Homemade Sangria

Country Girl and I are no stranger to pints and bubbles.  We also like to mix it up with sangria sometimes.  While speaking to a store clerk about their sangria options, she strongly suggested making our own.  An quick search on the internet yielded lots of relatively easy recipes (thanks Mr. Gore!) so we felt apprehensive but empowered.  Turns out the apprehension was misplaced as our first effort was absolutely brilliantly and we're totally onboard with the homebrew version.  Waiting is certainly the hardest part and well worth it. 

Hunger - Freemont

We went again.  It was awesome again.  Go.  Seriously.  Totally worth the hassle that is parking in Freemont. 

Hot Chocolate 15k

Country Girl continued to stack up running achievements by joining a friend in running the the Hot Chocolate 15k.  Continues to amaze, she does while City Boy stays impressed.

Mamma Melina - Ravenna

I had an itch for seafood and pasta one evening and Country Girl, being the sweet, accommodating woman that she is, kindly obliged.  We decided to try Mamma Melina, a not too far away Italian place in a newish development Ravenna and came away very impressed.

Super nice, almost upscale decor along with an attentive yet not overbearing server set a great tone.  The server did a smashing job walking us through the specials and answering our menu questions.  The nods of approval continued once the food arrived.  Country Girl had the one of the evening's specials, stuffed manicotti (beef, perhaps) while I had the spaghetti with clams and lobster tail in a spicy marina sauce (balling hard, say what?).  Both were absolutely fantastic.  We'll be back.

Lobster Tails and Garlic Butter Pasta

Went to the market intending to get some type of fish that I saw in the weekly advert.  Once there I discovered a screaming deal on lobster tails and was intrigued.  I had them once previously at a fondue place and was tremendously impressed with the flavor.  After talking with the fish monger (sorta) about them and him explaining the ease of cooking them at home, I decided to take the plunge.  Cooking was indeed a snap and holy smokes did they turn out delicious!

Jerk Chicken Panini

After several years of great service, my foreman grill called it a career.  To ease my grieving, Country Girl was kind enough to buy me a new grill/griddle combo thing.  It's way too fancy and complicated for me with all its dials and knobs.  Being super smart and talented, Country Girl is quite the whiz with it.  She was kind enough to make us some delicious jerk chicken panini with it.

Sweet 'n' Nutty Chicken

Country Girl made an excellent chicken dish from the Family Circle All Time Favorite Recipes cookbook.  Called "sweet 'n' nutty", the recipe called for a paste like crust of cashews or macadamias, bread crumbs, mustard and apricot jam along with seasoning.  Using the walnuts and strawberry jam we had on hand, not sure it could have turned out better.  The nutty texture and sweet, tangy flavor were fantastic.  Colossal failure on City Boy's part not to photograph this gem.