Favorites from 2013? Splendid!

I'm either a day early or a week late in this, but this is basically a list of all my obsessions from 2013.  Here's to 2014 and a whole NEW list of obsessions!

Hair - Eufora Curl'N Defining Solution

Changed. My. Life.  Little known fact: I didn't know I had curly hair till well into high school, despite the fact that it stopped being straight sometime in 6th grade.  Throughout middle school and high school, it was mostly just frizz (orange frizz in 7th grade thanks to my trusty bottle of Sun In!).  My hair gets bigger and curlier in humidity, so imagine the mess I was trying to contain with my first flat iron that was a steam straightener.

Yeah.  Not the best move for me.  I continued to combat my curls through college, and only in the last few years have I really started embracing my hair as it really is.  Everything changed when I started going to a great salon and seeing a stylist who specialized in curly hair.  For the first time ever, I asked my stylist to keep my hair curly, and teach me how to style it myself, instead of having her straighten it.  She used the Curl'N Defining Solution on my hair, and I immediately knew I needed it.  It formed lovely, bouncy curls without frizz or the crunchiness that often accompanies gel or mousse.  Never before one to spend a ton of money on hair products, I was shocked to find out that it cost more than my haircut.  Luckily one can of the foam lasts for months and months.  I don't claim to have great hair on the daily now, but this Eufora product is certainly the reason for fewer bad hair days.

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Don't worry, each description won't be this long.  I just needed to show you the ridiculous contraption I tortured my hair with in high school.

Makeup - BareMinerals Matte Foundation
I started wearing BareMinerals many years ago.  Throughout this year I tried wearing a few different foundations, a foam and a liquid style, but I never really liked any of them.  I ended up switching back to my old standby, but this time with a twist.  I had only used the original formula till this year when I decided to give the matte formula a try.  I was weary initially, so I started by mixing the two formulas together.  I've found that the matte formula isn't too mattifying, but it does keep everything in check.

I love BareMinerals because it doesn't cause breakouts for me.  I like that with the powder foundation, I can choose the level of coverage I wear on a given day.  If I'm having a great skin day, I can easily just buff a little bit on and get on with my day.  If I need fuller coverage, it just takes a few more swipes with my brush.  It's great.

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Nails - Sally Hanson Nail Strips
I mentioned Sally Hanson Nail Strips in a post this fall when I talked about my first day working at the music store.  I've used these multiple times this year, and I fully recommend them.  They're simple to use, and they have surprisingly excellent staying power.  The nail strips alone often last longer than a traditional varnish with base and top coat.  My only complaint is that I wish there were more colors.  I like the permanent designs, and they release limited edition designs for each season.

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Skincare - Yes to Tomatoes
The Yes To line is a variety of products made from mostly natural ingredients.  The Yes to Tomatoes line is specifically aimed at acne control.  I've tried three products in this particular line: the blemish clearing facial wipes, the daily clarifying cleanser, and the clearing facial mask.  While the wipes and cleanser are both great products, the standout to me was the mask.  All of the products worked well together, and I definitely felt like they improved the condition of my skin.

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Kitchen/Food - Homemade Pasta
After deciding to make homemade pasta for our Valentine's dinner in 2013, I kind of became obsessed with it.  Using my Kitchen Aid pasta rollers made the whole thing such a breeze that I found myself making fresh pasta on weeknights.  When we made pasta growing up, we typically used white all-purpose flour, but to make things more authentic, I began using a combination of semolina and AP flour.  The duo gave my pasta so much more flavor, and the final product was a delicious noodle.  With the pasta water salted liberally, and the noodles boiled just to al dente, my fresh pasta was always flavorful and delicious.  In 2014, I want to give spinach pasta a try, too!

TV - Doctor Who

Last year I read a lot of books.  This year I watched a lot of TV, and I'm not ashamed of it.  Yes, I did still watch Real Housewives of New Jersey, but I started paying more attention to British shows (Downton Abbey, Sherlock) and Joss Whedon's work (Buffy, Firefly/Serenity).  The standout for the year, though, absolutely was Doctor Who.

