Its been a peanut butter and mac and cheese kind of winter so far. We have both been super busy and really haven't done anything but work work work and grab some grub in between. I think there were about 3 days where there was just peanut butter and pumpernickle in the fridge.
Well now that my three week holiday binge is over (I get an extra 7 days due to my birthday week--hey you grab what you can in life, right?) I have gone back to the gym and started to eat better. I just treated myself to a gob of peanut butter on artisan bread because I'm just home from the gym.
I used to be a raving Skippy super chunk fan but then decided I wanted my peanut butter's only ingredient to be peanuts! I think Skippy's first ingredient is corn syrup. I made the switch to Teddie's crunchy. It takes a long time to get used to, but I can't go back, its so good now.... maybe I'll peel an orange now...sigh!

Enjoy,
Seth

Greg has a friend who buys him really fashionable clothes for Christmas every year. Usually she is spot on for his style. This year however, she came up with a John Galiano hunting jacket with pleather highlights and huge, ugly pockets, prompting Greg to remark upon opening the package "guess the old girl has finally gone 'round the bend!"
We took a trip to Boston yesterday to return the coat to Saks for a refund. I have never in my life been treated as poorly by shop girls and shop boys as I have at the Saks in Boston. I mean what rock did these "fashionistas (insert giggle here)" crawl out from so they could be snotty to the public? These people work on commission! We left with Greg's credit vowing to spend it in New York next week at the Saks there....at least you expect to be treated like some gum on the foot of a bug in NYC, but in Boston?????
Well, after an exhaustive day of trying on clothes that cost more than my stove, we decided to get a bite of cheap Thai or something and ended up at Chili Duck across the street from the Prudential Center. Why do all Thai restaurants have to get the flashiest, tackiest decor to put on the walls...I mean is there a craptastic catalog sent out to all the Asian restaurants with framed wrapping paper and sparkly velvet paintings of pagodas for sale? Yikes!
We decided on an appetizer from the authentic Thai menu, so we chose Nom Tok, which is a spicy pork in a ginger, basil, vinegar sauce. Man, it was great! Came with a beautiful orchid blossom on the side. I could have eaten that for lunch, but we went to the regular menu for that and were a bit disappointed. I had yellow chicken curry with vegetables and potatoes and it was nice, and somewhat hot, but not the best. Greg had another chicken dish with hot basil leaves that was ok, but not as hot as he was looking for.
But, for 30 bucks with tip in downtown Boston, you can't beat the price. The service was great too. There was never anytime where we had to wait for anything. I'd go back, but I would order off the small authentic menu instead.

Enjoy,
Seth

My birthday was last Saturday (no cheers, just throw money...) Anyway, I ceaded control of the kitchen to Greg who asked several people over and made the whole dinner while I drove to Southern Maine and back for work! When I got home, he was just in the throws of making a NY cheesecake with Chocolate cookie crust...it was amazing and totally decadent. For dinner he whipped up a very spicy and festive sausage and chicken jambalaya. We sang the Jambalaya song for days whenever we had leftovers Replace "Tonolayo" with Jambalaya and you have a song about stew! (There's an accompanying dance, but I think I've shared enough already)
He also made the best Tuscan flat bread with rosemary and other herbs all over the top.

I may retire my New Wusthofs and go to the Islands!!!

Enjoy,
Seth