28 December 2008 – The Last Supper

Well it's the last Sunday Supper of 2008! Is everyone as ready as I am to end this crazy year? However, I am feeling optimistic about 2009. Christmas week has been hectic. It began with the annual Grant family holiday gathering last weekend. We had 10 relatives stay over last Saturday and made brunch on Sunday. We had a fun and crazy time, and I think wigs will become an annual tradition! I made a cook book of my mother's favorite recipes and gave to my family as a gift. It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed the process. I told a personal story about each of the recipes, so it was kind of like regression therapy. My sister gave me two Olivia Newton-John albums for Christmas, so she supervised all of my holiday baking in the kitchen. We are off to Seattle tomorrow to visit Jim's family and grand niece, Tatum. We are going to ring in the new year by watching fireworks at the Space Needle. It will be a lot of fun.

Tonight, I used my huge new cast iron skillet to pan roast a whole chicken! (just for you, Bernardo!) I finally got around to using my gift cards to the Viking Store that I got last year for my birthday. I am tired from all of the holiday festivities and a bit under the weather, so the comfort food hit the spot.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and best wishes for many great meals in 2009! Catch you on the flip side...

The Menu:

- Pan Roasted Organic Chicken with Sherry Rosemary Sauce

- Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes

- Sauteed Organic Cabbage

- Homemade Bread From Mike and David

14 December 2008

It's been a fun, crazy weekend! It started Friday night with a great dinner at Goin' Coastal with our friends Jeff Brown and The Cory. Better yet, I had helped my friend Zach, our client who owns the joint, with a DVD for his mother's 60th birthday, so he comped the entire meal with wine! Thanks Zach! It was a great meal, and the service was good. On Saturday, Jim and I went into the ATL. I was out of facial care products, and we wanted to see a movie. After an hour or so in retail traffic hell, we escaped to a great little Italian place on Edgewood in Downtown Atlanta: Noni's Italian Deli. It is a new place in a sketchy, but fascinating, part of town. They have a very cool bar, kickass jukebox and a limited, but divine, menu. We started with the garlic parmesan fries, and they were as addictive as crack! Very strong garlic, so we were safe from vampires the rest of the night! After dinner, we saw a great French film, "A Christmas Tale" with the (still) classic French beauty, Catherine Deneuve. It was kind of existential with modern nuances. I LOVED every moment and every subtitle. I think Jim liked it but said it was "very French." After the movie, we went to a couple of bars, and everyone was in a festive mood – even the drag queens! After a few drinks (for me), we wound up at a great dance club until 3 AM. We had a blast. Today, we did a few things around the house and recovered from last night. I decided we needed the ultimate "comfort food" to stabilize a crazy weekend, so I made old-fashioned Chicken and Dumplings! I'm not really sure what makes them old-fashioned other than the fact everything is from scratch' including the dumplings! They were as satisfying, albeit less sexy, than Noni's fries with Parmesan and garlic! Hope ya'll (homage to Southern dumplings) had a great weekend as well. I suppose I should think about doing some Christmas shopping soon, but cooking is so much more interesting...

The Menu:

- Old-Fashioned Southern Organic Chicken and Dumplings (enough said)

07 December 2008

We spent all day putting up our Christmas Tree, so no Sunday Supper tonight! We took a quick break and went for sushi instead. The tree has over 3000 lights this year! Man, it's hard work being festive. It is not quite done, but this photo will give you an idea. Guess you'll have to come visit to see it for yourself...

Hope to get back on schedule next Sunday. Until then, happy holidays!