The Sweatshop of Love Blog

I’ve been slaving away every night cooking PT meals, so Tuesday night I put my foot down and told him he is making me dinner or else I was walking.

PT Checking His Recipe

For some reason he took me at my word and came home with bags of groceries! Delicious groceries. Perfect, amazing groceries.

PT Being PT

For some reason PT’s first instinct when I am about to take a picture is to give himself a beard or mustache. Today’s mustache is made of fennel fronds!

His menu? Herb and sesame scallops with fennel and orange salad with a side of roasted brussel sprouts. Holla!

Scallops A-Cookin'

This Dinner Called for Candles

It was amazing! The scallops were cooked perfectly, the brussel sprouts roasted while we made everything else. The fennel salad was great, and I’ve never even had fennel before.

So sure, I make Roasted Potatoes, Veggies, and Beans, and Homemade Tuna Helper, and he makes fancy scallops and fennel salad. He is always outdoing me! It would be annoying if I wasn’t reaping all the benefits.

That isn’t what my grandpa thought, though! I told him about the meal PT made me for dinner and, you guessed it,  he laughed, ‘Well, I’d leave that table hungry.’

What? Scallops and fennel aren’t for everyone?!

I also have to leave you with a couple Pudge Rodriguez pictures.

Pudge Under the Tree

Pudge loves hanging out under the tree. She also loves to eat the tree, and pull the ornaments off the tree and eat them.

Guess what is in that blue box!

Pudge in a Bag

Pudge wanted to come with me to knitting class! She was in one of my many bags I use to teach…

Doesn't Look Too Comfortable, Pudgey!

… for a really long time! Crazy kitty!

Ok enough about Pudge. She is just so cute it is hard not to take pictures of her!

I have been eating amazingly well over the past three days. Just uploading the pictures I’ve taken since Thursday inspired the title of this post. No one in the world has eaten better than I, starting with Thursday’s dinner party with my friends Kasia and Anders. PT and I made guacamole (PT made guacamole), which was nothing compared to what we were served.

Goat Cheese Flan

Starting with this beautiful Goat Cheese Flan served on a bed of salad. The Goat Cheese Flan was unbelievably good until you hit the halfway point, when it became ridiculously rich. I wanted to eat every bit of it, but just couldn’t! It was creamy and thick and cheesy! But non of us could finish it.

Beet Soup

This beet soup on the other hand! I scraped the bowl clean. I’ve never had beet soup before, or chilled soup for that matter, but this was so good. Especially when you got a scoop with goat cheese in it.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with Basil Ice Cream

But the highlight of the night was the dessert. This Strawberry Rhubarb Pie was one of the best pies I’ve ever eaten. The crust was buttery and crisp and flaky, the filling tasted like strawberries sweetly kissed by God. If God had just finished eating a sugar cane field. And the sugar cane field had been danced in by rhubarb fairies. The whole thing was set off so nicely by the basil ice cream! The whole dish was so fresh and seriously perfect in every way.

Friday's Dinner of Sides

Friday for dinner PT and I had some food that needed to be eaten so we combined it into a dinner of sides. Brussel sprouts, plantains, and corn dogs. The brussel sprouts were broiled in the oven in olive oil, salt and pepper. The brussel sprouts themselves are amazing, but the best part of this method is when the outer leaves fall off while cooking and become brussel sprout chips, all crispy and salty!

Poor brussel sprouts get a bad rap. They are usually over cooked and droned in butter at Thanksgiving by meat eaters who have no idea what they are doing.

Fried Plantains

We also had some sad looking plantains laying around that had to be cooked Friday or not at all. So brussel sprouts and fried plantains? Sounds good to me! I pan fried these up in oil and they were better than ever. I had been trying fake butter before, but oil is the way to go. They cook faster and get browner and sweeter in the oil.

After dinner PT and I watched some baseball (the Tigers broke their 7 game winning streak/Twins won= one of us was happy), but it was such a lovely night PT suggested some ice cream. The Sweatshop has had a big week; a nonprofit asked for class donations (exposure! fame!), and I got a nice link on Carrots N Cake (exposure! fame!). There is no better place to celebrate exposure and fame than Margies.

Large Chocolate Sundae, Anyone?

We shared, which I don’t like doing, but it was midnight, and a lady can only eat so much ice cream after midnight before she starts looking like a balloon.

PT was excited. And yes, the sundae warranted that face. Margies never lets us down.

Two spoiled days down, one to go!