Home Cooking - Mmmmm

My kitchen is full of dirty pans, plates, bowls and serving utensils. My stomach is full, my feet are up, and I am just doneskies. I have been slowly getting back into the groove of cooking for myself regularly, and well, I think I am feeling good about my culinary instincts. Honestly, part of my new excitement for cooking comes from having complete control of my kitchen for the first time ever, but the other part is my desire/need to stay within budget.

I had a number of awesome friends who helped me move in here and I am slowly trying to formally thank them all by cooking for them. Tonight I had one of them over to show off my place and my skills with the stove/oven. He was impressed by all.

Here was tonight's menu:

• Mom's meatloaf (complete with a great tomato based sauce with a bit of tang)
• Smashed potatoes (shout out to my fav none-benny lava kickballer for the use of her smasher)
• Steamed green beans w/ toasted almonds and plumped craisens (steamed in a combo of water and oj)

Oh, and this was of course paired with Honey Moon and Harpoon Hefeweizen. Everything came out wonderfully, especially given this was my first attempt at this particular dish. I called my mum a few times to be sure I understood what I was doing and she just laughed and answered my small questions.

I did use the most of my time since there were occasions where I had some cooking "down time" you know after the meat went into the oven, but before I had to put the potatoes on or then later the beans. So I was able to not only clean up the house but also...

HANG UP THE PICTURE FRAMES! Yay. There might just be a few extra holes in my walls. That mainly has to do with the fact that I picked some softer places in the wall to put some nails, which meant they weren't going to hold. Then I also was a little to rushed to use the level right at first and things weren't lining up as well as I had hoped. Fortunately the pictures are hanging over the extra holes so no one can tell what had happened.

As much as I enjoyed cooking tonight for a friend, really I had a great time singing to some trashy B. Spears while doing so, I really don't feel like tackling the last of the dishes. At least I know that I did the first round of prep dishes already and I just have serving and eating stuff left for the most part. But I just can't bring myself to attempt a good clean up. My kitchen sink will just stay full of dishes until tomorrow. Fortunately, I think I can live with that. :)

If only Merlin was around...