Happy Thanksgiving!

I am wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving today! I am lucky enough to say that every year gets better and better. So, I must give thanks:

• I am thankful for my loving family from whom I am constantly inspired by to be a better person.
• I am thankful for my loving friends - who are often a second family for me. With my ten-year high school reunion this weekend, I'm looking forward to celebrating old friendships that have spanned over twenty years. And as always, I'm thankful for my new friends who I have become closer to this year.
• I am ofcourse thankful to my loving partner, B. He is my rock and the calm to my whirlwind daily storm. He has taught me so much about trust, patience and what it takes to make a loving home. I'm forever grateful.
  

Ofcourse, I can't not blog about food, especially on Thanksgiving. I'll be sure to update later with pictures from the feast prepared mostly by the best cook I know - my Mom. She has taught me that to be a good cook, it doesn't take skill but a willingness to prepare something wonderful that will nourish the hearts and souls of those you care about.

Here are pics of just some of the dishes:

Roasted acorn squash glazed with maple syrup and cranberries...

Spicy stir-fried shrimp...

Cornbread stuffing with celery, apples and spicy sausage...


Canned corn (don't ask, it is weirdly my sister's favorite)...

Brussel sprouts sauteed with lemon juice and white raisins...

Homemade cranberry sauce with hints of orange juice and cinnamon...

Ofcourse, lot and lots of turkey...

Sweet potatoes with marshmallows. Sometimes tradition is better than gourmet.

My mom's famous mashed potatoes...

Gherkins...

Gravy!

Canned cranberry sauce...

Ofcourse, I missed photos of the green beans, pumpkin soup and pumpkin pie...but I indulged and over-indulged.

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving - be well.

xoxo

Landsdowne Pub

First of all, I have a confession to make. I loved Jake Ivory's. Don't judge me. I have been there many times over the years for birthday parties and bachelorette parties. Each and every time, I've had a blast dancing and singing along with the dueling pianos. So when Jake Ivory's closed and the Landsdowne (also known as Landsdowne Pub) opened this spring, I stubbornly refused to check out the place out of respect for its predecessor. Last night, when B and I found ourselves in the Fenway area and wanted to grab a quick bite to eat, B wore me down and we decided to finally try out Landsdowne Pub.

I should say that while I was sad to see Jake Ivory's go, B literally cheered the first time he heard that a pub would be replacing a place that he called "hell on earth." But I digress.

Landsdowne Pub is located at 9 Landsdowne Street and on the outside, it looks like the typical Irish pub in Boston. But inside it is probably one of the nicest pubs I've been in - Boston or otherwise. Landsdowne Pub has tall ceilings with old pub-style chandeliers and sleek wood tables throughout the bar and restaurant area. After doing some research, I found out that the bar was actually built in Ireland and imported to the United States. There are various Gaelic inscriptions in the wood and Landsdowne Pub is successful in creating a pub environment in such a large space even though it seems to lack in the actual run-down coziness that most pubs provide.

We were greeted by a friendly hostess who was quick to seat us. Although the bar was full (though not packed), there were only a few diners in the restaurant when we arrived. She brought us to a table but told us that we could have any table we wanted since there were so many empty tables. We were fine with our table, which had a good view of the bar. Before we ordered, I peeked around the restaurant and checked out the two private event rooms along with the stage for their live entertainment.

There were only two servers on the floor and they started to get busy with more diners arriving. We put in our drink orders - a Magners for me and a Diet Coke for B. We were both impressed by their beer selection - both draft and bottle. Both of our drinks were served promptly.

To start, we split a single order of their chips (i.e. fries) with cheese and gravy. We waited awhile for our appetizer but it was worth the wait. The chips were thick cuts and perfectly golden fried. The mozzarella was perfectly distributed throughout the fries before being baked, which ensured that every chip had some cheese on it - even the ones at the very bottom of the plate. It is actually a huge pet peeve of mine when cheese on cheese fries or nachos is distributed so stingily and only on the top layer. But this was not the case here. The gravy was served in a small bowl on the side, which helped prevent any sogginess. The gravy was salty, but a perfect complement to the fries.

