This is my all-time favorite picture and moment from March 19, 2016. It takes my breath away.
This Sunday, March 19th, we will celebrate one truly, madly, deeply happy year of marriage and of family-ness, and what better day on which to do that, than on Saint Joseph’s Day! (We sort of rigged it so that our anniversary falls on an Italian feast day every year. Pretty brilliant, right??) Last year, we feasted on zeppole from Scialo Brothers’ Bakery (Federal Hill, Providence) at our perfectly beautiful wedding at Matunuk Oyster Bar. We also had the MOST delicious almond-flavored cake from Scialo’s.
This year, we will again enjoy zeppole from Scialo’s, but instead of a white satin dress, I’ll be wearing a white cotton apron at my mom’s house, while we make my other favorite Saint Joseph’s Day treat: sfingi.
Sfingi are basically fried batter rolled in sugar, a truly decadent and simple Italian version of a donut. As my mother said at our wedding, come on over for some sauce and a sfingi on Saint Joseph’s Day: our door is always open, and we’ll set a place for you.
I could reflect on these pictures and that perfect and delicious-in-every-way day, almost one year ago, all night, all week, all year! But instead, I’m going to set up my corned beef, cabbage and potatoes in my crock pot for slow-cooking tomorrow, and get a jump on menu/meal planning for next week. It’s going to be another wicked one… and I have to admit, my friends, I’m feeling uninspired at this point in this month. I may have front loaded all of my best moves into the first half of the month! This past week’s menu was pretty solid, but was heftily bolstered by the addition of a last minute snow day-induced red sauce with spicy chicken sausage and cavatelli, both of which (sausage and cavatelli) had been slumbering quietly in the freezer for a few weeks. This unplanned meal became a great addition to our lunches all week. I also made an awesome black bean, corn, jalapeno, cilantro salsa that we had with our chicken taco bowls, which was awesome all by itself. Will update those recipes soon.
I’ll have to add an additional meal to next week’s menu so that we don’t come up short. I’m still gunning for dishes that will “BRING SPRING” into our lives and will leave a little cash in the bank!
Here’s what I have so far:
Baked Chicken Thighs with “Bring-Spring Risotto” (leeks, fennel, peas, asparagus and lemon)
Eggplant Parmesan with Classic Marinara
Chili (from the freezer!) with Melted Cheddar, over pasta
Seasoned Steak Tips and Farro Tabbouleh Salad
Citrus Beet Salad over spinach with goat cheese and Dijon-Balsamic Vinaigrette
Marinated Teriyaki Tuna with basmati rice
Breakfast, snacks and sweet treats for next week haven’t come to me yet… maybe I should go work on dreaming of them now! What’s on your menu next week?