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because of the quirks of my work schedule, i haven’t been to work since last thursday.\u00c2\u00a0 originally, i’d planned to take advantage of this stretch of time off by taking a trip to visit a friend, but in the end,\u00c2\u00a0 i decided to just lay low and stay home.\u00c2\u00a0 it’s been very relaxing.\u00c2\u00a0 here are the highlights:<\/p>\n
–on friday, mr. happy stuff and i enjoyed lunch together at brasserie v<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 i think i’ve only eaten there once before and i hope to go back again soon!\u00c2\u00a0 every single sandwich on their lunch menu (actually, pretty much all of the food on their menu) looked tasty to me.\u00c2\u00a0 this made my decision very difficult, but i finally settled on a muffaletta.\u00c2\u00a0 yum.\u00c2\u00a0 we also ordered frites (which came in a cute cone-shaped dish lined with parchment and a side of aioli).\u00c2\u00a0 the sandwich had a delicious blend of flavors and was big enough that i ate the second half for lunch the next day.\u00c2\u00a0 that night, i made smitten kitchens’ bourbon peach hand pies<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 the bourbon wasn’t particularly noticeable, but the pies were butterrific!\u00c2\u00a0 i have never had a recipe with so many different “chill” cycles, but the crust did have a lovely flaky texture.<\/p>\n –on saturday, mr. happy stuff and i enjoyed a leisurely trip to the farmer’s market (including breakfast at ingrid’s lunchbox<\/a>–mmmm….cornmeal crepe….and a to-die-for cream cheese danish from stella’s<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 i don’t even usually like danish, but this one was a-maz-ing.) and then a bike ride to nearby paoli where we stopped for a picnic and shared an ice cream cone from the new “paoli peddle stop” which serves (among other things) chocolate shoppe ice cream.\u00c2\u00a0 the bike ride is almost 30 miles round-trip.\u00c2\u00a0 it felt good to be back on the bike.<\/p>\n –we ended saturday on a high foodie note:\u00c2\u00a0 dinner at muramoto<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 this place has been on our “must try this” list for awhile and i think that after our experience there saturday night, we’ll probably have to go back again sometime.\u00c2\u00a0 oh.\u00c2\u00a0 my.\u00c2\u00a0 goodness.\u00c2\u00a0 we began our meal with a “bite size starter” for each of us.\u00c2\u00a0 i had the braised pork, miso cream cheese and peach terrine, topped with fresh tiny greens.\u00c2\u00a0 very rich, very tasty.\u00c2\u00a0 mr. happy stuff had the tempura king crab with truffled bearnaise and i seriously don’t think i’ve seen him that happy about food for a very long time.\u00c2\u00a0 his eyes closed, a smile spread across his face and as soon as his mouth was empty, he couldn’t stop talking about it.\u00c2\u00a0 he reports that it’s a good thing this dish is only one bite–it’s so rich that any more than one bite would be overwhelming.\u00c2\u00a0 but that one bite?\u00c2\u00a0 fantastic.\u00c2\u00a0 the second course that came was our “maki mono” (sushi rolls).\u00c2\u00a0 we ordered two–the first was mango, avocado and a soy sauce reduction wrapped in rice and an outer layer of thinly sliced duck.\u00c2\u00a0 the second was the “rainbow roll”–tuna, yellow fin, salmon, crab, avocado and avocado.\u00c2\u00a0 one of those fish was wrapped around the outside and there was rice wrapped around the filling and yes, the fish appeared to be raw, but … oh man.\u00c2\u00a0 even i (not generally a fish-eater) loved both of those rolls.\u00c2\u00a0 dipped in a little soy sauce, then rushed to my mouth for a burst of incredible flavors and textures.\u00c2\u00a0 i’d have been happy eating a whole meal of just those special sushi rolls.\u00c2\u00a0 our third course was the “hot dish” where i got the beef hanger steak with satsuma potato salad and miso blue cheese dressing and mr. h-s got the sauteed shrimp and marinated tofu in spicy coconut sauce, red onions, bell peppers and peanuts.\u00c2\u00a0 we shared the entrees between the two of us (i didn’t eat any of the shrimp, but very much enjoyed the tofu and vegetables.).\u00c2\u00a0 mr. h-s likened the steak to the one he ate at harvest<\/a> (this is high praise.\u00c2\u00a0 that steak<\/a> was pretty much his favorite meal ever in madison.)\u00c2\u00a0 the shrimp and tofu were quite spicy and the bowl of rice that they brought out to go along with it was much appreciated.