After our chip dish was cleared, we soon received our entrees. I ordered the chicken pot pie and it honestly gets a mixed review. The filling was delicious with chicken, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, potatoes, and peas. The chicken stock gravy was really spot on without being too creamy or rich. I found the filling to be seasoned liberally with cracked black pepper, which I enjoyed but the downfall to the filling was the lack of chicken. The ratio of vegetables to chicken was really off and although delicious, I found myself searching for more chicken in the pie. While the pie filling was hot from the oven, strangely the pie crust was room temperature. The pie crust was hard and not a puff pastry. When you ate the crust alone, it was a little bland but actually tasted great when I broke it into the filling (almost like croutons). The chicken pot pie was served with two thick slices of soda bread and Irish butter. I was so full from the heavy chicken pot pie, I only took a bite of the soda bread to taste. It was actually really good. It just seemed to be an odd side to the pot pie and perhaps a lighter side of mixed greens would be more appropriate. B was happy to indulge my soda bread though.

Speaking of B, for his meal, he ordered an appetizer of chicken bites served with celery and a blue cheese and hot sauce combination dipping sauce. The chicken bites were large nuggets of tender white meat. He said that the chicken bites were good with a nice breading and fry but that the sauce is what made the chicken really pop. The dipping sauce was both creamy and spicy. He really enjoyed it. He also ordered the simple mixed greens that had plenty of onions, tomatoes and cucumbers. Although B finished the salad, he only said that it was good but nothing to write home about.

All in all, the meal was solid at Landsdowne Pub. For one of the bars on Landsdowne Street, I think they do their food better than most. Although there were only two servers on the floor that were very busy, they were attentive, friendly and made our meal enjoyable. I'll definitely be going back to Landsdowne Pub soon for both the food (before a Sox game next year) and the live entertainment they regularly have on the weekends.

xoxo

NYC Girls Weekend Recap

On Friday, I left work early to head to South Station to catch the Bolt Bus to New York City. I was heading to NYC with Mama T to see my best friend S. This was my first trip to NYC since S has moved back to the East Coast from L.A. Our trip kicked off with a bumpy start with T almost missing the bus, but she made just in time with the good luck of the bus arriving just a few minutes late. The bus was ridiculously nice with lots of leg room, leather seats and free wi-fi, which T took advantage of. We were due to arrive at Penn Station around 7:30 PM but we had about a forty-five minute delay in Connecticut (at an Arby's parking lot no less) and we got in closer to 9 P.M. Poor S was waiting for us at the hotel for about two hours! We caught a cab and headed over to the hotel, the Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel. By the time we checked in, noshed on our complimentary warm chocolate chip cookies (yum!) and freshened up, we were ready for the weekend to begin. Here's the weekend re-cap:

• Late Friday night dinner at Cabana, a Latin restaurant Midtown. Highlights included adorable Latin server (yum!), watermelon and raspberry mojitos (double yum!), and a meal of shrimp fritters and plantains (triple yum!).

• Private table and bubbly at Buddakan in the Meat Packing District. This place is GORGEOUS and ofcourse expensive. I was in love with the uber tall ceilings, modern Asian decor and chandeliers. We socialized with the old Wall Street men and the young annoying crowd out for a drunken birthday boy's celebration. The bubbly helped make the company easier. Two attempts at a self portrait evidenced below:

• Loving the late hours for the city that truly never sleeps, we stop off at P.J. Clarke's for a nightcap. Despite my pearls, this is seriously my kind of bar where everyone knows your name (and the bartender apparently really thought he knew mine). We ended up sucking down our pints and finally calling it night around 3 AM.

• Saturday morning we awoke and refueled with some carbs - hello bagel with cream cheese! We needed the energy as we started the morning off at Canal Street where we were bombarded with the haggling vendors for "designer" goods. I've actually never been to Canal Street before and I felt completely overwhelmed but had to experience it anyway.

• Next on the agenda was to do some shopping in Soho. We managed to stop at the fabulous Wink NYC, where I picked up a gorgeous House of Harlow ring. Love it. I also snapped a photo of a bubble machine vendor along the way. One of those moments where you really can fall in love with a city.

• Girl cannot survive on bagel alone so we headed to Lombardi's for pizza. Lombardi's claim to fame is being the first pizzeria in America. All I know is that the pizza was worth the wait. We inhaled a pizza (half cheese, half pepperoni) in no time. We also met a lovely family from my hometown. Random.

• S and I were stuffed but T wanted to try her first taste of Pinkberry, even though I told her that they are soon coming to Boston. S and I rested our tired feet while S enjoyed her froyo in this bright and clean-designed place.

• We headed to the Village for some more shopping, which included a stop at Kidrobot, which is one of B's favorite stores. I picked up a pair of PJ pants that B wanted but was sold out online. He was thrilled when I gave it to him when I got home and I patted myself on the back for being a good girlfriend.

