Finally...

So this is my first post. I'm pretty damn proud of myself for even getting this far due to the fact that I believe I have a chronic case of the life-threatening disease...Procrastination. I have been talking about starting a food blog for nearly a year and half, and I've finally done it. I guess I shouldn't start celebrating too quickly because the real test will be posting my kitchen concoctions on here somewhat regularly. 


In other news, David and I are celebrating our 3 year anniversary this week and instead of going out and spending $100+ on a noisy Friday night restaurant experience, we have decided to stay home and cook (by we..I of course mean myself because I have now accepted that I am a control freak when it comes to anyone messing around with my kitchen including my lovely boyfriend). After hours and hours of scouring the internet for recipes, I decided on making a small plates menu with the following:


-Strawberry Spinach Salad w/poppy seed vinaigrette

-Spicy mini crab cakes w/lemon aioli

-Bison burger sliders w/Wisconsin cheddar cheese & caramelized onions

-Champinones al ajillo( Garlic Mushrooms)

-Gambas al Ajillo ( Garlic Shrimp)

-Meat and cheese plate with local Scholars Inn Bakehouse farm bread

-Baklava

-Mojitos!

I know this is a quite the hodgepodge of stuff, but David and I basically just wanted to eat a bunch of appetizers without worrying about what foods went with what...kind of like a fun food experiment. I was originally going to make some braised oxtails and chili garlic mussels, but I realized that my school workload is going to be really heavy this weekend so I wasn't down with all that manual labor(i.e. cleaning and de-bearding the mussels) and the fact that oxtails have gotten to be pretty expensive these days. I know this isn't the cheapest menu I could make, but it is a special occasion! I think the thing I'm the most worried about is the bison, because I've never made bison before and I honestly am a little afraid of drying the sliders out. If this were to happen I think I could end up boyfriendless by the end of the night..(because you don't come between David and his burgers...). I'm also pretty stoked about the Baklava, but am deathly afraid of tearing my phyllo dough because baking is definitely my weakness, given the fact that I don't really have a sweet tooth too much these days. 

Well alas, I must return to my school work, but there will be pictures of my anniversary dinner experimentation around Friday morning. Hopefully everything turns out great and maybe I will even be able to get David to overcome his fear of shrimp (he says they remind him of bugs..honestly I don't really blame him, they are pretty creepy looking when you get them fresh..).