Eating Dinner With My Family

The cul de sac was at it again!  We finally got together for another progressive dinner. Here it is two weeks later and I am finally writing the post.  Forgive me the brevity and just know that the evening was full of great food and friends!   In honor of one neighbors recent trip to Spain & France, we had a loose "Tour of Europe"  theme.  We started off in England with cheese, crackers, chutney, cider, ale and the most interesting cocktail, Pimm's Cup.  It was amazing! Add caption Cheese and Chutney Cider and Ale Pimm's Cup Next we went to Spain with a shrimp tapa, with rice and bread Next we went to Venesuela for a papusa with a slaw and beans Cheese and crackers too! and beer! Then we went to France with my dish, the roast pork with mustard sauce. Then we went to Germany for Sausage and Apples.  I have to say, I don't dig fruit much, (or...

Last year's party was so amazing, we splurged again and went. As far as date nights go, it's an excellent one. The husband and I actually had some fun at Disney before the Party enjoying things we normally don't do with the kiddies.  I loved the dinner and had a great time.  I thought, on the whole, the food was better last year, but still totally worth it.  This year's headlining chef was Robert Irvine and he was super nice and really friendly.  (much more than last year's chef!)  Like last year, I didn't bother to really set up the pictures, but I wanted a record of them so forgive the blurry, poorly lighted pictures;  it is really just about being able to share our evening. From Christine Weissman & Christopher Maggetti of the Disneyland Resort had this Grilled Buffalo Flank Steak with Mine Shaft Blue Cheese Polenta Cake, Wild Mushroom Saute, Citrus Teriyaki Sauce and Tangerine Micro Lace, but apparently we didn't get to them as I d...

In a hole in the ground there lived a boy.  Some of it was nasty and dirty as it was inhabited by a tween and had an oozy smell, but it wasn't a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: (as there was a mom) it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.  If you can't tell we are huge fans of Tolkien and are also a bit nerdy. (and proud of it I may add:)  We noticed a while back that The Hobbit was coming out on DVD today and decided on planning an 'unexpected dinner' to celebrate.  So we have kept as quiet as possible that The Hobbit was coming out today, as we wanted to surprise the boy with dinner and a movie.  There was that moment when I was furiously fast forwarding through the commericals when he spied a commerical for it, but I blew it off, and he seemed to buy it.  I looked at a lot of sites for recipes and ideas.  I loved the old recipes I found (some from the 1600's) to make for this dinner.  I h...