weekend of consumption
this weekend, i consumed obscene quantities of food. someone actually turned to me last night, saying "Wow, eliz. You just keep eating and eating and eating." Why yes, yes i do! and, so, with that, i give you:

my weekend
...which began friday afternoon with a shrimp maki snack eaten while contemplating when to begin dinner. apparently the shrimp helped me think since dinner came out a comfortable 15 minutes or so after my guest arrived. cabbage soup, french country bread from foodstuffs, jicama sweet pea mozzarella salad with balsamic vinaigrette and chocolate chip cookies. fabu, if i may say so myself. the cabbage soup, from Abby Mandel's Celebrating the Midwestern Table, is so easy to make although what with it consisting mostly of cabbage it does wreak a bit of havoc on one's system. that is, don't eat a lot of this if you plan on spending lots of time in a closed, non-ventilated space with people you want to impress. but, its a sacrifice you have to make occasionally in the name of hearty fall soups.

i chose cabbage soup because i knew my saturday was going to be rough and i wanted something warm and comfie for dinner on friday. saturday morning i attended the funeral of a classmate which was, needless to say, horrible and sad and tragic. and hard to grasp. and always weirdly a mixed blessing since i was so glad to see some of the people there but so sad that it was under these circumstances. you know. after the service, a lunch reception and a really calming walk with don, we ended up at a friend's parents' home where we spent the remainder of the evening shooting pool, knitting and stuffing ourselves with food. it was perfect for a group of people in need of a relaxing, low key night with good friends. my friend's mom pulled out all the stops, providing us with italian flatbread, chips&salsa, cookies, artichoke dip, beverages, etc, etc. and just when we thought we couldn't eat any more, two pizzas arrived. and then in honor of those with october/november birthdays (curiously about 3/4 of the group), we had cake! woah. i rolled myself home around 11pm, dragged myself into bed and slipped quickly into a foodcoma-induced deep sleep.

on sunday, i woke up stuffed. the muscles in my stomach were actually sore! but i perservered! i met don and dee for breakfast at heartland cafe and ate almost an entire avocado chili cheese omelette with a side of homefries. and lots of coffee. sunday night was a birthday dinner party--mozzarella basil tomato bruschetta, garlic bread, artichokes, cookies, taste of heaven cake and much much more. again, so much food i could barely walk by the end of the evening.

ah, food. so good.