To Do: Chihuly at the De Young

I'm almost too embarrassed to admit this, but even though we live TWO BLOCKS from the entrance to the De Young Museum, we still hadn't been before Friday night. We decided it was high time we visited and we were SO glad we did! Who knew. We especially enjoyed the Chihuly exhibit (running until September 28th). It brought back such wonderful memories of London 2005 and our trip to Kew Gardens where we were surrounded by Chihuly.

So apparently every Friday night at the De Young they have a live band and all sorts of characters come out to "Swing". It was great. Patrick and I just sat on the steps and watched the dancers for an hour. I could have stayed all night. For all of you looking for some cheap (free) entertainment, let me tell you. THIS is the place to go on Friday night!
After dinner, we picked up some Burma Superstar and had a delicious burmese feast! We LOVE Burma Superstar, especially the Sesame Beef. YUM!

Laguna for a week!

I was in Laguna all last week and how many pictures did I take? TWO. Nothing to commemorate the wonderful time that we had basking in the sun, hanging out with family and friends (Rodney, Rachel, Eric, Heather and Tyson), and eating our brains out. I'm a terrible blogger.

We're Gourmet. What, didn't you know that?

Last week was quite the culinary week for us!

On Tuesday night, we attended a Sur La Table cooking class. Amanda gave us a gift card there for a wedding gift and since our guests were oh so generous at the wedding, we decided to use the GC for a cooking class instead of more kitchen supplies (we're already bursting at the seams!). I wanted Patrick to take it with me, but I knew he wouldn't be willing to cook just anything...after I discovered the "4th of July Feast" I knew I had a winner. Our menu included:

-Baby Back Ribs with Ancho Chili barbeque sauce
-"Awesome Burgers" with a cabernet reduction, bacon, and blue cheese. Shannon, you would have LOVED them
-Asian Slaw with spicy peanut dressing. Henry, definitely right up your alley. I thought I would hate it but it was actually everyone's favorite dish!
-Sour Cream potato salad (only so, so definitely not the best thing we made)
-Lattice-Topped Berry pie (so good, I might be making that again tonight! And I never like pie!)

It was so fun to cook together and learn from such an amazing instructor. I asked a million dumb questions but I think that made me learn even more.(Look how serious he is, mixing that meat!)

It also made us feel more inclined towards cooking together in the future. Usually we're in a big hurry and I only like things done my way (I know, I'm working on it!) but we've decided to try and make a "gourmet" dish once or twice a month together to practice our skills.

The class was an absolute blast and I highly recommend asking for it as a gift (it was really expensive so I'm not sure if I would pay to go) as it's a great way to spend some quality time with family or friends.

Thursday evening was Heron and my "Thank You" dinner from Henry and John. A few months ago, Heron and I taught Henry how to grocery shop and prepare some simple, healthy recipes. It was really a great time, but we had NO idea what kind of "thanks" we were in for! We both showed up at 8 pm to incredible smells and smiles from the boys. We were instructed "not to lift a finger" as we were served up a culinary feast! The menu included:-Fresh fig and goat cheese drizzled with honey and served on endive spears-Gruyere and Spinach stuffed, bacon-wrapped chicken served with sauteed tomatoes & onions and shallot/thyme new potatoes-Deluxe s'mores complete with fresh homemade marshmallows and delicious chocolate sauce and raspberries.

Could two girls ask for a better dinner?! We told them guys who want to date a girl don't even go to that extreme, let alone just good friends saying "thanks"! We had a fabulous night and are very excited to see what they whip up in the future! Not to mention what they're making for their girlfriends who are next!

Saturday afternoon I was sitting alone in the apartment waiting for Patrick to come back from his softball tournament when I turned to the "Macaroni and Cheese Tournament" on Food Network. This got me thinking about our first gourmet creation. I quickly researched recipes online and proposed the idea to Mr. Larsen when he got home. Lets just say it didn't take long for him to change and get back in the car! After browsing Whole Foods for the best quality cheeses, butters, truffle oil (yeah, we're that high class) and pasta we went home to whip up Martha Stewart's Mac&Cheese made with Pecorino Romano and Sharp White Cheddar cheese. We make a good team in the kitchen, but I have to say, I think we may have added a little too much Pecorino Romano because our end result wasn't the most delicious Mac&Cheese we've ever eaten. The Romano flavor was pretty overwhelming. We came to the conclusion that we like wimpy cheeses and are going to tweak the recipe to match our tastebuds next time (Read: Mozzarella, Provolone, Medium Cheddar, stuff like that).