Just When You Think Winter is Canceled

This week has been a little up and down for me. I had an open shift at work for the first time in a bit and when I got home all the grand plans that I had for making dinner and such went right out the window. Luckily I have a wonderful husband who can follow a recipe so it was not a complete wash. But I've made it to the gym on schedule and had some good runs this week. And I got to cap the week off with the Burn's Night party given by friends of the family. I got to wear my fantastic new dress that I got last week and Donald piped the haggis in. It was a good time all around, though I could have done without the mid-dinner headache.
I'm getting pretty excited about my vacation. This time next week I will be getting ready to fly down to Austin, TX and visit my good friend Paul! I don't have a really solid schedule for the time that I'm down there yet, so if there is something you think I should be sure to check out, let me know! I will be down there for Paul's birthday and I get to wear fantastic new dress number two and generally have a raucously good time! I'll be gone for a week and it will be so nice to relax and have fun.

Jan 22 - Jan 28
Sunday - Slumgullion
Monday - Chickpea & Tomato Stew
Tuesday - Chicken Enchiladas
Wednesday - Burn's Night hosted by the Masons
Thursday - Pasta with Garlic Pesto and Tuna
Friday - Venison Shepherd's Pie
Saturday - Sushi (not sure if this is going to be homemade or eating out)

I probably won't post a menu next week, as I won't be here to be cooking. But there will defiantly be pictures and a lengthly summary post once I get back. I'm not taking my laptop down with me so I'll have some internet access via my phone, but won't be posting much except probably to Twitter (@YarnAndWhiskey). Have a good week everyone, hope you are staying warm with all the crazy weather that's been happening lately!

Getting back on track...

The holidays are finally over and I'm starting to put the pieces of my routine back together. I've done some re-arranging of the storage space in my kitchen and I think that it's going to be a nice change. But I want to get back into the habit of posting my weekly menus.  And because it hasn't been that long into the year I'm posting last week as a bonus!

Jan 8th - Jan 14th
Sunday - Ham & Bean Soup
Monday - Salmon and Couscous Cakes with Tomato, Olive, and Caper Relish
Tuesday - I hit a deer. So we had Chinese.
Wednesday - My friend Anya made Bigos!
Thursday - Pizza Night (home-made of course)
Friday - Leftovers
Saturday - White Beans with Chorizo and Mustard Greens

Jan 15th - Jan 21st
Sunday - Venison Stroganoff
Monday - Broccoli & Mushroom Stir-fry
Tuesday - Whiskey/Marmalade Glazed Salmon with Tatties N' Neeps
Wednesday - Venison, Bacon, White Bean Chili
Thursday - Chickpea & Tomato Stew
Friday - Pasta with Homemade Tomato Sauce
Saturday - Burn's Night Dinner hosted by friends

If you were paying attention to the item above you will note, I hit a deer. In the greater scheme of things it was a little traumatic (I kind of had a 14 hour long panic attack/adrenaline rush that day), but there was minimal damage to the car I was driving, I am alright, and the deer was killed on impact and found pretty quickly by my husband. Donald and I spent most of the afternoon on Wednesday hosting the Amateur Butcher Hour as we broke my deer down into it's edible pieces. All said and done we got about 25 lbs of ground meat, two back loins around 3 lbs total that we cut into medallions and wrapped in bacon, and another 2 lbs of meat that was reserved for this week's menu in the stroganoff and the chili. So between that and the venison that I got as a gift for Christmas (btw, best Christmas gift I get every year!) my freezer is re-stocked for the year!

Also got to catch up with one of my very old and fabulous friends, Lana over the weekend! She drove down and we went to lunch at one of my favorite places in Ann Arbor - Jolly Pumpkin Cafe & Brewery. They had one of my longtime favorites on tap, the La Roja. It's a Flanders-style amber ale that has never disappointed me in it's slightly sour drinkability. It was so great to see Lana as we haven't been in the same place for the last three years or so and if there was any worry about it being a bit awkward those notions were gone in the first few minutes as we fell right back in where we left off. She summed up the day pretty well (and said some really lovely things about me as well) at her newly minted blog over at Martinis And Muscles. You should go visit because she's pretty awesome!

Until next week....