I started watching "New Who" right after Christmas.  My brother has been suggesting it for a couple years now, and I always told him I didn't have time to start another series.  I don't think he understood that I'm a hardcore binge watcher, and once I started the series, I wouldn't be able to stop till I consumed all. of. it.  It became apparent to him the day after I started watching it, when I texted him my feelings on David Tennant's first episode as the Tenth Doctor, which happens at the beginning of the second season.

I had watched all of the new episodes by my birthday in Mid-March, and for my birthday LP Stacey started watching the series with me.  Since then we've finished the series (again for me), watched the 50th Anniversary Special, and the 2013 Christmas Special.

To say I became obsessed would definitely be accurate and possibly even an understatement.  Case in point?  I was the Eleventh Doctor for Halloween this year.

Also, my phone's ringtone is an excerpt from the music played in the show.

And Scott bought me Dr. Who art for Christmas even though he had no idea the significance of the print in relation to the show.

Book - The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
The first time I read TFIOS, I read the entire thing in one sitting.  I laughed; I cried; I had all the emotions.  I immediately read all the other John Green books, even the novels he co-wrote, and I loved all of them.  I always come back to The Fault in Our Stars, though.  It sounds so depressing when I tell people it's a book about teen cancer patients who fall in love.  I mean, it is a book about that, but it's so much more.  It's beautiful and real and poetic, and no matter your gender or age, I think you need to read it.  Just keep a box of tissues nearby.  If you can finish the entire book without crying, then you should probably see a doctor, because it would appear you have no heart.

Furthermore, the book has become kind of a cultural phenomenon, at least within my communities.  It was number one on the Amazon and Barnes and Noble bestsellers lists before the book was even released.  More than 150,000 copies of the book were pre-orderd.

It's a beautiful and real and poetic story, and no matter your gender or age, I think you need to read it.  Just keep a box of tissues nearby.  If you can finish the entire book without crying, then you should probably see a doctor, because it would appear you have no heart.

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Also, the film adaptation starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort is set to be released in June.  I hope it does the book justice.

Music - "This Year" by the Mountain Goats

I was introduced to this band and this song while watching the Evening for Awesome concert on YouTube.  I had just started watching Vlogbrothers videos, and I hadn't read any of John's books or listened to any of Hank's music yet.  The video for the Evening for Awesome kept popping up in the recommended videos list on YouTube, so eventually I spent an entire evening watching it.  John and Hank Green are huge fans of the Mountain Goats, so naturally they asked the band to perform at the show.  They closed the entire evening by playing "This Year."

I was immediately struck by a line in the chorus, which I find to be both funny and sad: "I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me."

Last year was kind of a tough one for me.  I ended up places physically, emotionally, and mentally that I never thought I would be.  Places I never really want to be again.  I believe I connected with the song on a deep level because of my situation at the time.  When I had an hour-long commute this summer, I would usually end the drive with this song.  

Movie - Much Ado About Nothing
Who would have guessed obsessions over both Doctor Who and Joss Whedon would have led to yet another obsession over Shakespeare?  

After thoroughly enjoying the fourth season of Doctor Who and the chemistry between David Tennant and Catherine Tate, I found out they did a production of Much Ado About Nothing in London's West End a couple years ago.  The production was filmed, and through Digital Theatre, I was able to download it to watch till the cows came home.  For Whovians it's pretty amusing to see Tennant and Tate take on the roles of reluctant lovers Benedick and Beatrice since their characters on Doctor Who were never the slightest bit attracted to one another.

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Early in 2013 I found out that Joss Whedon was directing and producing a film adaptation of Much Ado.  By that point I had already watched watched all of Firefly (all 1 season of it), Serenity, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog, as well as the first season of Angel and The Avengers.  I was deep into the Whedonverse when I first heard about his adaptation.  Joss Whedon is known for using the same actors throughout multiple projects, and I love them all.  I figured watching the film would be kind of like watching a reunion.  A reunion composed of Shakespearean English, but a reunion nonetheless.  Set for limited release, I scoured the list of theaters with screenings in hopes of seeing it on the big screen.  At the time of its initial release, there were only two theaters in the state that were set to screen it, and I made sure I could attend one of them.  It was lovely and funny and everything I wanted it to be.  I even mentioned it in this post.  Thankfully I actually got a second chance to see it on the big screen when it came to The Art Theater in town a few weeks later.

