Dinner for One

Some people can't be alone, but as an only child, I sometimes crave being by myself every once in awhile (don't tell Chris!) The best reason to have the house to yourself every now and then is to cook whatever you want. Recently, I ate dinner with mushrooms and I realized why I love them so much. I hadn't had mushrooms in a long time because Chris doesn't like them. Lesson learnerd: kick Chris out more often. Just kidding.

As you might have guessed, I have the house to myself right now while Chris is in Missouri and I took advantage of it. First, I made breakfast for dinner, which I think most people would be so excited about but not Chris. No--he likes a "light breakfast." Phooey. Why even eat if you are just going to have a spoon of yogurt and granola. You're just going to be hungry in about 10 minutes. And he doesn't really like eggs. I know--it's crazy.

So, I made a boiled egg salad sandwich. I discovered it at Cowgirl Creamery a couple of weeks ago. It knocked my socks off and it sounds weird, but it is very lovely especially in the morning when you have to go to work. It has a softish boiled egg with homemade mayo, green onions and buffalo mozzarella on a small ciabatta roll. The homemade mayo is the key. It tastes much better than store bought mayo and it imparts an intriguing flavor that I can't place, but know it is just good.

I am waiting for the arrival of my instant yeast, so I didn't bake my own bread. Yes, I did feel guilty. Instead I bought some Firehook French white bread, made some homemade mayo (I am a master at emulsifying) did an ok job with soft boiling an egg (if only I had a sous vide) cut some mozz and spring onions and viola! Dinner is served. Oh...I added some ham for good luck. It was delicious.

Holiday Party 2010

It is funny that we hardly blog about our holiday party although it is one of our biggest events of the year. I think it is mostly because we are both exhausted after both and then we have to focus on other Christmas errands, etc and we just never get around to it.

Our first year I had hot food, but didn't like how the food doesn't keep well all through the night. Meat gets dried out, etc. So, the second year I decided we would just have desserts and the rest is history. Every year I try to keep the good standbys and add new and interesting things to our holiday party. It's always a learning experience although I've done this six times now. I keep thinking next year it will be a breeze. I guess I will stop doing the party once I have "perfected" it.

This year had a few new goals for our annual holiday party:

1. Slightly less quantity for higher (hopefully) quality
2. Have time to put on make up before people come over
3. Sleep at least 4-5 hrs the night before

After a lot of planning and baking I can say that I accomplished those goals, but unfortunately I had to sacrifice the pièce de résistance I had planned, the croquembouche (cream puff Christmas tree)--so my victory was a bit hollow. I had the cream puffs made but didn't have time to stick them on a foam cone that I had before people started arriving. Although I was disappointed inside the entire night that my big fancy centerpiece was missing, no one noticed but me. (It was going to go in the picture on the left where the flowers are)

only exciting for someone in DC

A couple fun things happened at work last week. One night my office had its annual holiday dinner. We rented a room at a restaurant near the hill and had a good meal. Several hours, and bottles of wine, into the night, someone realized we were one of only two groups left in the restaurant, and the other was a group of two senators (names withheld to protect the innocent). A co-worker invited them into our room and we had a few more drinks and listened to their stories, which was pretty interesting as one had been a longtime senator who had run for President, is retiring this year, and had given his farewell address to the Senate that day.

Also last week, our office was moving to a larger space, and we spent most of last week packing. One of my favorite episodes of the TV show the West Wing is at the end when Alan Alda's character returns to his Senate office as a retiring member after losing the presidential election, and he has to pack away everything. It just so happened that last week, the boss and I met with Alan Alda, and when he come into the office he commented about how our office looked like the set of show at the very end.

You probably think I am a dork, but for a lot of people like me in DC, these are pretty neat events.