\u00c2\u00a0 then, we just had to finish the meal with the dessert sampler plate.\u00c2\u00a0 mr. h-s had a view of the plate preparation area from where he sat and he’d seen lots of these dessert plates being prepared while we were eating.\u00c2\u00a0 sprinkled with a few leaves of this, drizzled with a syrup of that, a few edible flowers scattered over the plate… extravagantly elegant.\u00c2\u00a0 our sampler included the green tea “opera” cake, lemon verbena panna cotta, coconut mango pudding and chocolate cream cake.\u00c2\u00a0 unsurprisingly, our favorite was the chocolate cream cake.\u00c2\u00a0 very rich, chocolatey, smooth, and delicious.\u00c2\u00a0 the evening was definitely a splurge, but very worth it.<\/p>\n –sunday, i spent the afternoon with a friend that i haven’t had a chance to visit for a long time.\u00c2\u00a0 we’ve had schedule conflicts for months, but finally were able to arrange to get together to paint.\u00c2\u00a0 the last few times i visited her, i had admired her paintings.\u00c2\u00a0 she does these disarming paintings of the cutest monsters (and sometimes robots) that i just adore.\u00c2\u00a0 i’d asked if i could come over sometime to paint with her and so we did!\u00c2\u00a0 i made one painting that i really liked:<\/p>\n and one painting that i didn’t like so much.\u00c2\u00a0 reassuringly, she said that sometimes that happens and with painting, you can just paint over the thing you didn’t like and do something different.\u00c2\u00a0 a little more forgiving than quilting can be sometimes!\u00c2\u00a0 we had a wonderful afternoon, chatting and catching up over cups of hot tea and painted canvases.\u00c2\u00a0 she’s painting me my very own monster.\u00c2\u00a0 i’m so excited!<\/p>\n –monday was a beautifully cold drizzly day.\u00c2\u00a0 no, really.\u00c2\u00a0 it was the perfect weather for staying inside all day, feeling cozy and working on projects like canning more tomatoes and peaches.<\/p>\n the peaches were the colorado ones i received in my most recent fruit csa share<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 i had four pint jars with cute lids, so i decided to use those.\u00c2\u00a0 instead of halving the peaches, i sliced them so i could fit more into the jar.\u00c2\u00a0 i could still only fit about two peaches per jar, but that left me three peaches from the share to enjoy fresh.\u00c2\u00a0 the 20 lbs. of tomatoes were from a local community farm that a friend of mine works at.\u00c2\u00a0 last time, i’d tried a “raw pack” method where i diced the tomatoes before packing them into jars with boiling liquid and then processing them.\u00c2\u00a0 the tomatoes ended up floating on top of an inch or so of semi-clear liquid.\u00c2\u00a0 it doens’t seem to affect the flavor, but i wanted to try cooking the tomatoes down to see if that worked better.\u00c2\u00a0 they turned out beautifully rich red, no weird layer of liquid, but i also only got 10 pint jars out of 20 lbs of tomatoes…\u00c2\u00a0 we’ll see how they taste over the winter.\u00c2\u00a0 i ended the day back in the swimming pool with a friend after a long hiatus while it was being re-painted over the summer.\u00c2\u00a0 we did a short workout and missed our third swimming companion who moved to minneapolis over the summer.<\/p>\n –today, yet another friend that i haven’t seen for a long time, drove into town and we enjoyed lunch at the macha teahouse<\/a>,\u00c2\u00a0 (these cardamom cookies are yummy and have such very cute packaging.)<\/p>\n we did a little shopping on monroe st. and then went back to my place for some simultaneous crafting.\u00c2\u00a0 she worked on some cards that she sells<\/a> and i began cutting fabric for my common threads<\/a> quilt (i’m so excited! september is my month to send fabric!).<\/p>\n although i wouldn’t mind having another five days off, i’m feeling quite rested, happy, and very well fed.\u00c2\u00a0 it was so wonderful to spend time with friends this weekend.\u00c2\u00a0 like lots of little, teeny tiny vacations all smooshed together.\u00c2\u00a0 and i didn’t even have to pack a suitcase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" because of the quirks of my work schedule, i haven’t been to work since last thursday.\u00c2\u00a0 originally, i’d planned to take advantage of this stretch of time off by taking a trip to visit a friend, but in the end,\u00c2\u00a0 … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/lh4.ggpht.com\/carissaabc\/SMdHUVev4sI\/AAAAAAAAIsQ\/d1By1S57rxg\/s720\/IMGP4493.JPG\")
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