Table for 9 please

Finally the “nursery” is somewhat livable and ready for inhabitants.  It is far from done, as I am being told, but at least if two munchkins needed to live there, its ready!  If you didn’t notice, the puppy girl (only other girl in the house) has found the one soft spot to lay in the room, ready to protect.  Super mom has finally accepted the “bed resting” roll and has slowed down considerably, which puts my mind a bit more at ease.

One of my favorite things about the weekend is I get to cook, which is a huge passion of mine.  Since the office is closed on Fridays, that is my day for meal planning and a trip to Whole Foods, which is one of other favorite things to do, weird I know.  How can someone have fun dealing with the grocery store, have you ever been to Whole Foods, it is an experience to say the least.  The fresh veggies, amazing meats and fish, cheeses, fresh bread, I could go on and on.  I am pretty sure if I weren’t a dentist, I would definitely be a chef.  I love the complexity of French cooking, even though time consuming to prepare, but most of all I like combining French style with modern Southern foods.  Growing up in the great state of North Carolina, southern cooking is something near and dear to my heart.  If you haven’t been to Atlanta or Asheville, you must go and go for just the cooking!  We go to Atlanta, or at least used to, about twice a year and have found some amazing places to eat.  Restaurants like JCT, Bacchanalia, or Southern Art to name a few that have delighted our senses.  I know all of you have heard of oyster bars, but at Southern Art, they have a ham bar, thats right a huge selection of hams.  Don’t you dare say you don’t like ham, especially salty country ham, its amazing.  Well last night we did some football southern barbecue.  The menu went something like this:  Slow smoked BBQ ribs, seasoned overnight and layered with bacon, Blackberry Farms (a bucket list place for us to visit) baked beans, and house made beer battered onion rings, and of course summer corn.  I know its the middle of Sept, but when its darn near 90 outside, grilling seemed like a great idea.

Looks like everyone is destroying the food, a good sign it was edible.  Tonight will be Linguine with clams and white wine sauce, an eclectic array of food at this house!

As you can see it has been a weekend for “nesting”……