last night's dinner was so much fun! dr. rei came by and looked at my bevy of performance gowns and we hatched a plan to go visit a bridal boutique to find something for her along her specifications. unbeknownst to the both of us...we had each bookmarked the same wedding we came across in our travels through the blogosphere...so random!
tonight's dinner was lovely...G had to work late (she's a high powered lawyer in the midst of her articling year) and so it was just B and us...we had a grand grand grand time talking and eating and it was so nice - the rabbit was AMAZING. absolutely, deliciously, amazing. you couldn't ask for better (lagerfeld says, humbly). i browned off some diced pancetta, set that aside and browned (not very diligently) the rabbit pieces in the pancetta fat. set those aside, sauteed some chopped onion, garlic, and carrot in the fat, and then added diced tomatoes with their juice, some chicken stock (would have deglazed with wine if i had it), thyme, rosemary, and a little bit of salt and pepper. tossed the rabbit, the pancetta, and a bunch of PITTED (bwong made me pit them!!!) olives, and some balsamic vinegar brought to a boil with an equal amount of sugar. the dotytron threw the dutch oven in the oven with the lid on for an hour, and then i came home, checked it, and left it in for another hour with the lid off. it was juicy and so so flavourful. i topped the rabbit with a gremolata and a sprinkling of sea salt, and served it with the braising liquid on top of pappardelle, with that radicchio fennel salad on the side. we also served some of the poilane-ish bread on the side.
for dessert we had the sweet potato pecan pie i made last night (which caused dr. rei and bwong no small amount of anguish - they claim that B & G are always getting "their" food.) B is a great conversationalist - he asks good questions and is smart and very curious...factors which conspire to invite stimulating talk on a wide range of topics. me and the dotytron had a number of mind melds tonight, where we said the same thing and then high-fived about it - one of our commonalities tonight was talking about how much we hate anarchists and how anarchists are children who know nothing of economics, politics, human nature, infrastructure, physics. lol!tomorrow is a big day. i'm going with my colleagues to this buffet that hart house does every year leading up to the holidays. it sounds AMAZING. like, true english style classic buffet with a roast, turkey, trimmings, salads, and plum pudding! with hard sauce! i had my first taste of plum pudding today...apparently it was a rather poor specimen...i'm excited to see what hart house has to offer in the pp department, although i've been warned by one of my one-generation-removed-from-fair-britannia colleagues that it still pales in comparison to a proper, steamed, moist plum pud made (properly) with suet. i love GRAND buffets in the tradition of a british boarding school or like, oxford or something. basically i yearn for the type of spread you'd get at a country estate after a day of hunting, like something out of pride an prejudice (the exciting parts with mr. darcy...not the boring bits with mr. wickham) or the dining room at hogwarts - the annual holiday meal in the harry potter movies is the stuff that dreams are made of. as i've mentioned before, i have a certain anachronistic fondness for a culture that refers to sundry desserts of all persuasions as "pudding."
then shopping with T! i'm going to try to be very very very good and not buy anything. i don't want much. i feel like my fall/winter non-work wardrobe is somewhat wanting but it's not something i feel so keenly that it has to be rectified with spurious spending. at least, i don't feel it as keenly as i feel the missed opportunity at buying those gorgeous vintage riding boots from last month. le sigh. i contacted the seller to get a measurement of the sole (it's so hard to tell with vintage sizing - ESPECIALLY with shoes!) but she never responded because they had been bought out under my nose. i still think of them...one of the ones that i'm sure i'll regret for getting away. anyway, my fall/winter wardrobe leaves a little to be desired in the casual/weekend department...but that's something i'm going to work on over time...my look is in a bit of a flux lately. i love my wide leg jeans but don't have proper, winter-appropriate footwear to pair them with. i love my long, fitted jeans but again, no nice leather (or leather-esque) boots with which to sheath them. a lot of tshirts and some nice sweatshirt-y jackets...but not enough variety and layering pieces...i feel like i'm making the weekend transition from t-shirts and shlubbiness to something a little more put together...i just don't know where it's taking me as of yet.
anyway, enough of that. tomorrow is shopping and rotis with my girl. yay!
i leave you with this roll call of awesome:
what's that you say? oh, no big deal. just a charming little lightbox featuring new york, london, moscow, and medina skylines made out of vintage chandelier parts. the work of maxim velcovsky from studio qubus. 
socket antlers to store and hold charging cell phones and batteries. very cute and surprisingly practical, although this whole woodland animal theme that's taken the affordable design school by storm is getting tired for me. no more owls or deer or birds, please! fin.
