially Brian Eno's Deep Blue Day) but the movie is profoundly depressing.  Mostly the heroin and needles.  Lesson learned on that one.

So it's off to enjoy the rest of the week! I have it off and have a ton of things to do, to see, to enjoy. Hope you have a wonderful day wherever you are. Gearing up for a wonderful New Year's eve.

Cheers!

Weekend in review

It was an all-pork weekend around the house.  Friday night, Paul put some pork chops on the grill.  They were soaking in marinade for 24 hours and were fantastic.  The recipe is posted over on the food blog.  Saturday night, Paul pulled one of our pork shoulders from the freezer and cooked in the smoker for five hours.  Our dear friend, Deb, joined us for dinner.  There were no leftovers.  

We also picked up the last of the accessories for the cottage.  With donations from friends, I had a handful of coupons for Bed, Bath and Beyond.  I found in the clearance area some perfect curtains.  Perfect.  And after discounts, I paid $7.99 a panel. Seriously and they are some good looking window treatments.  Can't wait to get them up.  

Lastly, we bought another domain for our East of the Equator adventures.  It's set and ready to go.  Now we just need content and I am confident that this summer will provide plenty of it.  Look for updates at the new blog www.eastoftheequator.net.  Until then, check out how we named it over on Paul's blog. 

Happy Christmas Eve Eve

Well, it doesn't look like it will be a white Christmas. We have a winter storm watch including rain, freezing rain and snow. So it will start wet and finish white. Glad we don't have any place to travel. And we will think of those who are traveling - make it safely please.

I spent last night enjoying our Charlie Brown tree.

Today, Paul will be his normal mad-genius self and finish all the shopping. He has assembled quite a menu and you should take a peek at his blog so see the final result. I have a day and half to work while Paul toils around the house. Samson is starting to wonder if he will ever get a nap. It will be a while.

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!

Fill the Frame

In photography, the technique of filling the frame is a common one - and a good one. Many pictures are taken from too far away, not up close and personal. To fill the frame, you need to zoom in or move your feet and this weekend, we did both. We traveled and zoomed around, filling the weekend with lots of fun, people, places and adventures.

For Thanksgiving, we headed back to GP to spend the holiday with family. Paul bucked tradition and made a wonderful beef tenderloin. We had a lovely time. I spent a good part of the day reading The Help - what an incredible book.

We did some visiting and checked in with Paul's friends John and Maria with their new dog, Enzo. I spent some time taking Enzo's picture. He is a cute little doggy and very photogenic ....when he will sit still. We also visited the Tworeks - our favorite Livonia peeps! We all went out to lunch at Red Robin and had a whole lot of fun taking pictures - including their new family member, Franco. He is a cutie too.

Saturday night we celebrated Paul's birthday and stayed downtown at the JW Marriott. We had dinner at six.one.six which was a culinary delight. It was crazy good and surprisingly reasonable for such a neat, trendy place. I had mac and cheese with seafood. Just heaven. We also walked around downtown and through the hotel. It's a beautiful and I will be posting pictures over at my photography blog.

Samson spent the weekend with his peeps at Whiskers Pet Resort. He always comes home with exhausted, but very, very happy. I took a few days off this week to catch up on things around the house, recover, relax, read a little and write some.

Enjoy the week!

Weekend

Not even a little rain can dampen our spirits! Hope you are having a good weekend.