• Exhausted, we started to head home. We stopped at Bryant Park to rest our feet and to watch the ice skaters at the rink set up there. It was absolutely perfect.

• We passed through Times Square, which is always really overwhelming for me as I really am not a fan of crowds. But I took the obligatory tourist shots along the way....

• We headed back to the hotel for a quick nap and then got ready for the night. We had dinner at Franisco's Centro Vasco in Chelsea. We had the most amazing meal at this Spanish seafood restaurant. We split a delicious pitcher of red sangria and our entrees came with a huge green salad and a loaf of bread to share, along with family-style garlic and butter sauteed green beens and potato crisps. I had the paella, which was really a serving for two people chock full of shrimp, mussels, clams, scallops, chorizo and chicken. Delish. It was a ridiculous bargain for really good food.

• We headed to Gotham Comedy Club to see Ralphie May perform. I'd never heard of him but apparently he was a finalist on Last Comic Standing and also a contestant on Celebrity Fit Club. Hysterical. He honestly made my stomach hurt from laughing so hard. After bar hopping, we ended the night early around 2 AM.

• Sunday morning we checked out of the hotel and started off with a quick breakfast. I had a sausage egg and cheese with jalapenos on a croissant. Yum. We walked over to Central Park and just walked around to enjoy the warm fall day. We then headed to Serendipity 3 to put our name down for lunch. We had a long wait, so we killed time shopping at Dylan's Candy Bar. T and I bought a bag of mixed candy for our bus ride home. We then had lunch at Serendipity, which is one of the places I've always wanted to go to. This place is absolutely girly and I can't wait to go there someday with my daughter. We ended our meal by splitting a frozen hot chocolate, ofcourse!

• T and I caught an early bus back to Boston and I slept most of the ride back. My lovely boyfriend met me at South Station and we took a cab back to our place.

It was an amazing girls weekend and I was so glad to get out of the city. Its going to be a crazy week leading up to Thanksgiving, my ten year high school reunion, and then vacation! Hope I'll survive through it all!

xoxo

H-Mart

Like any other Korean in the Greater Boston area, I have been eagerly awaiting the opening of H-Mart. After years of rumors and many building issues, H-Mart finally opened in Burlington, MA in September. Although I have been meaning to go to H-Mart earlier, I finally got the opportunity to go there this weekend with my mom and my sister.

Located at 3 Old Concord Road, the first word to describe H-Mart is absolute chaos. The parking was incredibly full and there were so many cars trying to stake out parking spots as is usual during the holiday season. But when I entered, I was thrilled to be in such a large Korean grocery store in Massachusetts. I'll have to explain to those that don't fully understand this joy. You see, growing up in Massachusetts, my family was always limited to small Korean grocery stores that had limited choices and high prices. Whenever we wanted to get any large quantities of cabbage or radishes for pickling, we'd head to New York or New Jersey to hit up any of the larger Asian grocery stores. Finally, this is available to Massachusetts residents.

I was impressed by the variety of items - from produce to meat to their extensive kimchi offerings. In addition, their dry and frozen goods were pretty impressive, including their Indian and Chinese goods. I wandered around but it was really hectic. The customers blocked aisles as they flocked to the free samples given out in various aisles. This is totally customary at traditional Korean grocery stores although I'm always amazed by the crowds this creates. My sister ventured to the bakery section to pick up some of the pastries filled with red bean paste that my mother and I adore. I wanted to scope out the food court area but it was just too crowded.

I took a few pictures of the offerings, such as piles of ginger...

...stinky durian...

...canned Asian spicy sauces...



...the extensive kimchi section, where there were loads of pickled offerings...

...delicious raw squid...

...and ofcourse a variety of shrimps and prawns.

To be honest, I was going more for the experience than to actually grocery shop. I did, however, pick up some spicy marinated boneless chicken thighs, baby corn, and prawn crackers. My mother loaded up on the usual goodies, including a box of radishes which she will pickle soon with promises to give me and B a jar at Thanksgiving.

All in all, H-Mart is a welcome addition to the Korean community, although there were plenty of non-Asians who seemed to enjoy H-Mart today as well. The prices vary - some incredibly cheap and others were a little more pricey. But I'll definitely return on a weekday to avoid the weekend chaos.

xoxo

Market by Jean-Georges at the W Hotel

Last night, B and I headed to the W Hotel for a dinner date night. We were excited to try out Market by Jean-Georges, which has been open for about three weeks now and this was the first opportunity we had to check it out.