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Place - The Art Theater
We're lucky enough to have multiple theaters in town, including The Art Theater.  It's great to have a place that shows indie films, has late night screenings of "classics" and basically does everything an independent movie theater should do in my opinion.  I saw so many movies there this year, and I didn't even make it to all the films I wanted to see!  Manager Austin McCann took over in 2012, and I think he is doing a great job.  There's a great mix of genres, and they do interesting festivals and events with local groups.  Also, they have a liquor license, so that's a bonus.

Season of Giving Kickoff 2013? Splendid!

To kick off my Season of Giving 2013, I'm donating to one of my favorite local charities.  Yes, I did give the Eastern Illinois Foodbank a donation last year, but I find their work so invaluable to my community that I definitely planned to give to them again this year.

If you didn't read last year's post on the Eastern Illinois Foodbank, you can check it out by clicking this link.

During my time of employment limbo this spring, I signed up to volunteer at the Foodbank.  I was able to attend a couple of the repack volunteer nights before my work schedule eliminated that possibility, but it was a really great opportunity for me.  I enjoyed seeing a bunch of strangers work together really efficiently to repack food from giant bulk bins into manageable family-sized servings.  It was a really diverse group, too!  I would say the ages ranged from 17 years old to 65 years old, and the group worked together so well.  At the end of the evening, it was obvious that we made a huge dent in the work that needed to be done, and for me at least, it was nice to have a sense of accomplishment during a time when I didn't get much of that feeling.

After checking out the Eastern Illinois Foodbank on Charity Navigator this year, I'm even more impressed with the organization.  According to the data, more than 95% of the Foodbank's expenses are put toward the services and programs it provides.  That's an incredibly high percentage.

A year later, I'm still amazed at the sheer amount of people (over 100,000!)who are served by the Eastern Illinois Foodbank throughout 14 counties!

November Favorites? Splendid!

I know you've been waiting with bated breath to find out what I dug the most in November.  Luckily for you, I'm ready to share!

Miscellaneous - My Charitable Giving Plan for 2013
I started this blog to share the stories of the places receiving donations from me last Christmas.  I really want to know what organizations you think should receive my donations this year.  If you have suggestions, please fill out this form.

Hair - Say Yes to Carrots Scalp Therapy Shampoo & Conditioner
I started using products in the "Say Yes to" line last spring, and two of the products I've really liked are the Say Yes to Carrots Scalp Therapy Shampoo & Conditioner.  Especially now when the weather has dried out, my hair and scalp can use a little TLC.  I like to use this line a couple times a week in conjunction with products formulated for curly hair, as well as the Macadamia Hair Masque I mentioned last month.

Makeup - NYX Deep Purple retractable eyeliner
Purple naturally brings out brown eyes, and I've been adoring the NYX Deep Purple water proof retractable eyeliner lately.  NYX is a really affordable brand found online and at Ulta, and I'm really impressed with its staying power.  I typically only line my upper lid with it, so I'm not sure how durable it would be along my lower water line, but seeing as how it's water proof, I think it would stick.  This color is a deep enough purple that I find totally wearable on a daily basis.  The formula is really creamy, the color is really pigmented.  I'm a fan.

Skincare - Aveeno Clear Complexion Daily Moisturizer
Aveeno is known for making great moisturizers, and I especially love the Clear Complexion formula.  The main difference between the Positively Radiant (which is also great) and the Clear Complexion formulas is that the latter also contains salicylic acid which helps clear up breakouts.  It can be difficult to find a product that keeps skin soft and moisturized without exacerbating any greasy or oily skin issues, and this one does a great job.  I've been using it for years, but it is especially helpful when the weather starts to turn colder, and the air dries out more.

Nails - Essie Mesmerized Polish
I refer to this color as "TARDIS Blue" because I obviously think the shade is similar to my favorite time traveling police box from Doctor Who.  Essie color 776, Mesmerized, is a beautiful medium blue shade.  As with nearly all Essie polishes, Mesmerized isn't too thin, and you only need 1-2 coats.  I definitely painted my nails this shade to watch my favorite TV show this month.  See below.

