Wonderful Weekend

Thanks for all your well wishes about my Uncle last week.  My Mom flew out on Friday to Smith Mountain Lake and on Saturday the family made it back to Richmond – a day early because of terrible storms – the power went out and there was no telling when it was going to be turned back on.

I am flying out on Wednesday the 4th – out of Milwaukee because it was like $350 cheaper – and will return on Sunday.  There will be a memorial service on Friday the 6th.  And while it is a sad occasion that I go to Virginia, I am looking forward to seeing my Aunt, cousins and extended family.

Tony and I had a wonderful weekend.  Saturday morning I made the best hash browns – nice and crispy!  The secret?  Squeeze out all the liquid from the potatoes either using a potato masher or in a paper towel.

Friday at work I ended up making bbq pork sandwiches and chili hot dogs.  I had a leftover chili hotdog for lunch on Saturday – I love this hot dog chili – it has yellow mustard in it and its super tangy and perfect for an all beef hot dog.  Everyone loved it!

So while we were grocery shopping I asked Tony if he wanted me to make him anything for when I am gone and he said “I have an idea – how about I figure out what I want to eat the same day?!”  Nicole and I have had the same problem – our husbands just can’t wrap their brain around meal planning.  Tony’s an awesome cook so I can assume he’ll have some delicious pasta, grilled meats and possibly his guilty pleasure when I am away – Banquet Fried Chicken!

Saturday night was date night in – we rented a movie off the DVR – totally disappointing because we thought it was a documentary (it was under the documentary category) but it was a made up movie about a documentary.  Tony figured it out half way through but didn’t spoil it for me until after the movie was over – I hate when that happens!

I made us Chicago Style Deep Dish pizza – this time with sausage, pepperoni, baby bella mushrooms and chopped marinated artichokes.  Get this – I am starting to like mushrooms! 

I know the steps to this recipe seem long, but there really isn’t a whole lot of hands on time – you just need to plan ahead a bit for the two rises of the dough.

We enjoyed splitting this bottle of wine – I had it for the first time at a holiday Christmas party, and now Sam’s Club sells it.

Word of warning – you really do have to let this pizza sit for at least 10 minutes before taking it out of the pan – I was a bit anxious and you can see the dough on the bottom started to tear – no worries, just let it sit 5 more minutes and it came out fine.

I asked the guy at the deli to slice my mozzarella cheese a bit thicker than normal – this was so fricken good!  And one slice was plenty.

We had plans to have lunch out yesterday – sushi and a movie.  We went to our normal sushi place, only to realize that it was closed for lunch on Sunday’s.  On to Plan B – another restaurant in the same mall:

Yep, a complete opposite from sushi – a French bistro!   Again, I was suckered by the bottled tea – I asked for ice tea and she rattled off some flavors and I immediately jumped at ginger peach.  Duh!

I ordered the quiche lorraine that came with a side salad – so delicious!  My meal cost $10 – our two teas?  $11.00!   My quiche also came with a tomato dipping sauce on the side – I’ve never seen that before. 

We went to see the movie Ted at an iPic theater.  The woman who waited on us was a complete biotch.  If you are not familiar with iPic (formerly Gold Class Cinemas), it’s a high end movie theater that has reclining seats and servers to bring you food, beverages or popcorn.

There weren’t any of the best seats left, so we got the $13 seats – still comfy but we missed the recliners!  We saw Ted and it was so funny – definitely worth the $$ of seeing it in a movie theater.

We ended up doing a beef roast on the grill last night while we just relaxed outside – there were big storms in our area yesterday, but they were all south so all we got was a nice breeze even if it was hot.

Is anyone else watching Next Food Network Star?  My bet is on Justin to take the whole thing.  I think the “Grill Next Door” seems a bit fake to me, but we’ll see.  Tony also didn’t mind me watching an hour of gymnastics – I can’t wait for the Olympics!

And by miracle of miracles, not only did I do all our laundry (um, I may not have done any for two weeks!), it’s all folded and put away.

So all in all, it was a great weekend.  I hardly went online – and just enjoyed each moment as it came.  Sadly I think it takes the loss of someone to make you stop in your tracks and slow down and appreciate the little things that make you happy instead of just going through the motions.

Off to put a breakfast pizza together before work – what was the highlight of your weekend?  Make it a great day!

Need some inspiration?  Check out this Olympian!