It was a rainy night and we arrived at the W Hotel a few minutes late for our 7 PM reservation. We entered through the hotel lobby entrance and walked by the W Bar on our way to Market. Wow. It was only 7 PM but the place was filled with the usual Euro-trash, cougar clientele. This is the same crowd that took over Alibi, which was once one of my favorite bars. I was not impressed. But since this is the new hot spot in town, I rolled my eyes and headed into the restaurant.

We checked in with the hostesses. One hostess took our coats while the other host went to check on our table. Although the restaurant was busy, we saw quite a few tables for two open. Yet they insisted on clearing and setting a new table, which was very odd. After several minutes, we were seated in an enclosed area near the front of the house. We were seated without menus and we sat for quite a few minutes with no water and no menus. Again, odd. We took the time to appreciate the scene - high ceilings and modern clean lines. The short stone vase with a daisy seemed off but I liked the atmosphere. After a few minutes, our server (who would turn out to be our main server) greeted us with our menus.

B and I started out with a drink as we looked over our menus. I chose a sparkling rose while B had a cocktail consisting of bourbon, passion fruit mix and ginger ale. The menu had a lot of different items that seemed intriguing, so we decided to go with the tasting menu, which featured many of those items. One of the courses contained shellfish and B asked if that could be substituted. The server checked with the kitchen and said that this was not a problem and offered two different options for that course. We were off to a good start.

Another server came by the table with a bread basket. I chose the sourdough while B had the multi grain. The bread was a generous slice and the sourdough was soft and doughy with a delicious crust. And then we started the delicious courses.

Our first course was a rice cracker crusted ahi-tuna served with a citrus chili emulsion. The rice cracker added a nice crunch to the tuna but the real star of the dish was the emulsion. The sauce was sweet from the citrus but it left a small heat in its after taste, which is completely appropriate for a first course. The sauce contained chopped scallions, which really tied the entire dish together. I thought it was a great first course.

Our second course was a foie gras brulee served a top a toasted brioche alongside a spiced fig jam. Although this wasn't the best foie gras I've had, the brulee and the spiced fig jam really made this dish memorable. The toasted brioche was a little disappointing though as mine was a bit too dark. B and I compared our respective brioches and his was definitely toasted to perfection. The burnt toast taste over powered the bite and the fig jam was used to really mask that.

At this point I finished my rose and switched to a nice glass of sweet chenin blanc for the upcoming seafood courses.

For the third course, I had seared shrimp served with a silky pumpkin, ginger and basil emulsion and toasted pumpkin seeds. The shrimp had a nice spicy rub and was perfectly cooked. The combination of shrimp and pumpkin is not something that I would normally think would go well together but it was really outstanding. And the pumpkin seeds added a nice light crunch to the dish. For this course, B had a creamy butternut squash soup. I stole a bite and it was decadent in its creaminess. We both really enjoyed this course.

Our fourth course was a pan seared striped bass with a pureed nut crust, served in a sweet and sour broth with lima beans, roasted grape tomatoes, circles of Yukon gold potatoes and pearl onions. This dish was really the worst of our tasting menu. On one hand, the fish was cooked perfectly. The skin was perfectly crisp with the crust while the meat was moist and succulent. But the broth was just way too salty. While I'm probably too salt-sensitive, B definitely agreed. Another big problem with this dish was the plating. Because of the broth, this was plated in a shallow bowl. However, this made the fish and vegetables difficult to cut and maneuver. I was glad to see this plate go.

As I finished my chenin blanc, I decided to try out the house soda of passion fruit and chili peppers. I ordered this, which the server raved about. But then he served me with what looked very similar to the same bourbon cocktail that B was drinking. I took a sip and realized that this was in fact not the soda. After flagging down the server, I told him that I thought this was a mistake, especially since it wasn't served in a tall soda glass. He told me that he was sure it was the soda but that he would check with the bar. It turned out that it was in fact B's cocktail. After some time, he brought over the soda, which was absolutely delicious. The soda was not overly sweet with the passion fruit but there was a pleasant kick in the end with the chili. The bourbon cocktail brought over by mistake was given to B.

We were then onto the next course - smoked chili glaze served atop a grilled lamb chop on a bed of king oyster mushrooms and broccoli rabe. The glaze was phenomenal and something I wish they bottled. The lamb was cooked to a nice medium, but it was interesting because the server made a big point of stating that the chef recommended serving the lamp a medium-rare. We agreed but only B's was really a medium rare while mine was more cooked as a medium. The broccoli rabe and mushrooms were delicious and a nice salty contrast (in a good way) to the lamb.