Kitchen/Food - Thanksgiving leftovers
Normally I'm the kind of girl who doesn't really like it when my food touches.  Thanksgiving is the only day when that preference flies out the window, and this is especially true when it comes to leftovers.  Turkey? Great! Stuffing? Delicious! Potatoes? Throw 'em in the bowl! Gravy? Pour it all over the top!  Perfection.  I may or may not have eaten leftovers just like this for three meals in a row last weekend.  Hint: I did.  

I could share a picture of it with you, but let's be honest, delicious as they are, Thanksgiving leftovers aren't so glamorous.

TV - Doctor Who "The Day of the Doctor"
The Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special aired on November 23rd, and it was nearly everything I wanted it to be.  David Tennant and Billie Piper returned for the special, and they were just lovely.  We got a glimpse of the 12th Doctor, Peter Capaldi, who will begin his run after Matt Smith leaves during the Christmas Special this year.  John Hurt was a joy and a delight as the War Doctor.  The story included so many jokes and references to the show throughout its run that it definitely made me want to go back and watch Classic Who.

Music - Fitz & the Tantrums
Duh.  I listened to both albums by Fitz & the Tantrums countless times throughout November.  The concert Stacey and I attended was so amazing, I wrote an entire post devoted to it a couple weeks ago.

Book - Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster
I've mentioned before that I like to listen to books using Audible.com.  I read Such a Pretty Fat, as well as Jen's other books, last year in the Year of Books, and I loved the way she told her stories.  Such a Pretty Fat details her quest for better health through various programs with varying degrees of success.  I've taken to listening to chapter while at the gym so I can keep my brain engaged instead of focusing on how much I hate my life while exercising.  I love that Audible allows me to automatically pause the book at the end of a chapter.  I like to set myself a goal of one or two chapters, depending on their length, and then I know I only have to get through so much of the book before I can go home.  In general, I highly recommend Audible, and in particular I recommend Jen Lancaster's books.  She's funny and sassy, and she tells it like it is.

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Place - Orange You Splendid Etsy Shop
So I did this thing...  I opened an Etsy Shop!  There's not much for sale yet, but I'll be adding a lot of inventory in the next few weeks.  My plan is to offer the handmade items that I typically give as bridal and baby shower gifts.  Two different friends have mentioned my hooded bath towels to me today, so I think a few of those will be making their way into the shop very shortly.

October Favorites? Splendid!

In my time of employment limbo, I found myself watching a lot of videos on YouTube, specifically beauty videos.  I started by watching tutorials for products I had or hairstyles I wanted to try, but I found myself watching countless videos of vloggers' monthly favorites.  For some reason I find them kind of fascinating.  I think it's interesting to see how products are featured by many different people one month and completely ignored the next.  Anyway, with the big fat move, a lot of my stuff was packed up for a couple weeks, so I definitely found myself reaching for some things over and over.  These are my favorites from the month of October.

Hair - Macadamia Natural Oil Hair Masque
Every beauty blogger and vlogger I've read/watched in the last year has mentioned this product.  It's a deep repair treatment that rebuilds hair and improves elasticity and shine.  It's kind of pricey for a hair product, so I was skeptical to buy the giant tub at first.  While browsing the shelves at Ulta one day, I found a trial size foil packet of the mask, which I thought was great.  I love being able to try a generous sample size of something before committing to a full purchase.

I definitely think this product has helped my hair feel healthier.  It combats frizz without weighing my hair down.  I use it once or twice a week after shampooing and conditioning as normal, and I've noticed significantly less breakage at the ends of my hair.

Make up - Benefit Erase Paste in 02 Medium
Be it genetics or sleep deprivation, I have some major dark circles under my eyes.  I recently tried a roller ball style under eye concealer, but when I tried to blend it in, the makeup often turned white and just looked plain weird.  I've been using the Benefit Boiing concealer on the rest of my face for a few months now, and I had heard great things about Erase Paste.  I once again found a mini size in Impulse Aisle (you know, the kiosks with the tiny sizes of everything right by the registers) at Ulta, and thought I would give it a shot.

