Post holiday fun

Hope y'all had a great holiday and are maybe still enjoying that holiday. I had to go back to work unfortunately but in my strange part-time schedule, only had to work 3 hours today.

We had a nice holiday visit to Baltimore where we enjoyed a white Christmas (meets my quota for cold and snow for the rest of the year). We celebrated two Christmases - one in Baltimore, and then one at our house (where we opened our gifts and the gifts from my family).

We of course got some amazing cooking gifts and are on our way to trying them out. My favorites: The Flavor Bible, Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, Rick Bayless' Authentic Mexican (we made dinner last night from this and it was yummy), an ice cream maker attachment and grinder attachment for the mixer, a creme brulee torch, and my wonderful coworker Amanda got us some truffle infused olive oil!  I'm excited to try all of these things out and update you!

On another note - my dad is visiting this week!!  The husband and I planned the meals for the week and here's our menu. We think its a fairly good representation of the influences in this area of Texas. We'll hopefully take pictures of all this yumminess.

Tuesday: Vietnamese from Pho Thang Long
Wednesday: Adobo marinated Cod broiled in corn husks; white rice pilaf with corn and peppers; and creamed zucchini with corn and peppers. (This was yummy and our first foray into corn husk cooking)
Thursday: The Boat - I don't know the name of the actual restaurant but it looks like a boat shipwrecked in a parking lot so we call it the boat. They have amazing fish (lots fried), but also some of the cheapest, biggest, and best oysters you can get around these parts! :) Or so we've been told - we haven't tried oysters yet. But I know my dad will love it.
Friday: All Mexican again: queso, Mexican corn chowder and chicken tamales (all from Rick Bayless)
Saturday: Smoked brisket, coleslaw, and baked potatoes
Sunday: Taking it down a notch for roadside chicken (courtesy of our other Rick Bayless book) and grilled asparagus.

I love that we have the time to cook this week and that we have the patience (most of the time) to cook together. I may or may not do one of those new years resolution-y posts later but if I don't - have a great New Year's celebration!!!