Our final course was a warm molten chocolate cake served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, shortbread crumbs and a chocolate plantain brittle. The dessert was nothing spectacular but it was done to perfection. The brittle was particularly memorable. I enjoyed the ice cream with the chocolate cake but since I'm not a big chocolate cake person, I only made a small dent in the cake.

Overall, the tasting menu was delicious but not perfect. I was impressed with the flavor combinations, especially the sweet and spicy emulsions. However, the burnt brioche, over-cooked lamb and over-salty fish were blatant errors.

While the errors in food is forgivable, the biggest problem with this restaurant was the number of servers on the floor. There were over a dozen servers and at least three managers on the floor, and they all seemed to stand on top of each other. I yearned for the days of old school service where the servers were attentive and there when you needed it, but otherwise invisible. And despite the number of servers, this service was seriously lacking. For instance, despite the interchangeable number of servers who re-filled our waters and cleared our plates, it was very difficult to flag down our actual server. In fact, none of these servers actually introduced or described our plates, which was a disappointment for a tasting menu. In addition, our plates took a long time to get cleared in between courses. In fact, when we had finished our fish course, the dirty dishes were left on the table for so long that another server brought out the lamb courses but the previous dishes hadn't been cleared. It was embarrassing for them to have to remedy this.

Because Market has only been open for a few weeks, I'm willing to forgive the service errors. I will definitely return again but hopefully when they have sorted these issues out. In the meantime, I'll steer clear from there and the obnoxious clientele pouring over from the W Bar.

xoxo

Framed's Bacon and Egg Muffins

First I've got to give a shout-out to one of my favorite food blogs: Framed. The blogger photographs and write about different recipes that she tries out in her kitchen. Most of her blog posts show incredibly easy recipes and the photos can make your stomach rumble and your mouth water. When she blogged about Bacon and Egg Muffins last month, I absolutely knew that I had to try it out.

Even though I absolutely love cooking a hearty breakfast on the weekends, I am also a huge fan of eating breakfast for lunch or dinner. I sincerely think that breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. So, after a particular long day at work followed by a long run at the gym, I headed home to make Bacon and Egg Muffins for dinner with a side of homefries.

I've got to be honest that B did most of the preparation and cooking that night as I was particularly drained. I'm a very lucky girl to have a boyfriend who takes such good care of me! Before he headed to the gym, he chopped up some red bliss potatoes, shallots and garlic. So when we both got home, this was the first thing we started with. B heated up our iron cast skillet and melted some butter. He added the garlic and shallots until they were softened, and then removed them to a separate bowl. He then added the potatoes, along with fresh cracked sea salt and peppercorns and paprika and let them cook in the leftover butter. Since we were using the skillet, this would take awhile and we let the potatoes cook to a nice crispy browned texture.


Now that the potatoes were slowly cooking, we got to work on the bacon and egg muffins. First, we laid strips of bacon on a tin foiled baking sheet in the oven set at 350. We only wanted to cook the bacon without it actually being crispy.

While the bacon was cooking, B greased six cups in our muffin tray. Using slices of leftover whole grain bread, I cut out six circles using a cup. I cut out two circles per slice. We added the bread to the greased tins and pushed them down. There was a small sprinkling of shredded mozzarella cheese, which we also had leftover.

When the bacon was done cooking, we let it cool and soaked some of the bacon grease out with a paper towel. We then tried to curl the bacon around the muffin cup. Since we were using leftover bacon, we had thick slices of gourmet bacon that were shorter in length. This made it difficult to actually make a full circle around the bread. In hindsight, skinnier slices would probably have been better because they would have also been longer. But we remedied the situation by slicing up the extra bacon into pieces that would help make a complete circle.

This did not look pretty and I was worried about how this would actually cook. But the eggs helped a lot. B did the hard work and cracked each egg open and removed about half of the egg whites form each egg. The remaining egg white and yolk was then placed in the center of the bacon and bread cup on top of the shredded cheese. We then placed it in the oven at 400 degrees and cooked for about ten minutes.

While the muffins were in the oven, we added the garlic and shallots back in with the homefries and let it cook with the cover on.

We time everything correctly and by the time the muffins were done cooking, the homefries were also done. Our kitchen smelled unbelievably delicious with the bacon, garlic and shallots smell.