I was nervous to use it at first, because it's a very salmony pink color.  I had no reason to worry though because the pink counteracts the darkness under my eyes to blend out to a more natural skin color.  I do need to set the concealer with powder so it doesn't settle into the creases under my eyes, but I'm having much more success than with the previous products I've tried.

Nails - OPI San Francisco Collection: Haven't the Foggiest
I've alway had great success with OPI nail polishes, and I love this color.  The silver is shiny without being full of chunky glitter.  It applies beautifully and finishes almost like chrome.  I applied two coats to my nails (along with base coat and topcoat) the Thursday before we moved, and the only reason I had to take it off 7 days later was because I snagged a nail, and it took a big chunk of lacquer off my nail.  I knew it would only get worse as we finished moving.

Skincare - Boscia Luminizing Black Mask
I've heard great things about the Boscia brand in general and the Black line in particular.  Once again I was able to find a trial size of the Luminizing Black Mask (are we seeing a trend yet?) in a trio with the Brightening White Mask and the Cooling Blue Mask.  All three are peel off masks which can be a little weird.  In fact, I was removing the Brightening White Mask while talking to Stacey last night, and she had to look away because it looked like I was peeling off my own face, apparently.

I liked all three masks, but the black mask was my favorite.  It left my skin feeling clean, my pores were minimized, and it wasn't drying as some purifying masks can be.  Now I'm even more interested in trying out the other products in this line - especially if I can get them as samples!

Kitchen/Food - Gimme Some Oven's Hummus Crusted Chicken
I've been trying to consume more vegetables - plant life in general, really - lately, and I saw the Hummus Crusted Chicken recipe from Gimme Some Oven on Pinterest.  Hummus comes from chickpeas which are plants, so that's close enough for me!  The recipe also involves roasting some veggies with the chicken breasts, so that's good too.  I have a weird relationship with hummus.  I like it, but I don't think I had it for the first time till after college, so it's still kind of a new food for me.  Because of that, I remain skeptical of it.  This chicken singularly changed my mind about hummus.  This is the best chicken recipe I think I've ever made, and I've made a LOT of chicken.  The hummus creates a great coating for the meat (I wouldn't call it a crust, even though it's titled that) which keeps all the juices in, creating a tender and flavorful dish.  I made it twice in October, and both times, it was cooked perfectly.  I'm usually concerned about undercooking poultry, and this dish didn't even require extra time in the oven.  Of course, I can't leave well enough alone, so I did sprinkle some panko crumbs over the coating to give it some extra crunch.  I highly recommend this recipe.  It's super simple to make and completely delicious.

TV - The Mindy Project
If you're not watching The Mindy Project on Fox, then I'm not sure we can be friends anymore.  Mindy Kaling's show is in its second season, and every episode leaves me telling Stacey that I just love it so much.  I adore the Mindy Lahiri character in all of her simultaneously self-aware and delusional glory.

I love that Mindy's character is fun and silly and over the top while still being smart and good at her job.

I love the supporting characters in the series, too.  I'm especially happy to see Adam Pally making appearances this season.  I was heart broken that ABC cancelled Happy Endings, so I'm really happy to have him back on one of my shows.  Also, Pastor Casey?  Amazing.


Music - Ray LaMontagne "You Are the Best Thing"
I realize I'm late to the Ray LaMontagne party, but at least I showed up eventually!  I actually listened to this song because my friend Adam mentioned it on Twitter.  As a trumpet player, I'm a sucker for a good tune with a horn section.

Listen to/buy the track here.

This song reminds me of music from my parents' generation, and that's a very good thing.  LaMontagne's voice is so raw and soulful.  I like a lot of his songs I've listened to, but I keep coming back to this one.

Book - Rob Sheffield's "Turn Around Bright Eyes"
I've read Rob's two previous books, "Love is a Mix Tape" and "Talking to Girls about Duran Duran", and I enjoyed both quite a bit.  I first started reading his books because I recognized him as one of my favorite people on the VH1 "100 Greatest..." shows.  His books are autobiographical, and he doesn't hold much back.

