Resolutions and February Part I

In the past we haven't been too big on resolutions but this year Marco and I made a few fun New Year's resolutions.

1. Choose a cookbook and make a recipe from it

2. Have more weeknight date nights

3. More weekend getaways

We have 85 million cookbooks...no exaggeration there at all! We rarely ever use them and they are all upstairs in a bookcase in one of the spare bedrooms. Now, Marco does most (all) of the cooking, so my important job is helping to pick the recipes. :)  I'm good at that. A few nights per month we will try something new. We were really excited at first and made a bunch of these in one week, but now it's more realistic to try and do this a few times per month. Here is some of the goodness so far this year:

   

Spicy Pumpkin Soup

Roasted beet and arugula salad with goat cheese and avocado

Chicken Tikka Masala and naan

 Steelhead trout and cucumber salad

For Christmas we make a list of all the restaurants in town we'd like to try and also throw in some old favorites. We ask for gift cards in any denomination and then we have a few places to try in the new year. We like to try appetizers at one place, dessert at another, so it's really fun. This helped a lot with number two on the resolution list. We decided this year, that we would try to incorporate more date nights during the week. It's nice to do them on the weekends, but you look forward to 'Tuesday' so much more when there is something fun at the end of the day.

So far this year we've been to Lupo, Wolfgang Puck's restaurant in Mandalay Bay and Mesa Grill, Bobby Flay's restaurant in Caesar's Palace.  I didn't take any picture at Lupo, but the food was yummy. :) You'll just have to take my word for it. We went to Mesa Grill last week and I have to say, I was really impressed. I talk a lot of shit about Bobby Flay ("He's so one dimensional" or "Surprise, there's chipotle/ancho chile/serrano something in that"  You get the idea.) I must officially stop doing that because his food was amazing! The presentations were beautiful, everything had great flavor but wasn't too spicy and overall it was a great meal!

For an appetizer we shared the Cremini Mushroom Quesadilla with Fontina and Ricotta Cheese and Fried Egg with Salsa Verde

For my entree, I ordered the Ancho Chile-Honey Glazed Salmon with Spicy Black bean Souce and Roasted Jalapeno Crema.

Marco ordered the New Mexican Spice Ribbed Pork Tenderloin with Ancho Chile Sauce and Sweet Potato Tamale (I ate most of the tamale because it was incredible...)

As for resolution number three, we are headed to California for President's Day Weekend to visit our friends Jim and Janess Sifers. Janess is doing community theatre and has a role in Little Shop of Horrors. We're so excited to see her perform and hear that amazing voice of hers. More to come in Part II.