The end result? A perfect bacon and egg muffin. The egg was cooked through but still had a nice runny yolk. And while I was worried if the muffin would hold together, the egg really helped bind the bacon crust to the bread. Delish.

And with the homefries, this was the perfect breakfast for dinner. We had two muffins each and then we each took a muffin and some homefries to work the next day for breakfast. Yum.

Thanks again to Framed for sharing such a simple yet tasty recipe. The presentation is adorable and it will definitely be a hit this winter when we make them for our friends during a ski trip!

xoxo

No Price on a Child's Joy

Last weekend, I headed to B's parent's house to hang out with little Noah. We haven't seen him since August, so it was nice to spend time with the little guy. It is always amazing to see how much a child can develop in such a short period of time. Now he can talk in actual conversations, which is so fun.

Anyways, as the only grandchild in this family, Noah gets spoiled unbelievably. Case in point, we bought him a cute Johnny Cupcakes shirt and a floor puzzle since we hadn't seen him in so long. And let's just say we're probably the ones that spoil him the least! But no matter how much money you spend, there was no greater joy for Noah than playing in the leaves in the yard. It just goes to show that there is no price on what can bring a child joy.

xoxo

Spaghetti Squash with Red Sauce and Herb Chicken

Last week, after a particularly stressful few days at work, I was looking forward to cooking a relaxing meal at home. When I am stressed, I like to eat comfort foods like pasta, bread, and other carbs. But after my first experience cooking with it, I knew that spaghetti squash would probably give me just as much comfort as any pasta dish.

What I love about spaghetti squash is that it is so cheap and easy to cook. B cut the squash in half length-wise and scooped out the large fleshy seeds. I put the squash cut face down in a baking dish and filled the baking dish about halfway with water. B foiled the baking dish and put it in the oven for forty-five minutes at 375 degrees.

While the squash is cooking, we had plenty of time to enjoy a glass of red wine as we prepared the rest of the dish. I threw some boneless chicken breasts in the fridge that morning before work and they were nicely defrosted. B trimmed the fat and sliced the chicken in large bites. He put the cut chicken in a plastic bag with some herbs de provence and shook the bag for a nice coating. I heated up a nice sauce pan with some olive oil and cooked the chicken so that it had cooked through but was still moist and retained all of its juices. I put the chicken on a plate, tin-foiled it and left it on the stove top to stay warm.

B got to work peeling a large amount of garlic and he also chopped up a quarter of a large yellow onion. Using the saucepan with the chicken bits, herbs and olive oil, I added a bit more olive oil along with the chopped onions over a medium heat. Once the onion softened, I added some oregano, crushed red pepper, crushed black pepper, and salt for flavor. I also added canned chopped tomatoes and tomato paste. I mixed the sauce through, put a cover on the pan and reduced the heat to low for it to simmer.

While I worked on the sauce, B popped the peeled garlic in our toaster oven with olive oil to roast the garlic. Since I am addicted to garlic, my stomach was rumbling with the delicious garlic smell.

After forty-five minutes, I took the spaghetti squash out of the oven and turned it over cut-side up. I re-foiled the squash and cooked it for an additional ten minutes. Once the ten minutes were up, I took the squash out to cool. And then came my favorite part - stringing the squash. I used a fork to scrape the flesh which comes out to beautiful spaghetti-like strings of squash. B wanted in on the fun and did the other half of the squash. This resulted in a huge bowl of spaghetti squash. It amazes me how much the flesh of a spaghetti squash can provide.

At this point, the garlic was done roasting and we tossed about a half dozen cloves with the spaghetti squash. The garlic was so soft and smelled delicious. The rest of the garlic was used with butter and garlic powder on a baguette to make garlic bread.

I added the chicken to the sauce and allowed it to cook in the pan long enough to make sure the chicken was warmed up again but without making it a soggy or overcooked mess. We then tossed the sauce with the herbed chicken breast with our spaghetti squash and garlic.

Served with a fresh grating of Parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper, the spaghetti squash was a healthier alternative to any pasta dish. The spaghetti squash has a slightly sweet taste, but it is a perfect compliment to a hearty red sauce.

xoxo

Boston Lupus Pub Crawl

On Saturday, I went to the annual Boston Lupus Pub Crawl. We had a blast - drinking and dancing - all in the name of a good cause. The committe did a lot of planning and all of their hard work paid off. We had a fantastic time, especially dancing to Bearfight.

Here are some photos from the day:

xoxo