Our little family had a wonderful weekend. On Friday night, we stayed in and Scott and I ate Mexican takeout from the Happy Mexican. (YUMMERS - I highly recommend the Margarita Special, with the cheese on the side, we all know why).
Then, on Saturday, it was COLD and windy, but we got ourselves out of the cardboard box apartment and shopped around to find Bailey an Easter dress! We've been SO incredibly lucky to have inherited the vast majority of Bailey's clothes from my sister and Scott's sister - we've been completely spoiled by having our choice of super cute baby clothes without having to buy more than a few items. I honestly think that's been one of the only things to keep my very frugal husband from completely going insane about all the random expenses of parenthood. But, even though there are some really cute dresses in B's closet that would be perfect for Easter, both smocked and not, I decided that every little girl needed to celebrate her first Easter with a new dress (even though my husband thought I was crazy). I got an Easter dress every year growing up, and I still remember feeling so special when I wore it for the first time to church on Easter Sunday. So, I had to get sweet Bailey started off right! I can't post any pictures, first because we haven't put it on her yet, but also because I don't want to ruin the surprise. But here's a hint - we got it from Janie and Jack.
On Saturday night, Scott and I got a date night and Bailey got to spend the evening with Bubba and Deborah. Although we were unable to get a reservation at any of our preferred dinner destinations because my indecisive husband wouldn't make up his mind until Saturday afternoon prom kids had booked them all up, we still had a great time. We started off with drinks and fried pickles at Folk's Folly. Which, by the way, is a great start to a date night. The drinks were reasonably priced and poured generously, and they bring you FREE fried pickles! And, just in case you haven't had them, these are NOT your normal, fried appetizer plate from Newby's (oh sometimes I miss law school) fried pickles. Oh, nooooo. These dill-pickle-chip fried pickles are breaded and fried and have almost a funnel-cake-like consistency. Which sounds weird, but I've become a fried pickle connoisseur since living in Memphis, and I'm confident that these may very well be the best in the city. If I was a good blogger, I would have taken a picture, but just trust me and order a couple of drinks, nicely ask the waiter to bring you a side of ranch and to keep the pickles coming, and wear a dress so you don't have to worry about being able to breathe in your already too-tight skinny jeans you thought you could squeeze back into.
Since our dinner choices were decidedly limited, we ended up trying out SOB (South of Beale) a gastropub-type place in downtown Memphis. Again, I realize any decent blogger (which clearly I am not) would have taken pictures, but, you have to take my word for it, I was pretty impressed. Granted, they got on my good side VERY quickly by starting us off with a complimentary bowl of oiled-and-spiced up popcorn, but the most impressive part of our meal was the seared tuna appetizer. It was a delicious fried rice ball topped with seared tuna, avocado, and chive, served sushi-style with a large ramekin of soy sauce. I honestly kind of wish I'd just ordered that for my meal, because after the fried pickles and popcorn, I was stuffed, but I still managed to put a pretty good dent in my pork chop and macaroni and cheese, and Scott enjoyed his duck and potato spinach gratin. All in all, it was a great meal and a terrific night with my incredible husband - there's just something to be said for a night out together without a baby that, maybe because of its rarity these days, leads to honest and amazingly heartfelt conversations. I highly recommend it!
Unfortunately, for some reason (ok, probably because we pretty much never go out), despite our decidedly moderate alcohol intake which was spread over 5 plus hours, our date night also led to terrible hangovers headaches the next day which left us both in need of some serious comfort food on Sunday night. So, I fixed this:
(Please ignore the gross counters - we all know I'm not a chef - but clearly I'm not a housekeeper either. Oh. Well.)
So - this is my go-to, 4 ingredient, no chopping, man-pleasing, prepped in 20 minutes, all-time favorite recipe (thanks sister!). It is so simple I'm almost embarrassed to share it, but let's face it, it's a great hangover cure comfort food and it's also an AMAZINGLY easy dinner to bring to those with new babies if you cut it in half and keep the other half for yourself (unless you're feeling generous), add some bread, a salad, and a bottle of wine, or you can make it and freeze it for yourself if you're currently pregnant and planning ahead (fyi, if I know you and you're pregnant and you live within 30 minutes of me, please know that there is approximately a 100% chance I will bring this to you when you have your baby, along with the aforementioned bread and salad and wine. So, get excited!)
Here is the recipe - enjoy!
1 box penne pasta (I use the Ronzoni smart choice pasta)
1 lb sausage (I use the reduced fat Jimmy Dean)
3-4 cups shredded mozzarella (this is totally up to you - I usually use one bag in the pasta part, and 1 cup on top, but you can reduce as your waistline/metabolism permits)
1 jar pasta sauce (whatever you want)
Red pepper (to your liking, and only if you like spice - Scott is totally anti-spice, so I just add my own to the bowl after serving, and it tastes great either way)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Cook pasta al dente
- While you're cooking the pasta, brown sausage until it's not pink anymore
- Combine pasta, pasta sauce, 2 cups of cheese, and sausage
- Mix well
- Top pasta mixture with 1-2 cups cheese
- Bake for 30-45 minutes (until it is a little brown on top)
Then, if you're like me, prepare for the following: (1) your husband to eat 2 huge helpings, (2) you to "try" to eat one small-ish helping (and several small "bites" while cooking - you know, just to make sure it tastes ok), (3) your husband to finish off the WHOLE PAN the next night, and (4) to have no other plans for cooking the rest of the week.
Oh, the glamorous life.
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