Lasagne and Schnitzel

Gropius and I made lasagne and asparagus on Thurs evening for dinner and it was very tasty. I've been craving tomatoes and cheese lately.



Last night though, I made spatzle and a mushroom-cream sauce while Gropius cooked schnitzel. Also very, very tasty!
the spatzle-maker

cooking spatzle

finished spatzle

our full meal

close-up of spatzle with sauce and schtnizel

Pedernales Chili

Continuing in our attempts to horrify Gropius's family with our recent eating habits, tonight we enjoyed LBJ's world famous Pedernales Chili. I realize for all you NM chili purists out there that this recipe is an abomination, but it was a classic example of Texas chili at its finest (no beans, no frills).




We had our dessert first though: Black Forest Milkshakes. Basically, chocolate milkshakes with frozen cherries added in for good measure. I think they might even be pretty tasty with a splash of kirsch, too. Unfortunately no pictures--they were slurped down too fast!

I'm feeling so grateful to LBJ right now, I almost wish I had a beagle's ears to pull....

More Food-related stuff.

Yesterday, Gropius and I had cherry-pecan scones for breakfast.



And Saturday, Derellek invited us over to their house for a roast beef dinner. Very delicious!

The *Other* Wild Turkey

My father would've enjoyed seeing this sight this afternoon:




Apparently the wild turkeys that live by the creek decided to take an afternoon stroll.

Frasca

Todd invited us to join him, Delia, and his parents for dinner at Frasca in Boulder. He also invited more Schwarms, but Roland and Lisa were already busy and my in-laws declined the invite (too bad b/c dinner was fabulous!). Frasca is one of the top restaurants in the country and arguably the best in Colorado, so we were excited about dinner.



We drove up to Boulder and did some shopping early before dinner to build our anticipation. The menu was a four course prixe-fixe with additional cheese and salmi offerings. Todd ordered our wine:



We tried to vary our orders so that we got to see almost everything on the menu:
Appetizer Course:
chestnut soup with speck

fried hen egg on a bed of lobster salad (apologies for the fuzziness--it was low light)

pork pate


Primo Course:
butternut squash/amaretti ravioli with brussel sprout leaves in brown butter

Gnocchi with chanterelle sauce


Secondo Course:
Guinea Hen wrapped in prosciutto with cranberry relish

Veal Ribeye with hedgehog mushrooms

Grilled Tuna with polenta and cabbage


Dessert Course:
Chocolate Malted Milkshake with Chocolate Pearls


Frangipane Tart with grapefruit


Brioche (apologies again for the fuzziness)

My Latte


It was a great dinner!

Christmas Dinner

We had a lovely dinner Christmas eve--lots of food, family, and presents! But the dinner actually started the day before, as we prepped all sorts of dishes, including the buche de noel (the yule log):



To start, we enjoyed some nice appetizers with our champagne punch in the living room:


Isn't that lovely dinner table?

Apparently, I wasn't the only one to think so!

Assorted Cheeses

Gropius made crab cakes

Various ham and salami

Snow peas

Pork Tenderloin (I think I ate most of this!)

Yes, I think I did...

The Lovely and Talented Roland and Lisa


And we ended dinner with some lovely desserts!

Lebkuchen

Buche de Noel/Yule Log

Enjoyed with a little Schnapps!