New (to Me) Blogger on the Block Thursdays

Being a Nigella fan, I was excited when I discovered this week’s nod for New (to Me) Blogger on the Block Thursday, Sarah Discovers How to Eat, where Sarah is working her way through all the recipes in Nigella Lawson’s How to Eat – 385 recipes in 365 days. As of January 1st, Sarah had made 48 recipes for December, which brought her total so far to 232; she’s more than halfway there, and better still, she recently got recognition for her project from Nigella herself. Not too shabby!

Sarah also has another website, Sarah Cooks, where it still includes Nigella references, but goes further to include other food, cooking and fun. Check them both out when you get a chance. Good luck on your project, Sarah – I’ll be staying tuned!

The chicken patties she made yesterday sound and look divine. I think I might just grab my copy of How to Eat and get these on the menu this weekend.

And speaking of grabbing my cookbook, that brings us to Rediscovering My Library #2, where every Thursday, I grab a cookbook off my shelf and make something from it, in an effort to use my resources more often. Since The Husband was working late tonight, Nicholas and I had Chinese take-out, with him scarfing down two dumplings, two chicken wings and two huge helpings of rice – must be another growth spurt – so no Library recipes for dinner. But, after dinner was another story. Finding myself in another Banana Conundrum, I headed upstairs to go through my cookbooks in search of a recipe to use up a plethora of bananas. Speaking of Nigella, it would have been easy to make her recipe for Banana Bread, since out of all the banana bread recipes I’ve tried thus far, hers is still the one to beat. But, in staying true to my Rediscovering My Library segment, I went off searching for a new recipe, instead of taking the easy way out. It took 5 cookbooks to find one that sounded inspiring. I ended up making Honey Banana Bread from Southern Living’s 30 Years of Our Best Recipes. The only thing I did differently was to add a teaspoon of banana extract and I baked it in an 8×8 pan, since I seem to have all my loaf pans at the office (I’m terrible about bringing the pans home…). The bread SMELLED amazing while baking, and Nicholas and I swiped a piece as soon as it came out of the oven. He let me have one bite before he took the rest from me and gobbled it up. I liked it fine, but it didn’t blow me away and I wouldn’t make it again. Not a wow, just nuthin’ special. He liked it enough to request it for breakfast tomorrow.

OK, folks, all for tonight. Tune in tomorrow to find out what’s on tap for Friday Night Date Night, and all the fun the weekend brings, including a new segment I’m starting for Saturdays, Weekend Dog Blogging and more.

Until then… tonight’s telephone conversation overheard between Nicholas and The Girlfriend:

The Girlfriend: “Nicholas, I love you. Nicholas? Did you hear me? I love you.”
Nicholas: “Yes, I love you too.”

Ahhh, the pink blush of young love…

P.S. Cooking Diva hosted an event this past weekend, asking food bloggers to send in their pictures/menus of their New Years’ Eve feasts. Given there were participants from all around the world, it was quite an interesting round-up. Go check it out when you get a chance; ours is included.

P.P.S. Today is National Whipped Cream Day – make sure to get your dose in. And The Neighbor reported that yeterday was National Spaghetti Day, so unbeknownst to us and our Lemon Spaghetti entree, we were right on target.

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