Buy it on Amazon

I really admire how thoroughly he incorporates music into his books.  It's clear that music truly is his passion.  "Turn Around Bright Eyes" focuses on the importance of karaoke in his life and relationship.  It's kind of a strange concept, but he makes it work so well.  There's a chapter on the Beatles that is just superb.

Place - New Apartment!
We are finally all moved in to the new apartment!  Of course we're no where near finished unpacking, and we don't have a couch, but we're all in!  Slowly but surely we're making our place feel more like home.  Nearly all of the Ikea furniture has been assembled, and we're starting to get rid of boxes.  We both love the new place so far, and hopefully that won't change any time soon!  I can't wait to start having people over once we're more settled.

Misc - Keyboard shortcut: command + shift + T
Ever close a tab in a web browser and immediately regret it?  Command + shift + T will reopen the last tab closed.  One of the great things is that if the accidentally closed tab isn't the most recent page, you can keep doing it until you find the right one.  I've been using this trick a lot recently, because apparently I'm an idiot who keeps closing tabs I need to refer back to.

Valentine's Dinner? Splendid

Valentine's Day may very well be a holiday perpetuated by retailers, but I do love an excuse to tell people how much I love them.  My boyfriend and I went out for a fancy a fancy Valentine's Day dinner the first year we were together.  He was still trying to woo me, after all.  We went to a local Japanese restaurant to enjoy a fun meal prepared on a teppanyaki grill.  Of course, as one might imagine, the restaurant was incredibly busy that night, and there were at least 16 of us crowded around a table meant for 12.  The couple to one side of us bickered the entire time, and the couple on the other side didn't want the food typically prepared on the grill.  They ordered chicken teriyaki or shrimp tempura or something.  While we made the best of our meal, the ambiance certainly left something to be desired.

Not only did that experience turn us off to going out for super romagical (it's a word we invented) Valentine's dinners, but our anniversary is in late January, and both of us have birthdays in mid-March, so we have plenty of reasons to celebrate in the first quarter.  So now we go out for fancy dinners for our anniversary and take turns making dinner for each other for Valentine's Day.  We're slightly adorable.

This year was my turn to cook, and I started planning very early, as I'm wont to do.  I started searching my BFF, Pinterest, to come up with recipes for a Valentine's Menu.  I finally settled on stuffed mushrooms, spinach salad with warm bacon dressing, smoky pork pappardelle, and blackberry swirl pound cake served with vanilla ice cream.  Anyone who knows me relatively well is probably wondering if there were planning spreadsheets involved.  Yes, of course!  In my defense, there was only an actual spreadsheet involved for the grocery shopping, with every ingredient needed listed by meal component and section of the grocery store.

It was also a pretty busy week around here, so I knew that I wanted to serve the meal on Saturday, and I knew that I would need to do a lot of prep work during the week.  This is how I broke down the work.

First up was making the sauce for the pasta.  I used the Smoky Pork Pappardelle recipe from Food & Wine Magazine as my guide.  The recipe was very simple to follow, and I made three deviations from the original.  Despite the "smoky" moniker for the dish, I did not use smoked salt.  This was purely because I already have 3 varieties of salt on hand, and I really didn't feel the need to buy any more.  Along the same vain, the recipe calls for champagne vinegar.  I used red wine vinegar because it's what I had on hand.  Also, when the pork and sauce are done cooking, the recipe says to strain the sauce and gently push on the solids.  I wanted a really creamy sauce, so I used my immersion blender to mix it all together.  Once the sauce was blended, and the pork was shredded, everything went into the fridge till Saturday.  On Saturday, I started reheating it on the stove about 45 minutes before I wanted to serve it so  I could bring the temperature up slowly.  I waited till right before I served it to add the mascarpone cheese.

Sauce in three phases

Preparation Day 2 was strictly for the Blackberry Swirl Pound Cake from Martha Stewart.  After getting in a small domestic disturbance with my food processor, we were in business.  I didn't want to run out of puree in the middle of the loaf, so I was conservative with the amount I used in the middle.  That was unnecessary, because I have a lot of blackberry puree leftover now, which is fine.  I served the pound cake with vanilla ice cream, and we drizzled more blackberry puree over the top of the cake and ice cream.  When eating the leftovers, I've taken to nuking the cake for 20 seconds or so.  It's awesome.

