Gastronomy Blog

Sunday night already?? This weekend felt really short, probably because Brian was out of town for most of it. I’m so spoiled; since we’ve been married, I’ve probably spent the night at home alone less than 5 times. So when he does leave I have no idea what to do with myself. On the other hand, the house does stay really clean…

I have two major foodie topics from the weekend to report. The rest of the weekend I was a bad blogger and really didn’t take many pics.

-FRIDAY-

We visited my friend Jacqueline and her new baby, Ella, in the hospital. Such a sweet little thing! She was very alert the whole time we were there but never made a peep. Jacqueline delivered at the same hospital we’re using, so it was great to get the scoop from her on how things went down… but at the same time SCARY because in less than 10 weeks that will be us. Whoa.

-SATURDAY-

Brian headed to Houston late morning for our friend Josh’s wedding. I bowed out because- 1. we didn’t want to stick Chloe in the kennel, and 2. seven months pregnant + 8 hours in the car = no bueno.

A few weeks ago I got an invitation to the preview of Stephan Pyles‘ new Spanish/Indian/Mediterranean tapas restaurant, Samar. Yes, please!! Since Brian would be out of town, I enlisted Zach (my little brother) to be my hot date instead. Saturday night we rolled up to the place… behind 10 cars waiting for the valet and about 200 people mingling about outside. Wow. I found out today that there were over 900 people in attendance!

I tried to get some good photos, but it was so crowded that it was tough to get a decent shot. Despite the crowds, we had a great time. The food was hard to get to- but once we parked ourselves near the kitchen we managed to grab quite a few bites. And delicious it was.

I got a few weird looks with my “mocktails”:

What a party. You were (literally) showered with rose petals as soon as you walked in the door, and the staff was wonderful. The only beverages served were wine and a signature Samar cocktail, but shortly after arriving a gracious staffer approached and offered to get me something non-alcoholic. Nice! It was very glam and scene-y. Very Paper City.

Zach was a great date. He’s always been the more “social” of the two of us (i.e., he’s hilarious and cool and I’m shy and nerdy) and I was not at all surprised that he knew several people at the party. He was the one that managed to elbow his way to the bar for drinks and snuck us around to the food. I need to remember this for future events…

See? Cool guy.

The preggo got tired early and we were out of there by 9:30, but that was plenty of time to experience both the food and the atmosphere. I definitely want to check this place out once they have their public opening. There’s another good write-up of the night here, if you’re interested.

-SUNDAY-

Once Brian got home this afternoon I chattered his ear off like a rabid chipmunk and then dragged him off to run 2958 errands with me. He loves that.

But I was a good wife and made pot roast for dinner. I’ve never made pot roast before. Hell, I’ve cooked beef maybe three times EVER… which is probably a good thing because damn that stuff is expensive. The Food Network website offered up this recipe from Paula Deen. Good reviews, included chardonnay, easy, and low maintenance. Yes, yes, yes and YES.

I altered the recipe by layering vegetables in the bottom of the slow cooker: onions, baby carrots, halved yukon gold potatoes and mushrooms. I also added half a bag of frozen brussels sprouts in the last 30 minutes of cook time. The reviews indicated that it might be a little watery, so I only covered the roast halfway with liquid. It cooked on high for 4 hours. At the end I removed the roast and veggies and then thickened the gravy in a saucepan by making a roux of flour and a little of the juice, then adding the rest of the liquid and simmering.

Verdict? DELICIOUS. The house smells heavenly. It reminds me of Sundays when we were growing up; my mom used to put a roast in the oven on Sunday mornings and that would be our lunch/dinner (supper?) later on. Be warned that this makes a ton of food, though I think the leftover roast will be great on sandwiches. It was a tad salty, so next time I might only use 2 beef bouillon cubes instead of 3.

Off to upload photos and then bed. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

PS- Everyone can breathe a collective sigh of relief, because the sunglasses have been FOUND!!! I went over to my parents’ to get their mail on Friday and the sunglasses were sitting on the edge of their driveway. They must have fallen out of my purse when Chloe and I were hauling butt out to the car on Monday night before the big storm hit. I can’t believe they weren’t run over/stepped on/taken by a coyote.

SURVEY

What food smell reminds you of home?