Julia Child Night #6

Another successful and delicious Julia Child Night is in the books!  I'll let the pictures (mostly) do the talking.

We started off with our usual appetizer course of olives, cheese, crackers, and olive tapenade.

I love my aunt and uncle's slate cheese board that you can write on!

 We also had a signature drink to start the night which was called the French Pearl. It was made from gin, Pernod, simple syrup and lime juice.  It was so good!

Since I wasn't able to help out on Friday, my brother stepped up and helped out with the meal preparation and serving.  He looks sharp in his chef's jacket!

The kids were running around most of the night but I did talk Matthew into taking a picture with me.

This year my cousin and her family were able to join us.  Her daughter, Lydia, had the best striped outfit of the night in my opinion.

Before we knew it it was time for the plating process to start.  It's hard to capture action shots, but this is my mom and her two sisters working on the amuse bouche (my mom is in the middle).

We started off with an amuse bouche of gravlax with cucumber and dill.  Gravlax is not a French recipe, it's Scandanavian, but Julia Child has a recipe for it.  It was delicious!

Gravlax for the adults, swedish fish for the kids

 Our next course of the night was a Provencal soup with pistou (i.e. pesto).  I think this might have been my favorite course of the night.  It was so delicious with that dollop of pesto stirred in!

I was responsible for the salad course which was a winter salad with home made buttermilk dressing.  It had sliced beats and apples on top and was delicious!

The main course was Chicken Provencal, which is chicken cooked in a tomato sauce with olives. It was delicious!  Our side dishes were green beans almondine and escoutoun which is a cheesy polenta.  Yum!

We took a pretty long break between dinner and dessert which was necessary after all those courses!  We capped off the night with Chocolate pot de creme, which is a chocolate custard, and coffee with homemade Bailey's liquor, made by my sister-in-law!

And of course it wouldn't be a Julia Child Night without an end of the night apron photo!  The number of people in the photo grows every year!

It was another fun event and we all left with full stomachs and hearts!  It was fun to introduce Phil to this tradition and to more of my family as he got to meet more of my aunts, uncles, and cousins!

Seems like in a blink of an eye, we'll be planning Julia Child Night #7!

What was the best thing you ate this weekend?  

Julia Child Night Through the Years

'Tis the eve of Julia Child Night #6!  This year, more than any year, I feel like Julia Child Night snuck up on me.  The celebration came fast, but we've actually been in the process of planning it since I arrived back in Minnesota in late May, so it has been in the works for many months.  I stayed with my Julia Child aunt and uncle for a couple of weeks before moving into my apartment so in the evenings we would page through recipes books and ponder the right combination of dishes.  I think we've got an excellent menu planned and tomorrow night is sure to be the most delicious night of the year!

I thought it would be fun to share photos from the last 5 Julia Child Nights!

Year 1

We made paella the first year which is obviously not French but it was a Julia Child recipe and it was delicious!

 

Voila!  You can see that apron-wearing was part of the tradition from year 1.

In the early years, the kids got pizza.  Now they (mostly) eat what the adults eat with the exception of maybe 1 course.  We are raising young foodies!

I can't get over how young my nephews look in these photos!  This is Matthew, who is now 6 but was about 18 months in this photo!

Year 2

Some of my favorite courses through the years have been the salad courses.  The salad from year 2 had roasted butternut squash on top!  Yum!

We made Beef Bourguignon that year.

The kids are cheersing with their milk.  Love it.

Year 3

My aunt and I

The year 3 salad featured a roasted pear.  It was so good!

The end-of-the-night apron photo started to occur during year 3.

Year 4

In year 4, we really elevated the meal by starting with an amuse bouche of ratatouille, which was so delicious!  We'll use these spoons again this year as we are bringing back the amuse bouche!

There is so much attention to detail, down to the garnish on the soup!

And the apron photo grows as now every lady comes in a pretty apron. I'm partial to ones from Anthropologie!

 Year 5

The year 5 entree was pot au feu which was also a pretty labor intensive but delicious.

We are an equal opportunity kitchen and accept help from the men, some of which don aprons!

The Nicoise salad was the perfect, light salad to offset the heavier main dish

The main course all plated up!  No one goes hungry on JC Night.

My nephews aren't so little anymore.  Soon enough Andrew will be taller than me!

Obligatory end-of-the-night apron photo!

