use real butter

We’re having Tom and Kellie over tomorrow night to thank them for watching over the house and keeping my plants alive during our trip down under. I’m keeping dinner simple, but I still had to try a few new recipes. I’m going to purée parsnips (which I’ve never done before) because I love it, and I’m going to try a savory bread pudding with gruyère, swiss, parmesan, asparagus, mushrooms, and doesn’t that sound freaking delicious?! I tested a new appetizer, except I will use shrimp and not raw tuna since they don’t dig on raw fish.

crostini, avocado w/ lime, pineapple, tuna, chives, hawaiian pink sea salt

I think it needs some more punch to it, so I’m going to scrape a raw clove of garlic across the crostini after I bake it and mix the sea salt into the avocado instead of sprinkling it on top. The crème brûlées are cooling now. It’s going to be fun and probably the last nice meal I make for a few weeks.

saving out the nice berries for garnish

Drizzle came down steadily as we made our way into the fog on a familiar route. We were hiking Echo Mountain, the trail behind our old house in Altadena that we used to do twice a week. I know that trail better than any trail… every turn and hill and switchback and even where certain plants bloomed. We were supposed to go with Ro, but the poor thing has been exhausting herself working like a madwoman on research, wedding, moving, in addition to the daily stresses of being an OCD. She slept through her alarm and decided she needed to sleep. So after our hike, we met Ro at a local coffeehouse to chat and juice ourselves up. It’s important to get QT with your pals.

When we arrived at Melinda’s house, the door swung open with Kevin and Thomas shouting out of unison, “Jennifer! Germany!” Kevin gave me a big hug and Thomas played coy. Aaron was getting BBQ from the doctor (Dr. Hogly Wogly’s Tyler Texas BBQ). We enjoyed an energetic lunch and then moved to the backyard for Easter projects.

kevin shows me the trambambompoline

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We’re in Pasadena!

This morning we went to dim sum with Ro, Sam, and Dan! Lots of faculty/academia talk in the car with 3 people in various stages of facultydom. I ordered a ton of plates. Everyone seemed to enjoy the goodies.

stuffed on dim sum

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