Franks Best

I really tried this to cook at home in January and bring my lunch to work every day, which turns out is easy on your bank account but SUPER BORING. Instead I had friends over a couple times and tried out a bunch of new recipes. Here’s a recap:

  • January always kicks off with a feast for the Golden Globes, and this year my crew requested Beef Bourguignon (I use this recipe, sans sour cream), white cheddar mashed potatoes and corn spoonbread. I had issues with that spoonbread, because it never rose and was driving me nuts, but it still tasted pretty good. I also made a simple arugula salad to add something fresh to our plates, plus Salty Honey Pie for dessert.
  • My one dinner out this month was a HUGE disaster. I took my vegan friend Josie to Pai, because I knew they could modify quite a few of their dishes for her. We ordered Pad Thai with veggies and green curry with tofu, and halfway through eating, Josie found a piece of chicken in the curry. We basically got up and left immediately, but not before I got all shouty with the manager. Warning: Do not take your vegan friends to Pai!
  • I had a few of my foodie friends over for a super casual dinner and made this Baked Rigatoni & Meatballs from the Planet Byn archives (still delicious!) and a Caesar Salad. Tasty G brought her party bread (aka Pull Apart Garlic Bread) and Jenny brought an 8″, triple layer chocolate cake. For three people. This is why I love them!
  • I went over to Nicole’s to hang out with her and my six months old friend Francis Levi, and she ordered us the most delicious pizza I have put in my mouth since the first time I had Pizzeria Libretto in 2012. Frank’s Best from Maker Pizza (pictured above) is topped with caramelized onions, goat cheese, rosemary, roasted garlic, olive oil, mozzerella, parmesan, sea salt and honey and words can’t even describe how obsessed I am with it.
  • Back in the summer when I made these Fresh Strawberry Margaritas, Weedy said she was going to freeze some and she’d bust it out in the winter when we needed it most. She did just that last week, along with some pretty epic nachos and an avocado mango salad. I brought this Piña Colada Cake and we had a pretty tropical Friday night.

Weedy

  • I made a bunch of stuff from OSG Everyday this month, which you can check out over here.

Other non-foodie things I was obsessed with this month:

  • I only read one book this month and it was terrible. Life After Life was on a bunch of year end Top 10 lists in 2013, and I had been meaning to read it ever since, and it was the biggest waste of time ever. Not a great start to my year of reading, womp womp.
  • January is normally a barren wasteland of movie releases, but Kristine and I saw a movie a week this month and had no misses (with the exception of one questionable ending, you guess which one had it): La La Land, Manchester By The Sea, Patriots Day and Lion. I can’t even pick a favourite, they were all so good and all made me cry.
  • I had NOROVIRUS these past few days and binge watched The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story while I was home from work and it was FANTASTIC. I remember bits and pieces of the trial from when I was in high school, but this was a deep dive back into it from all angles. Highly recommend!

Flashback!