Diane's Day of Love

On this Valentine's Day I have celebrated the love by running a 5K in just over 30 minutes (its fast for me); completing and filing my taxes; grocery shopping; cleaning out my purse; making my bed; cleaning the bathroom; and using all my tiles in a game of Scrabble. It is not even 4:00 and I really don't know what more I could possibly do to celebrate this most bogus holiday on the calendar! Happy Valentines to all you people snuggled up with your loved ones - you may remind me of my cynism if I ever meet the man of my dreams; in the meantime I think I will find another joyous task to fill my day.

Cheers

Wii night

Went to the crazy house up the street and had a night in. We made a batch of my famous (famous to about 10 people anyway) fried shrimp; veggies and wine and beer - then settled in for a night of Wii fit. I managed to oust Adam from the ski jump record, which I am sure he has already gotten up an managed to beat this morning - and we all hand our had at bowling - check out the form - its most excellent. Now I get to start the week again - finish up my lectures for next week and start the crazy rat race all over again!

Beignets and Book Club

Beignets
Originally uploaded by lyricalmezzo

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Monday night was book club and we read Elegance of the Hedgehog. The book takes place in an upscale condo building in France. The two main characters are the buildings concierge and a twelve year old girl. Both characters are hiding their intelligence from others. It’s a great read and I thoroughly enjoyed every ounce of it; I would place it high on my recommendation list. It also urged me to try something new. In the book the main character Renee is always having pastries with one of the house keepers in the building. Well, I am not a baker, but I did think I could hand beignets so…that’s what I made. Unfortunately, my schedule did not allow me to take them to book club while they were still hot, but they were none-the-less pretty darned tasty for a first attempt. If you are looking for something new to do, make a batch of beignets and hunker down with this book. (Madelines would be much more appropriate, but I don’t have that kind of time or a Madeline pan, so…)

Fried Chicken

So - this is hard to believe since I am a born and raised southern girl..but this was my first attempt at fried chicken. I don't know why, but I had a craving for it. I soaked the chicken for a few hours in milk and when I was ready to cook it - I put about 1/2 inch of oil in a cast iron skillet. I tossed the chicken with flour, salt, pepper and paparika then fried the chicken for about 10 minutes per side or until done (poultry needs to reach 180 degrees).



I served this along side another first of a sort, though I had no reason to believe it wouldn't work. I made a mixture of russet and sweet potato mash with a bit of chipolte and cheddar cheese - it was pretty yummy. Unfortunately the picture is fuzzy, but it tasted pretty darn good.