As mentioned in a previous post, I’ve made a pork themed meal for my husband’s birthday for several years running now. Its always fun to come up with a different concept each year and think through the recipes for each of the courses. Last year’s surprise party was so much fun that I decided to do a scaled down version for a small group of … Continue reading Menu Planning: Toby’s Backyard Birthday BBQ
When I first celebrated my husband’s birthday in 2009, we were dating nearly a year, so I felt I knew him pretty well, especially his love of pork. Since I love to cook, I thought a fitting gift was to cook him a really special dinner. As I was brainstorming ideas on what to serve, I had the idea to challenge myself with creating a … Continue reading From Divine Swine to Backyard BBQ
Several years ago, the Washington Post Food Section printed a recipe for Roasted Vegetable Ratatouille and I knew I had to make it. This was even in our condo living years, before we had a garden that grew too much zucchini and yellow squash. I love the rustic feel of this dish and the flavors really pop. I’ve made it for guests many times as … Continue reading Roasted Vegetable Ratatouille
We recently hosted our neighbors over for a late summer dinner on our back patio. Since they have two boys, I wanted to do a menu of finger foods that were easy to snack on as we chatted. The menu worked perfectly and everyone was free to just help themselves to whatever they wanted and it was so easy to put together. And dessert was … Continue reading Menu – Grilled Chicken Skewers, Pepperoni Sauce, Cherry Tomato Mozzarella Bites, S’mores Bar
We had our good friends, Charles and Alexa, over for dinner this past weekend to enjoy good food, good wine and, our favorite card game, Cards Against Humanity. It was a great night. They brought some wine from their recent trip to Napa that went down all too well and I supplied the dinner. When putting together a menu for a dinner we are hosting, … Continue reading Menu – Braised Lamb, Saffron Rice, Lemony Green Beans, Plum Crumble
Half Pint Garden 