I ate some good stuff this weekend. Fortunately I had my camera with me to document things.

Friday was dinner with friends at The Winchester. I didn’t snap pics of the plantain chips because I was to busy gobbling them down. The sweet potato and goat cheese pierogies, however, got the attention they deserved. So good!

Saturday’s food adventures amounted to many samples at Costco and a microwaved Morning Star Farms Chik Patty, none of which seemed photo-worthy. Although the fake chicken really is good. I swear!

Today I got around to making the recipe I found earlier this week that made me salivate. My only regret is that I couldn’t locate the lavender. Still, the scones tasted awesome. (For my future food-styling efforts, I definitely need to find some plain, cheap plates for a less busy presentation.)

I cooked dinner without a net, varying a couple of other dishes I’d put together in the past. We had chicken and apricot puff pastries and fruited orzo. And now? I’m full!

I rarely eat out. You wouldn’t know it from the past several days, though!

Dev and I were famished after the Children’s Museum on Sunday so we grabbed a bite at San Chez. That would be the berry risotto above. Creamy!

On Tuesday I had lunch with Edris and Chelsea at The Green Well. I tried to resist my mac ‘n cheese urge, but their’s is just the best.

I have no pics of dinner at Marie Catrib’s that evening, unfortunately.

And today I met up with Amy for lunch at the Grand Rapids Brewing Company. Tomato Basil Pizza to be exact.

I’m brown-bagging it for the rest of the week. Honest!

The recipe called for two cups of raspberries. I didn’t feel like measuring so I dumped the whole bag in. A few of them ended up more berry than muffin. That can’t be a bad thing, can it?

Lunched with Edris today at Marie Catrib’s. If you can believe this, I don’t normally get dessert with my lunch. I reserve that vice for dinner instead. But how could I resist? Hummingbird cake. Pineapple-y deliciousness.

OK, not really. It was one coffee (watered down with chocolate) and one kiddie hot cocoa. It was a rainy morning and the Water Street Coffee Joint is just a few blocks from my mom’s house, so why not? Devin wanted to keep his cup because he thought it was so pretty. I have to say it’s a huge improvement over their past take-out cups.

I wanted to make my own crust, but lacked time so I went with a defrosted one from GB Russo’s. The toppings? Peaches (was supposed to be apricots, but there weren’t any available), shallots, chives, arugula, prosciutto, goat cheese and parmesan. It was pretty good. Not sure I’m a big fan of prosciutto, though. Dev didn’t help me with this one, and he systematically picked off most of the toppings until he was down to just the goat cheese and crust. I guess I can’t make him happy all the time.

We made muffins today. And pizza.

I don’t cook or bake nearly enough anymore. I get claustrophobic when it comes to cooking. I have to have enough time to plan and execute. But I actually put the muffins together spontaneously. Just grabbed a Cooking Light volume and fingered a recipe that seemed to match with the limited offerings in the pantry. We didn’t have quick-cooking oats but the regular kind seemed to fare just as well. And I recreated buttermilk with a bit of skim and some lemon juice. The smell lingered in the house for a couple of hours too. Always preferable to that of the hard-boiled eggs my husband sometimes cooks up on the weekend.s

If anyone gets that title, bravo! I’m reaching back into the ’70s for that reference.

Anyway, I thought I should reintroduce myself since I’ve been away so long. It’s me. Lori. It hasn’t really been ages, but my frequency has diminished. I hate that. I used to be so dedicated to my online space. I’m spread way too thin on the internets, I believe. I need to work some time-management magic and set some priorities.

One of those priorities was to get in the kitchen this weekend. Here are the fruits (hee!) of my labor.