I LOVE PRODUCTIVE SATURDAYS!

so it's not even noon yet and i've already:

- been to st. lawrence market to pick up groceries
- went and performed my cat-sitting duties for my colleague
- did all my errands (assorted grocery shopping, coin-rolling, coin-cashing, banking, library pick-up/drop-offing)

i'm about to do my exercises and yoga for an hour or two and then the rest of the afternoon is MINE! mine for cooking and baking and knitting and chatting with T in vancouver and chicago planning and hawai'i researching and movie watching and menu planning and laundry-doing and online shopping (minor - i need to buy some photo albums and our segway tour.) all of that adds up to a stupendously satisfying day of PUTTERING. i love PUTTERING!

last night's dinner with nanny and poppa went off without a hitch. i rushed home after work (leaving 15 minutes early) to make sure i had everything in on time but start to finish the meal took just over an hour. i made a spinach-stuffed pork loin roast with a dijon mustard coating, sweet potato casserole with marshmallows (nanny was a huge fan of this), and roasted brussel sprouts. for dessert, i made that espresso mascarpone icebox cake, which despite containing 1 c. of mascarpone and THREE cups of whipped cream, gives off the illusion of being light and airy (i hate how desserts can do that.)

we had a great time visiting and chatting for over 2 hours and then we sent them on their merry way back to mississauga.


as promised, here is a pic of thursday night's delicious dinner.


tonight we're celebrating national pi(e) day with a bittersweet chocolate pecan pie, topped with whipped cream. i'm keeping things thematic by having it conclude a southern, new orleans inspired dinner of shrimp and grits. an andouille sausage spiked rouille becomes a velvety sauce for shrimp, which then gets set atop a bowl of steamy, smooth grits. unf unf unf!!!

here are some post-dinner pictures of the above:



fin.