apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Busy weekend ahead with a bday party tomorrow and family stayiing over so we'll be doing a lot of cooking. My husband is roasting a 9lb pork shoulder beginning this afternoon/evening for our carnitas "bar" tomorrow and last night, I baked the Hummingbird Cake cupcakes for party. Given that we are hosting some family for dinner later that evening as well and will be loathe to cook, I am preparing that main course tonight which is baked penne with smoked chicken sausage in a vodka cream sauce. Luckily, we are going out for brunch on Sunday.

making Bahn Mi, Vietnamese sandwich. Making a great sandwich is actually pretty hard and requires a lot of planning...so the ingredients won't slide off the bread and the bread won't get soggy.

Potato leek soup with bacon and French red onion soup for myself, chicken pot pie and strawberry panache for 200 (church meal).

Duck breast! I've never made it before, but I loooove duck. Still researching how I want to prepare it, and what I want to prepare it with...I recently had duck breast with date puree that was fantastic.

I am making BBQ Chicken Pizza on the grill if our weather is as good as it has been all week.

Also going to make some orange-chocolate brownies with orange frosting.

I am ready for spring, for sure!

Must be the weekend for potato leak soup! I'm making it for dinner right now, and this weekend I plan on making oatmeal raisin cookies with a glaze as well as granola. Kind of a mish-mash of winter and spring!

It's the weekend for French onion soup, too! I've got mine going and the aroma has made its way through the entire house. My roommate is having a party tomorrow and I'm thinking about making a chocolate fondue, complete with brownies, pound cake, and homemade marshmallows. And then maybe macaroni and cheese on Sunday? It never comes out quite how I want it to, which I think means I just need more practice/to experiment with different cheeses. :)

I have plans to make brunch for my family. It'll be my first real attempt at eggs florentine, one of my favorite dishes!

I just made some banana bread and will be making pumpkin cupcakes with maple cream cheese frosting on Sunday for a co-worker.

My friend and I just bought a book with 500 cupcake recipes in it...

We'll be starting at page one.

Tacky Lasagna Party! My cousin is visiting Canada and this was at his request so I'll be making a traditional one and a "Death to Dieters" one with chicken, hollandaise, mushrooms, and asparagus. Dessert will be yellow cake with chocolate frosting... tacky and delicious!

Making a fruity side tomorrow for a friend's going away party: grape salsa. http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2002/10/09/pork-chops-chili-spiked-grape-salsa/printer/
Plus Indonesian hard-boiled eggs instead of deviled eggs. And for some reason, I'm still thinking I'll be in the mood to cook a breakfast pizza before all that.

It's definitely French Onion Soup weekend--or it was supposed to be for me, but I'm behind schedule on prep and just realized I don't have any sherry. I'll pick some up, get myself together, and catch up with y'all during the week.

I have way too much cooking to do, but the big new deal for me is seikan, Japanese red rice. Tuesday is Hina Matsuri (princess day) and I have a 3-year-old who is looking forward to some fun food. I've never made it, and it's one of those several-step, have to prep this/that at least a day before deals that I usually avoid. But...here goes.

Oops, sorry, that's spelled sekihan or osekihan.

goodLife -- that sounds awesome! I might have to make some bbq chicken pizza now.

I made donuts this morning: http://sugarmagnolia.wordpress.com/2009/02/28/homemade-donuts-something-sweet/
and am planning to make a chorizo and canellini bean stew at some point--need to use up all the fresh veg in my fridge!

French onion soup makers unite. I think I'll make that tomorrow, just because we want it one more time before spring comes. Tonight I'm making dinner with a friend. Maybe fancy sandwiches?

Anyone have a good french onion soup recipe?

Im making stuffed grape leaves, (I had a craving!). Also making Sheperds pie or a pot pie, dont know which yet.

I made flourless choc cake, roasted banana ice cream, bacon brittle ice cream and caramel sauce already though.

I will be attempting to braise a pork belly, aka uncured bacon. The pig was half Mangalista (a breed of pig), and the guy from Wooly Pigs convinced me to try it. The recipe is simple, and that should lower the difficulty. If it doesn't work out, no one but me will be the wiser :-)

BAKING galore. Cut out sugar cookies with various frostings and in many different shapes for a gathering to meet my newborn nephew...and a banana bread is just finishing up in the oven.