Sunday, January 22, 2012

Culture and Culinary Pursuits

This was when they were rehearsing before it began...much easier to snap a photo before the chairs all filled up!
Yesterday we ventured out into the snow and ice to see the Peabody String Orchestra perform here at the Walter's Art Museum.  The music was beautiful.  They performed pieces by Vivaldi, Mozart and Tchaikovsky.  It was set up in this ancient Rome rotunda, with a ton of marble in the Sculpture Court, so the acoustics were phenomenal.
Then we ended up at home, and in between sparring with Scrabble, I threw together what turned out to be a delicious dinner.  First I used a small butternut squash, a acorn squash, some leftover onion, and some leftover broth and threw it together to form a curried squash soup.  Added some creme fraiche we had bought for a meal and ended up not using, and it turned into a soup we're already planning to recreate with some fresh pumpkin I roasted last night.  All of it were items I had on hand that we needed to use. 
For the main course I had purchased a lot of green beans, and instead of having leftovers, we decided to have huge bowls of roasted green beans for dinner.  But instead of simply roasting them alone, I tossed in minced shallot, cremini mushrooms and leftover ham.  So, so good we ate in silence except groans of pleasure. 

So far that's been our weekend.  Went to Williams-Sonoma because we had an $80 credit to use and picked up the Emile Henry ruffled pie die I've been lusting after for 3 years (I'm slow to buy things that are just wants), along with 2 Apilco cafe au lait bowls, which we're utilizing this afternoon because I just want to use them!  I'll be doing a post on coffee later this week, and I think those will be the star players (other than the coffee of course!).

Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend!

4 comments:

  1. That sounds so awesome. I am attempting a new culinary idea here this evening also. I love scrabble, we have to wait till Ian is in bed to play or pieces disappear.

    ReplyDelete
  2. K,
    Just returned from Baltimore; my son and I helped his dad/my ex move into new Baltimore digs. This week he assumes the Managing Director position at Baltimore's Center Stage and we're all very excited!

    What a great, great city for the arts, yes?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have the Apilco cafe au lait bowls and love them! You'll find they are very useful for kids, too. They're very durable. I use them to service cereal, soup, oatmeal, ice cream, all kinds of things, to my 5-year-old and three-year-old. Much better than ugly plastic kiddy dishes. I'm lusting after that ruffled pie dish as well. Everytime I buy something like these items that I spend a long time wanting, and waiting to buy, I spend a second in the store wondering if I'm being too extravagant spending so much on this stuff when I could just go to IKEA and spend way less. But once I get them home and use them as part of my day-to-day routine, I am so glad I bought them! Congrats on the new purchases, and enjoy using them! Susan

    PS I am slowly collecting the Apilco dinnerware pieces from Williams Sonoma would highly recommend them for everyday use as well. There's nothing like white French porcelain for durability and elegance rolled into one.

    PSS I would also recommend the Emile Henry cereal bowls which come in varous of their colours. I have the red. They are great multi-purpose bowls and I can also attest to their durability with the kids.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love that you seek out cultural pursuits like this. I guess that's one of the benefits of living in a city. And your soup and main course sound wonderful!

    ReplyDelete