Food fest 2008

or the weekend that Mandy tried to eat her way through Nashville. Whichever.

By Friday afternoon around 2 p.m., I really needed a weekend. So it was great that Mindy decided to host an impromptu girls’ night and invited me over for dinner. And I’m usually always there if someone is willing to cook for me. Especially when it’s roasted chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, and biscuits. And if there’s ice cream and chocolate involved in dessert. And Cherry Coke Zero. Yeah, I was there!

Then came Saturday. Last week I found a recipe for sourdough starter, and since my mom has made sourdough bread for years, I figured this wasn’t a bad tradition to continue. So I mixed up the starter and let it get to fermenting. Last Tuesday, I made my first experimental batch of bread. It turned out well. But having sourdough starter is a lot like having a pet. You have to feed it. And remember to let it sit on the counter sometimes and in the refrigerator sometimes. And use it frequently so it doesn’t lose its vitality. This is not the bread for commitment-phobes.

So I needed to make bread again on Saturday. I mixed up the batter and set it out to rise overnight on Friday, then got up on Saturday morning and did all the kneading and more rising. The problem? I only have one loaf pan. So after making my one loaf, I faced a bit of a problem. I solved that by making cinnamon rolls! (but I think they look slightly better than they taste!) Judge for yourselves.

You make think my foodfest is over at this point. You would be wrong. Because I love pizza the way some people love gourmet meals or fine wines, I decided to use up all the leftover pizza ingredients from pizzas for various parties and get-togethers. Also, I needed to regain my pizza dough making confidence after the great Pizza Dough Fiasco of Valentine’s Day 2008. The dough came out of the bread machine great this time. . . and yummy because I also threw in some oregano, garlic, and cheese. So, for lunch on Saturday, I enjoyed a hot slice of this international beauty (international because it contains both Canadian bacon and Italian sausage). It would have been better without the Canadian bacon, but that stuff really needed to go!

No. This tale is not over. I haven’t even left the house yet!

Finally, bored and tired of cleaning and cooking, I decide to actually take a shower. At some point, I talk to Mindy (after we’d ordered our tickets to see JON BON JOVI in April!) and we decide we need to go do . . . .something. So after a loud sing-along to songs we last heard at 8th grade dances on the way to Cool Springs, we ended up at Genghis Grill, a fave of Mindy’s. This marks the moment that I officially became my grandmother. Grandma Polly always ordered coffee with every meal, whether it really went with it or not. Apparently, I have the order-coffee-with-meals-that-don’t-really-go-with-coffee gene, too.

Nope, this story continues.

Next, Mindy just started driving, and I had no idea where. Finally, I ask. And discover we’re going to Krispy Kreme! Which means we had to eat the “hot now” doughnuts, because, really, it’s just a crime if you don’t. And I went home with a half dozen donuts.

It’s a wonder my pants still fit!