Weekend Fun and Good Food

We had a really busy weekend with lots of friends, food, and fun.
 
On Friday, we had another edition of Hell’s Kitchen.  It’s a thing we do every few months with a group of friends where we gather at someone’s house, the girls drink, and the guys drink and cook.  When we all arrive, the guys plan their dishes and then head to the grocery store to shop for ingredients.  The girls just hang at the house and drink.  Once the guys return, they start cooking – there is no specific order or structure – they just pass out small plates as their meals are finished.  The food is always SO good! 
Lo made Huli Huli Chicken and Pineapple in an endive cup.  We also enjoyed sausage stuffed mushrooms, skirt steak sliders w/ frites, (this is where I started to get a little drunk) some other type of steak served open-faced with crispy onions (it was really good and I wish I remembered what it was!), homemade ravioli (which I didn’t try b/c of gluten), and stuffed dates for dessert.  We also had pineapple martinis, lots of wine, and even some champagne, which all account for the fuzzy details (as well as the slight hangover in the morning).
 
On Saturday, I was going to get a pedicure a friend at Elli Nail Spa in Grandview.  I don’t get pedicures very often because I have a hard time justifying the expense – but I really enjoy it every now and then and was looking forward to spending some time with her.  I got the “Care to Indulge” Pedicure for $42, which included a sugar scrub and leg and foot massage, so it was definitely nice.  Plus we got 10% off because it was our first visit.  They have really nice massage chairs to sit in and they let us sit there as long as we wanted afterwards to let our toes dry.  It was really nice to catch up with her and all of her wedding planning excitement!  We (or I) also felt like we HAD to stop at Orange Leaf (self serve frozen yogurt) afterwards, since it was right next door – tasty yogurt (w/gluten-free labels), but bad customer service on this occasion – the guy was kind of just miserable.  And since Objects for the Home was right next door to Orange Leaf, we also went in there, as it is one of my friend’s favorite stores.  It was a pretty awesome store with lots of vintage-y furniture, decorations, and such. 
 
Once I got home, I changed quickly and we headed to another friends’ house for dinner.  Filet mignon goes on sale at Anderson’s every few months for $2.69, and our friends like to have people over for dinner when they get some.  We had yummy appetizers and wine before dinner, which included filets, salad, asparagus, and crispy potatoes.   Everything was so good.  She always jokes that they like to get people drunk before dinner so no one can tell if the food is good, but considering we’ve never had a bad meal at their house, it seems like an unnecessary (but still fun) step. 
 
On Sunday morning, Lo made Chili Hash with Eggs for breakfast (recipe coming soon) – and it was pretty good.  We were using up a can of turkey chili that I’d pulled out of the pantry because the sell-by date was approaching.  Actually, I think it was two weeks past, because I intended for us to have it in January, but we never got around to it.  I assume that the sell-by date allows for some storage time once the item is bought, so I don’t really worry about that too much, depending on what the item is.  I was starting to feel a cold come on that I must have caught from Lo, so I pretty much dozed off and on in the early afternoon.  We couldn’t really decide what to have for dinner, so we decided to walk up to Betty’s Fine Food and Spirits because it was a beautiful day out (probably 50+ degrees).  We split the potato pancakes and plantains.  I had 2 Betty Grables (grape vodka and ginger ale) and he had 2 beers of some sort.  For the first time in a long time, I didn’t care about the Superbowl because I couldn’t stand the fact that Eli Manning had a good chance of winning again (and thus being the MVP).  I dozed a little in the first half (the cold was making me very drowsy!) and we snacked on popcorn and some leftovers later on.  Obviously, I hated how the game ended, but whatever.  He’ll get his. 
 


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