Sunday Dinner

I made these Mexican stuffed shells for dinner Sunday night.  The only change I made to Maeghan's recipe was adding corn to the cheese and beef mixture in the pasta. 

I picked this recipe to make because I knew that if I succeeded in making them without making a major mistake (which seems to be all to common lately), Jon would probably love them, and love them he did.  He told me to add this dish to the normal rotation,whatever that is now.  

As for me, they were good, just too much beef for me.  Since the pasta shells are thick, to have them stuffed with beef was a bit much.  But still very tasty.  I would love to test out this recipe with other filling besides beef....maybe beans.  I would also like to test this recipe out with another type of pasta, maybe making it more like a chili mac.  Otherwise, I won't be able to add this to our "normal rotation."  You can't find whole wheat jumbo shells and I would like to cook almost solely with whole wheat pasta, which the hubby and I find both to be a healthy option as well as a tasty option. 

By the way, I am sitting here typing this post with coconut oil in my hair.  Go Pinterest!  I will let you know later if this hair tip is worth a try or not.  

What We Have Been Up To As Of Late - Picture Post

Jon had to work quite a bit one weekend but we managed to squeeze in a session at the Oakland Temple. 

We may or may not eat this once a week.  At least we split it between the two of us. 

Trying to take pictures of city lights at night.  Next time I need to bring my camera.  Cell phones don't cut it.  This was right outside of The Slanted Door. 

Delicious food at the Kitchen Door at the Oxbow Market in Napa.  If you ever visit the Oxbow Market, go to Three Twins Ice Cream and get a scoop or two or three of the lemon cookie ice cream.  A little taste of heaven. 

Arranging flowers stresses me out (and I did not do a good job this time around) but it was still such a treat to buy these from the farmers market.  

Sunday dinner with the hubby.  

Party at The Slanted Door

We went back to the Ferry Building Marketplace Saturday night for a birthday party at The Slanted Door.  The restaurant has mixed reviews online so I was a little unsure how good the food was going to be, despite the positive reviews from friends and family.  My final review of the restaurant is as follows:

Pros:

• Loved the cotton candy that was served for dessert part one. 
• A non alcoholic cooler is another major score.  Virginia restaurants don't ever have good non alcoholic drinks which is so lame and no fun for those of us who don't drink. 
• Never knew that vegetables could taste so amazing and I love my vegetables. 
• The grilled peaches were out of this world.  I need more....now! 
• Family style was perfect for the party and allowed everyone to try each dish.  
• Loved the location and view. 

Cons:

• I thought the meat could have been better.  Sometimes I have off nights with my taste buds and it's very possible that that was part of the problem.  Overall though, I was much more impressed with the vegetables and seafood. 
• The price.  Be prepared to spend.
• Our waiter could have been a little bit more energetic.  He was friendly, just a bit quiet. 

As for the party...it was awesome!  The hubby and I aren't used to going out to a fancy restaurant all dressed up to socialize with a large group.  While it's not something I want to do every weekend, it was such a fun change of pace (even if it required being out way too late).  The group was filled with funny, energetic, beautiful people and the food just kept coming and coming.  You really can't ask for anything more.

San Fran at night is so beautiful.  I can't wait for the chance to spend an evening exploring the city.  City lights are always amazing.

You Learn Something New Everyday

Some may remember the Veggie Laksa that I measurably failed at making back in January.  Well I may have attempted to make it again.  And I may have made sure I bought the right ingredients.  And I may have failed anyways.

After trying the broth while it was simmering, I couldn't wait for Jon to get home.  But then when he told me he may have more than he can eat in his bowl, I knew he wasn't really psyched about it.  So I got him to tell me what was wrong.  He  proceeded to tell me that it was too sweet for him.  I accepted his complaint and moved on since others had said the same thing in the comments section of the original post containing the recipe.  I was enjoying it though....or I was until I was more than half way through the bowl and it started getting too sweet for me too.  We have been trying to eat better and this began to feel like it was going against all of our previous efforts.  So we threw the leftovers away and I decided the Veggie Laksa was being deleted off my pinterest wall, never to be tried again by me. 

Until I got curious and researched a little something that was bothering me.  The can of coconut cream I thought I bought was actually cream of coconut.  I caught the mistake before cooking but didn't want to run to the store again and figured it was close enough that the substitution wouldn't matter.  Before I permantently banned the recipe from my life, I decided to do a bit of research to see if my assumption was correct.  And of course it wasn't!  According to the information I have found on the subject, it is common to use coconut cream in soups and you can buy sweetened and unsweetened cream.  But cream of coconut tends to be used in drinks because it has added sugar making it really sweet. 

So apparently I don't know everything like I thought!

Maybe this soup is one of those 3rd time's the charm sort of things?  Not sure I want to attempt to see if that's the case.