Girlie Brunch!!

Myself and some of my girlfriends have been talking about doing a homemade brunch together, for such a long time, and this past Sunday, we finally all had the time to do just that. Everybody brought a dish (or two) and we shared all of our culinary goodness with each other. This was such a fun day and we definetly need to do this more often.
Here is the table I set for all of us:

Lots and lots of wonderful food and bellinis, of course!

So, before I show you all of the excellent food that we devoured, I must say that I feel LAME for not having a picture of Jessica's quiche, but let me tell you - it was DELICIOUS!! It was cheesy, bacon-y goodness!! I think I may have forgotten to take a photo because I was so damn excited to cut into it!
The following picture is of Tiffany's mini donuts with vanilla glaze and sprinkles, which were tasty AND cute!! If you are interested, she bought the mold from Sur La Table, and I'm sure I will need to go get one soon :)

This is my peaches and raspberries in homemade almond syrup. Mmmmmm!!

These are Tiffany's Lemon Blossoms. Oh my goodness - these were GOOOOD!!! Moist and lemony and sugary... right now I'm wishing I had some of them in my kitchen (or in my mouth)!

The pictures just keep getting better and better! Here are Jamie's outrageously yummy orange-almond cinnamon buns and scone-like biscuits. I can't even begin to tell you how many of these I ate, but it is probably criminal. Oh, and she brought along some strawberry jam and homemade clotted cream to go along with these little babies. Delightful!!!

The next two dishes are from my kitchen: roasted asparagus with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, and potato au gratin (made with gruyere, leeks, and heavy cream). Both were tasty, and like the rest of the food, practically demolished. And, here is where I feel lame again, but you can kinda see a little bit of Jess' quiche in the background. I guess that just means she'll have to make it again so I can take a righteous picture of it! :D


All in all, it was such a wonderful day, and a great way to celebrate our friendship! Let's do it again!!

Simple, but delicious

This evening I made one of my favorite dishes to both make and eat - garlic chili shrimp and green beans. SO easy to make, plus I get to use my wok, which is always a joy for me. I found the most amazing fresh green beans at Whole Foods today, and of course, I purchased my shrimp from them, as well. As a side note, if you have a Whole Foods near you, and you have never been to it, you must go. It is my favorite place to buy my food, even though it is a little bit more expensive than the grocery store. The fruit and veggies are almost all organic and the fish is totally fresh. In fact, whenever I buy fish, I just go that day to buy it, simply because it would be no good if I froze it then used it later. Plus, the fish dudes know me by name now and give me extra fish, but don't typically charge me. That, and they like when I wear big earrings.
To make this, start with a hot oiled wok, throw in the seasoned green beans and get them to a point of almost cooked. I like my green beans with some snap, so mine were probably a little less cooked than most people like them. At that point, throw in the shrimp (seasoned, of course) and once those are almost cooked through, add a whole bunch of minced garlic, chili sauce (to your liking), a tiny bit of vinegar, an equal amount of sugar, and maybe some red chili flakes if you want it really spicy. The other cheater-option is to add some Thai-style chili sauce that comes in a jar. I've used that when I don't have much time, and it tastes just as good. Once your shrimp is all cooked, you're good to go!
So there it is - my shrimp dish, which was served with some long grain rice, and it made for a couple of very happy campers this evening. :)