Bat Cave

I honestly don't know what other name to name this particular post. Partly because I feel like I've lived in complete isolation for the past couple weeks. Work has been SO busy and by the time I get home, i stuff my face (with whatever my FAB mom cooked...yes, my Mom makes me dinner) and I go straight to bed.

Anyways, to make it up to you all for being such a slacker bloggette, I will now entertain you with a little bedtime Valentine's Day story...

Once upon a time, there was a lovely little couple. The girl is a hopeless romantic who is always daydreaming of being swept off her feet into Cloud 9 by prince charming on a white horse. The boy is a realist who believes in the occasional treat but has the understanding that being practical will get you further in life. Nonetheless, with Valentines Day nearing, Girl pretty much dreamed of what a perfect VDay would be....but then remembered that Boy is not the biggest believer in Valentine's Day so it would likely end up with a card and a kiss...(side note: according the priest at church, St. Valentine was indeed a GREEK...so there's no excuse) WELL, while girl was busy running around taking care of sick patients all day, she noticed the UPS guy with boxes of flowers and other goods. First thought in girls head "PSH!! Surely those must be for one of the other nurses from one of the husbands....must be nice". What do ya know...those boxes were for ME!!!! Yes, right there, front and center on the box was MY name. Who could it be from!?!? None other than MY boy...the very boy who kept telling me that Valentine's Day was nothing but a capitalistic holiday. Yes indeedy, he pulled a fast one on me....and let me tell you, he.did.great. Take a looksie:

Stunningly beautiful roses.

Now what on earth could be in THIS box...a rabbit, some eggs, a turtle?!?

NOPE!!!!

Nuts and Fruit!!!! What could be better?!? BfDeLuxe sure does know me well. Afterall, he knows that if he got me chocolates, I would not only eat every last one...but I would also blame HIM for me eating them.

This turned out to be such a wonderful Valentine's Day. Not only did BFDeLuxe totally surprise me AT WORK but I couldn't have asked for anything more than to be surrounded by my healthy, happy, loving family. Thanks practical, logical boy...ya done good.

My weekend in pictures...

And a few words: So after working a VERY busy Saturday morning at the office, I was practically doing cartwheels out the door to continue what was left of my time off. Can you believe we saw over 50 patients in just THREE hours?!? That's a whole lot. I spent the rest of Saturday with BF De Luxe & his cousin (and his darling girlfriend). We watched Black Swan and cooked an AMAZING dinner. Btw, have you all seen Black Swan?! What an incredibly mind twisting movie. I, of course, LOVED it because I was a ballet dancer for 15 wonderful years.
On Sunday, which is almost always "family day", my sisters and their precious children were at my parents house for a nice, homestyle dinner. What better to way to end the hectic week than relaxing on the couch, in front of the fire, with the pitter patter of FOUR kids throughout the house. Y'all ready? Enjoy a recap of my weekend (in pictures).










Before you know it, the weekend is gone in a blink of an eye....Oh to be a kid again :)

SNOW day!!

Welllll, not exactly. I unfortunately had a lapse in judgement when I picked a profession that is a 24/7 committment. In nursing, there are no "snow days" or "holidays" ...you clock in and clock out but truth be told, if someone drops down in front of you in public, you can't really turn your head and walk away. TWENTY-FOUR-SEVEN!!

Needless to say, tonight I was home at 5pm, and the snow was in full force. There are already several inches on the ground, the fireplace is crackling, and I have no intentions of going anywhere at all until work again tomorrow morning...so what's a girl to do?! EAT OF COURSE.

Tonight for dinner we had Lobster Mac N Cheese :

Boiled Zucchini

and Oven-Baked Thai chicken...

SO good...the zucchini is something I make at least once/week. I get the zucchini fresh from Wegmans, boil them, and liberally put Laconiko Olive Oil + S&P + oregano on them.... AMAZING!!! Then you dig into a bite of super savory lobster mac n' cheese, made with fresh lobster meat and freshly grated Pecorino Romano, Gouda, and Cheddar. The lobster is sweet and the cheese is salty sending your tastebuds on a heavenly ride.

You can't eat dinner without something sweet at the end, right?!

MmMmM...Vegan deliciousness to the ReScUe!!

I hope you all are enjoying your evening, no matter if there is snow on your front porch or not. Until next time...

Dinner for Two...

