A Nice and Easy Start…

First, last night’s dinner. Having had a major meal at lunch time at The Sister’s yesterday meant we weren’t really hungry for a huge meal at dinner, and ended up eating a lighter meal, and not until later. Perfect for participating in the Dine and Dish No. 5 event, hosted by The Delicious Life. We ended up getting Chinese take-out. Every time we get Chinese food, I always only get appetizers, since that’s my favorite part of the meal (Mom’s too!), and tonight was no exception. We did veer from our standard routine though and got the food from a restaurant that’s a little more expensive, doesn’t deliver, but has slightly better food. Better still, the food comes in those great clear plastic containers that are reusable … so more bang for the buck! ;) I got my usual Steamed Dumplings and Cold Sesame Noodles and snagged a few bites of The Husband’s Shrimp Fried Rice. The Husband had Shrimp with Lobster Sauce and Nicholas had one of my dumplings and white rice. I can never decide which appetizer to cross off the list, so always end up with extra for lunch the next day – perfect!

Dine and Dish No. 5

I love the over-the-top decor of this place – definitely a considerable amount of lily-gilding here, but they’re able to pull it off. It has a great vibe inside, being cozy, yet managing to transport you to another world all at the same time. They even have a big fish pond inside, which delights Nicholas to no end, and smaller fish tanks throughout the interior of the restaurant.

As for tonight’s dinner, I ended up leaving the office late, and The Husband was in the mood for steaks, so he ran out and grabbed a few rib-eyes, while I started working on some hashbrown potatoes. Dinner made it on the table in under 30 minutes and was completely delicious. I made the Grilled Steaks we had recently … a great method to make tender, flavorful rib-eyes.

Tomorrow I took a vacation day, since I have to wait for a repairman. I’m going to take advantage of the extra time off and bake a few dozen cookies. On top of the Cookie Exchange I’m hosting at our house this weekend, I’m also taking part in an online cookie exchange, sending a few batches of cookies to 3 other women I “met” online at a cooking web site. It’s a tradition I started last year, and it was fun to come home to find another cookie package awaiting me, and a great way to kick off the holidays. It’s always a different group of people, so there’s great exposure to yummy new recipes. Now the problem is to decide what cookies to make! I’m trying to nail that down, as well as the Supper Club menu for this week, and the cookies and munchies for Sunday and get all my groceries at once. The whole organizational/planning thing, you know?

OK folks, just a short one tonight… off to choose some cookie recipes. Until tomorrow…

P.S. And lest I forget, my guest counter crossed the 40 thousand mark yesterday … 40,000 different people have visited my site since I started (that means even if you come here every day, you were only counted once). That’s pretty damn cool! If you like my site, tell a friend. And as always, keep the comments and e-mails coming … I love hearing from all of you. :)

P.P.S. For any of my readers who may be into entering cooking contests (I’m slowly heading that way), I’m going to add a sidebar header with news on the latest cooking contests, so keep an eye on that, if that’s up your alley.

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