It's crazy to think that all of this was born of a comment I made to my aunt about my desire to learn to cook more difficult recipes.  I love this tradition so much and am glad we've kept it going through the years.  The food is amazing but it's the people that really make the event.  I am extremely thankful for my aunt and uncle - they host it each year and do the heavy lifting and lots of behind the scenes work! 

I also have to pause and say how thankful I am that I am once again a local participant in this tradition instead of having to fly in from Charlotte.  The memories of returning to Charlotte last year after a fun and family-filled weekend are vivid as I had the hardest time and cried the entire flight home (all 2.5 hours)...  I'm so thankful that my life is so vastly different this year and that I'm back where I'm meant to be. 

I'll be back next week to share photos from Julia Child Night #6!!  Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Also - on an unrelated note, I will be starting my 10 Days of Thanksgiving post series next week.  If you are looking for a structured way to practice more of an attitude of gratitude, I encourage you to play along!  This is my 7th consecutive year of doing this and I can't wait to kick it off next week!

My 5th Fix

I got my 5th and final fix of the year last week.  I had asked my stylist to send me a dress for the wedding in Jamaica so I was hopeful that I'd love what she sent.  Here is what I received... my apologies for the photo quality - the lightening in my bedroom is awful now that the sun is setting earlier!

Piece #1 - Patterned Dress

I pretty much knew I was not going to like this when I pulled it out of the box because I saw that it had cinching around the waist and that style of dress never looks good on me because I actually do not have a waist - I am pretty much straight as an arrow from my torso to my hips. But I tried it on anyways...

The look on my face says it all - it did not work for me.  I liked the neckline but that was about it.  So my decision was to send it back.

Piece #2 - Silky blouse

I saw that the stylist had also sent a top for me to wear in Jamaica, which sort of annoyed me because I only asked for a dress, but so be it.
 

I liked this piece but I have so many silky blouses and with the temperatures rapidly declining here in Minnesota, now is not the time to add blouses made from a thin material.  If they sent this to me in March, my decision would have been different, but given the time of year and low chance of me wearing this anytime soon, my verdict was send it back.

Piece #3 - Dress for the wedding

I was pleased when I saw the color of this dress as I love that bright magenta color, but I was disappointed when I saw that this also had a cinched waist.

 

I tried it on and as I suspected, I was not a fan.  It was very baggy up top so combined with the cinched waist it was really unflattering and felt frumpy.  So my verdict was to send it back.  It's not a big deal as I can wear the dress I wore to Amber's wedding this summer.

Piece #4 - Sweater

I am in need of some new sweaters as I am tired of what I have in my closet so I was happy when I saw this navy'ish sweater...
  

Except it was what I would call a 'business in the front, party in the back' kind of sweater.

I am sure there are women out there that can pull this partially backless look off....  But conservative "I dress like a librarian most days" Lisa is not one of those women.  So my verdict was to send it back.

Piece #5 - Another sweater

Let's close out this post with some good news!  My stylist sent me a second sweater which I really liked! 

The sweater is oh so cozy and warm and it's good for me to diversify away from stripes and embrace a new pattern.  So my verdict was to keep it.

So all in all, not my best fix as I only kept one item, but I have realistic expectations with these fixes as I know I am a particularly picky person.  I really like the one piece I kept and know I will get a lot of use out of it on the weekends.


This is my last fix for 2014 as I am going to take a break from clothes shopping until the new year but it's been really fun to get fixes for the last 5 months! 

The thoughts in this review are my own and I was not compensated by Stitch Fix to post this review.  However, I will receive a $25 credit if you sign up for Stitch Fix using the referral link included in this post. 

Music, Books, Miles and Looks of October

October went by crazy fast but I packed in a lot of really fun activities and got to see a lot of friends!  I *think* November will be a slower paced month but I have a feeling it will fly by, too! 

Music:




Shake It Off by Taylor Swift - Sorry, I'm not sorry that I like Taylor Swift.  The beat and lyrics are just too catchy!




Rather Be by Clean Bandit - This is another song that has such a catchy beat!

Books:

This was another fairly strong reading month for me as I read 4 books this month.  In October, I also reached my goal of reading 52 books in 2014 - way ahead of schedule!  My favorite book I read this month was Cancel the Wedding, but Attachments was a close 2nd.