Growing up in a big Greek household, I never understood the "table for two" concept. What do you mean JUST two? Umm, you mean TWENTY-two?! Anyways, I've always loved dinner in my house because it's the time our whole family sits down and enjoys each others company...or each other's chaos. Either way-you can see how it would be a huge change for me when BFdeLuxe suggested we do "Dinner for Two" a few weeks back to welcome in the new year.

What will our menu be? How do we even cook JUST for two? Will it turn out good or are we going to end up ordering chinese delivery? I don't even know how to turn on the grill!! Eeek!!
Fear not, my friends. Not only did we pull of NYE dinner without a flaw, but the food tasted SO good that it leaves me wanting more of it almost 3 weeks later.

Please, grab a glass of wine, kick up your feet, and join me while I take you through our first Dinner for Two...

The day began with an early trip to Starbucks for a couple of lattes to-go. It was a perfectly sunny, crisp winter day. Blue skies. Rolling country landscape. Air that smells so fresh with a hint of "cow".

From there we went to the loveliest little gourmet shop in Charlottesville, called FEAST!

FEAST mainly carries locally grown products but also some amazing meats and cheeses. Here we stocked up on a few things we'd need for our feast:

-Organic ground bison & 80% lean ground beef

-Sweet italian sausage

-Blue cheese

-Medium soft Brie

-Prosciutto

Let the cooking begin...

Organic bison, beef, sausage + an egg, chopped onions, parsley, S&P, and a wee bit of Panko.

BF was gracious enough to let me stay inside the perfectly heated house while he grilled outdoors in 20degree weather. That's love. Since I got to stay nice & warm I took the liberty of pouring a couple glasses of these incredible wines:

Slightly sweet with a bubbly feeling...SO good!

This is one of Unicorn's award-winning wines. One sip and you'll know why!! It's extremely light and smooth with fruity notes.

Time for the appetizers!!!

Are you catching the drift here?! Fresh prosciutto + Medjool dates stuffed with Brie + a drizzle of the only olive oil I use = Perfection!! The sweet and salty mix will send your tastebuds on a roller coaster ride!!

This olive oil has an extremely low acidity percentage & is completely unblended leaving your food tasting like you put butter all over it...except it's SO much healthier!!

At this point, time for another glass of Unicorn Traminette and time to make an amazingly savory BLUE CHEESE topping for half of our sliders...

This "Roaring 40's Blue Cheese" is actually much milder than your traditional blue cheese. The other topping was a bit more on the sweeter side using these ingredients of choice:

You can see large pieces of the figs in here!! Seriously, this is so versatile. I won't lie...I may (or may not have) taken a spoonful straight out of the jar and into my belly. Oops! Hey, I did it to make sure it wasn't toxic.
We then placed fresh spinach, bella mushrooms, and shallots in a pan with a liberal amount of Laconiko olive oil & sauteed into a heavenly little topping for the FIG burgers.

The Final Result...

And last but not least, ending the night perfectly...

BF taking charge of lighting a crackling fire...

and finger-lickin'-good Chocolate Dipped StRaWbErRiEs!!!

In all honesty, this was one of the most delicious meals I have had in a long time. For the last 2 years, BF & I have tried going "out" for NYE but this year we changed it up by staying in. The night couldn't have been better. We had so much fun getting ingredients, planning, and prepping this dinner for ourselves. And best of all?? We were in pajamas warm & snug watching the ball drop on TV.

I hope you ALL have been doing great 13 days into this new year. May it bring you lots of happiness, health, and blessings.

The End.

Happy 2011

Happy New Year!!!! How are you all??

I have to say...the holiday season has always been my favorite-very magical & warm & fuzzy...but in all honesty, I think I enjoyed it much better before entering "the real world". I not only can't believe how quickly the holidays flew by, but also how unnecessarily stressful they were! But even amidst all the hustling & bustling, I still found time to enjoy one of life's greatest pleasures...B-A-K-I-N-G!

I'm truly at peace when I'm baking in the kitchen. My mind is clear, my senses come to life, and I get to see the fruit of my labor almost instantaneously.

Here is a little sneak peak of the various goodies that were made in KitchenDeLuxe this past season.

Sugar cookies (before)

Sugar cookies (after my niece&nephew got to them)

Hoodycreek cranberry/white choc/oat cookies (delish!!!) Melomakarona (amazing traditional honey-soaked Greek cookies)
White chocolate-dipped Chocolate Pistachio Biscotti Kourambiedes (Traditional Greek sugar cookie)


Homemade Peppermint Patties (YUM!)

Santa's plate Christmas Eve... Santa clearly liked his snack :)

Thanks for joining. Until next time...