Keeping it short and sweet this week

Week 5

Most days looked the same this week, so I’m focusing on all the exciting food-related things that happened — and whatever else pokes through.

On Sunday, the Eagles advanced to the Super Bowl! I watched the game at a local restaurant/bar with Emma and her two friends from grade school — one just so happens to be a friend of mine from kindergarten. We got nachos, wings, and some Stateside Seltzers. Go Birds!

Monday and Tuesday have already blurred into one, which is funny considering Groundhog Day was this week. My seventh grade homeroom teacher made us watch Groundhog Day over the course of several days, and although middle school was almost a decade ago, I still moan over it whenever someone mentions the film — on Jeopardy!, on Broadway, and of course on Groundhog Day. I had a homemade rice krispie treat with lunch at work on Monday. I haven’t had one in ages, and honestly, nothing compares to those marshmallowy bricks. I put some crème fraîche in my overnight oats on Monday night, transporting me from my desk to a little cafe on Tuesday. 

On Wednesday the kitchen at work was rolling out a bunch of new concepts for hors d’oeuvres and each got a stamp of approval from me — except one goopy banana bite that just wouldn’t work as a butlered bite. We tried deep fried deviled eggs, pea and saffron arancini, and mini chicken sopes. 

Thursday’s dinner was a jazzed up can of soup — there ain’t nothing cheddar cheese can’t fix — and dessert was a batch of @sourdoughbagels’s Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies (recipe here). I swapped the almonds for walnuts because I know Dad loves walnuts (as exhibited here). The dough belongs in a pint of vanilla ice cream, or you could use them to make ice cream sandwiches.

On Friday I brought some into the office and my coworkers swarmed my desk when I announced I brought in cookies; it was very cute, and I was so happy they enjoyed them! That night, Mom and I got takeout from the Persian Grille for dinner. Mom’s friends from when she lived in San Francisco introduced her to the cuisine, so when she moved back to the East Coast, she knew she needed to find a good Persian spot. Luckily we live by one and used to go out for dinner there when I was younger. My order is simple — charred vegetables and chicken over rice — but it was the one thing I missed when I was a vegetarian. For dessert I made a large bowl of my can’t-stop-won’t-stop popcorn and watched Fantastic Mr. Fox.

I slept in as much as I could on Saturday to avoid the cold. I did work in the morning and then went to the library to return my book and pick up a new one; I got a Louisa May Alcott collection and am so excited to start reading the Little Women sequels. Then I hit a few stores to pick up ingredients for boeuf bourguignon that I plan to make for Sunday’s dinner. I had a marvelous idea for a TikTok series that morning, and this recipe is the perfect kickoff because it’s something I’ve always wanted to make. At dinnertime, I threw a can of chickpeas, red bell pepper, and tomato paste in a pan and tossed with the Graza olive oil my parents got me for Christmas. Topped it with lots of greens, feta, cashews, and raisins — the raisins lend such a good touch to the bowl. I’ve made this in the past with eggplant, but this was just as fulfilling.