Preparation Day 3 was really just about an hour I had before we hit the road to see Scott's friend direct big annual band concert in their hometown.  Since I knew I didn't have much time, I used that to prep the Stuffed Mushrooms from Delicious Meliscious (who got it from Ina Garten, according to her blog).  I cut the recipe in half and made 8 mushrooms.  There was nothing too surprising in the recipe, but it came together beautifully.  The stuffing is very flavorful, and using panko instead of regular breadcrumbs gave it a great texture.  My only note would be to lower the cooking time by a few minutes.  Mine turned out okay, but they could have come out of the oven a few minutes earlier.  I didn't take a picture of the mushrooms before cooking them, and the only picture I have shows the well-done final state, but in the interest of honesty, here you go.

This picture does nothing for the mushrooms.  They were good!

Preparation Day 4 was also Saturday.  The day I served all this food to my beloved.  Once we got home from Scott's hometown, I got to work.  Well that's not entirely true.  First I went out to buy "emergency fancy pasta" in case my plans didn't work.  Then I came home and got down to business.  It's been years since I made fresh pasta (hence emergency pasta), and the last attempt didn't go especially well (dysfunctional Kitchen Aid mixer).  Now armed with a new(er) mixer (Kitchen Aid customer service was excellent), the pasta maker attachment, semolina flour, and this recipe for fresh pasta from Got Mixer?, I set about making the dough.  I cut the original recipe in half, and I'm glad I did, because it might actually make a metric ton of pasta.  I certainly made more than enough.  (Also, holy parentheticals, Batman!)

We made pasta a few times growing up, and I remember having a blast making it together with my family.  We used a manual roller that clamped onto the table and had to be cranked by hand.  It was not really a one-person activity.  Using the Kitchen Aid roller was so helpful.  This part was definitely time consuming, but it was also by far the most rewarding part of making this meal.  A pound of semolina and AP flour, three eggs, and a few Donna Noble episodes of Doctor Who later, I had a gorgeous tray of thin fresh pasta cut into wide ribbons of pappardelle.

 

All that was left after the pasta was the spinach salad and warm bacon dressing.  I didn't really take any process photos of this dish, because there wasn't much to it.  I cooked the bacon, boiled the eggs, and made the dressing while I was waiting for the pasta dough to rest.  I used a recipe from Flavors by Four for the dressing.  I didn't have prepared honey mustard on hand, so I used dijon mustard and added honey.  I'm glad I went this route, because I felt like the sauce needed to be sweetened up a little, so I added more honey during the cooking process.  The finished product was delicious with the crisp spinach and bacon, and the nice contrast with the mushrooms and eggs.

Everything came together really well for the meal.  I'm very proud of it, and Scott said it was probably the best complete meal I've made for him.  That's pretty high praise, I would say.

Not pictured: Poundcake

Scott was such a good sport as I made him wait to eat so I could take pictures.  I promised him I wasn't going to become one of "those people", but I was am proud of the meal, and I knew I wanted to blog about it.  Because honestly, how good does this look?  Seriously, I spent a lot of the meal talking about how good it was, which earned me some teasing, but it was SO GOOD!

Even cutting most of the recipes in half, I still have so much pasta left, and I am okay with that.  I will happily eat this for the rest of the week if necessary.  

Who wouldn't want to eat this for a week?

Just in case you're curious, this is what my kitchen workspace looked like last week.  I've been taping recipes to cabinets for years now, because it puts them at eye level.  Since this meal was prepared over the course of 4 days, I needed the recipes to stay handy.

So, yeah.  That's what I was up to last week.  That's why I was Facebooking about the patron saint of cooking.  That's what I made for my man to celebrate our tenth Valentine's Day together.  When I was in Kansas City last winter, we visited a Penzey's store.  As you checkout from the store, they have bumper stickers that pretty much sum up how I feel about cooking for people: