Food + Friends = Fun

Ah, another weekend come and gone - where does the time go?!  A question about "normal" people (i.e. those who spend more time in their home than in a hotel) : are weekends this crazy for them, too?  Since we only have 2 days at home to accomplished about 19,000 things (including spending quality time together), it's go-go-go the moment that plane touches down at Hartsfield Jackson Intl Airport on Thursday night. 

This weekend included some of my favorite things:  food and friends.  For the first time in a long time, I had several different meals to plan (and even ventured into some old cookbooks to find some new recipes).  Friday night was homemade chicken enchiladas with a made-from-scratch salsa verde - yum!  I love cooking Latin food, although it's harder to do here than in Texas.  For instance - this recipe calls for 1lb of tomatillos. Our neighborhood Publix had exactly .95lb in the entire STORE, so I had to clean them out.  The tortilla selection is also lacking, despite the fact that I have repeatedly suggested to Publix that they check out how HEB makes freshly made tortillas right in the store.  Regardless, I was able to make due and put some salsa-covered goodness on the table that night.

Saturday night was BBQ Salmon with Bok Choy, but way too easy of a preparation to brag about.  Hosting our friend, Krista, before she headed off to Hawaii and the Marshall Islands was definitely the highlight of this meal.  (I can't complain about my M - Th Jersey commute when we're with this gal, who spends consecutive weeks, and even months, treating patients in many poor regions of the world.)

Sunday night brought many new culinary challenges.  You see, it was our dear friend Ben's birthday, and you just have to do it up right for birthdays. I broke out our new ice cream attachment for the Kitchen Aid and whipped up some homemade Peach Sherbet to go along with Mrs. Kerr's Sugar Cookies.  (As an aside: This Mrs. Kerr was my great-grandmother, but my Grandmom - her daughter in law - always referred to her as "Mrs. Kerr".  So, that's the name Grandmom wrote down on the recipe card, which resulted in the official name for these cookies. It's hard not to bake these cookies without feeling connected to lots of strong Kerr women who made them years before me!)

The dinner part was good, too, but dessert was certainly my favorite part.  Well, spending times with so many of our good friends was actually my favorite part, maybe even second to the sherbet.  :)

Happy Birthday to you, Ben!