The Hundred Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais - 3 stars
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell - 4 stars
The Lost Tribe of Coney Island by Claire Prentice - 3 stars
Cancel the Wedding by Carolyn T. Dingman - 4 stars

Miles:

My mileage and number of workouts really declined this month but I think it's what my body needed.  I ran 55 miles, worked out 23 times and biked 24 miles.  That's less workouts than I usually fit in, but I also had a really busy month and decided to cut myself some slack.  I am sure my running mileage will continue to decline as the weather cools off but that is just the reality of living in the Midwest (and being a cold weather wimp).  I struggle with feeling motivated when the weather gets colder, so to offset that I am going to do Bobbi's holiday shred, which is a program that is similar to the summer shred I did this summer. It kicks off on November 16th and goes through December 27th.  If you are looking for some motivation and new workouts, I highly recommend this program.  It's $40 but I feel you get more than your money's worth.  I 100% attribute the fact that I am still strength training every week to participating in the summer shred in June.  Amber is doing it too so I am looking forward to all the back and forth messages about how we fit the workouts in and what we thought of them.  By the way, I am in no way compensated to promote Bobbi's program - I just genuinely think it's awesome!

Looks:

The weather definitely turned this month so I was able to pull out my tights and some fall looks.

Look #1 features the skirt I got from my last Stitch Fix.  I think it looks better without tights but it's way too cold for bare legs in this part of the country!

Look #2 features a new pair of pants that I got with a 50% off coupon at Banana plus a pair of boots that I got on sale at Macy's.  I'm so glad it's boot season!

  

My Week in Photos

Last week was a fun-filled week that was jam-packed with social events and Halloween festivities.  It's a week best told about using photos.

We started off the week on Monday with beautiful, 60 degree weather.  I took advantage of the weather and went for a 5 mile run.  I am pretty sure that is the last time I will be able to run in a t-shirt in 2014. 

On Tuesday, Phil and I hosted a pumpkin carving night at his place.  The aps I made (bean & corn salsa, cheese dip, and an apple dip) were a hit, the desserts (apple crisp and pumpkin soft serve) were sort of flops.  It was a fun night and I think our pumpkin turned out great!  I took care of the scooping of the guts and Phil carved, with the aid of a stencil.

My cat lover, the cat he pet sits for, and our pumpkin

Everyone's pumpkins turned out great!  I love how different they all are.

It was a busy week, but I fit in reading and relaxing when I could.  Ted is good at keeping me company when I read.

On Friday, the weather really changed.  As you can see below, it felt like 19 degrees when I biked to work that morning.  Burr.  I can't complain as it could be much colder and we could have snow but the weather just changed so fast!  But at least it will be in the 50s this week.

On Friday night we went to a murder mystery party but I have no photos to share unfortunately.  It was really fun to do something different.  I played the part of an attorney and Phil was the pool boy.  Neither of us guessed correctly who the murderer was but it was a pretty confusing case!

On Saturday morning I couldn't talk myself into running in 25 degree temps (I am a wimp, I recognize this) so instead I ran 2 miles on the dreadmill and did this Peanut Butter Runner workout. 

I went down and up the ladder (i.e. decreased from 10 reps down to 1, increased from 1 rep up to 10).  I was a hot sweaty mess at the end and feel like I maybe worked off some of the Halloween candy I consumed the night before.

That afternoon, I made curried carrot soup as I was craving a warm, comforting soup.  I hadn't made it in over 4 years but it's definitely a recipe I will throw back into my regular rotation as it's so simple but healthy and delicious!

On Saturday night we went to a Halloween party that was hosted by Phil's co-worker.  I went with the easiest costume possible and went as a cat.  Phil went as Prince for about the 8th year in a row, I think?  He's making a Zoolander face in this photo. And yes, he borrowed a shirt from me for his costume.

On Sunday I attempted to go for a run but felt some pain in my foot so had to turn back.  Hopefully ice and rest will remedy whatever is going on.  :/  But the pain gave me an excuse to take it easy for the day.  The only time I left the house was to vote (Minnesota offers in person absentee voting so I decided to avoid the crowds on Tuesday).

The rest of my day was spent catching up on chores around the house, knitting,

It's cold outside so 'tis the season to knit!

and I capped off my day with a video chat with Nora and a meal of lentil curry which was easy and good!

How was your week?