Please remind me the next time I have a brilliant idea that involves painting that I am nuts.  Seriously, please do.  It all started when the paint failed on the exterior of the house.  Turned out the previous owners didn't use oil based primer and the wood was soaked and had to be replaced.  Of course, we didn't know that until the guys were up on the ladders scraping said wood.  Because there were a bunch of windows with failing wood too, it only made sense to replace those before we painted.  And, since we had to move most of the furniture in the house for the guys to be able to replace the windows, it only made sense to paint the interior of the house too.  With the exception of the dining room and master bedroom, I'd left the realtor beige that was up when we moved in six years ago.  I was more than ready for a change since I've hated that color from the day we moved in.  But, being a financial planner, I'm pretty careful about following a budget and the budget said there were more critical issues than a paint color I didn't like.  The old wants versus needs discussion...  How boring. 


This whole adventure started in April.  In the midst of everything, I sprained my ankle really badly.  There was no way I could climb up on a ladder for a couple of months.  On top of everything, I was swamped at the office.  Finally, it became clear that the living room was the only room I was going to get painted myself.  It would be less expensive to hire someone to paint than to take a week off work to get it done.  Last Sunday I finally got most of the living room put back together.  Then, Wednesday, everything had to be moved out of the kitchen so it could be painted.  Guess where everything went?  Yup, you're right.  Directly into the living room.  My newly clean living room.  ARGHHHH!  So, not only do I not have one room in my house that's habitable, I can't even cook.  Given that, I thought it might be fun to go back and take a look at some of our favorite meals of the last year. 


Duck Ragu


Connie has added this to his all-time favorites list.  I'll admit it's on mine too.  It's incredibly wonderful.  It's best with homemade pasta but I've made it with store-bought dried pasta too. 

Morel Dusted Ribeyes


The morel dust takes steak to an entirely new level.  Meat slabs are not a regular at our home.  Nor, for that matter, are morels!  So when you combine the two. 

 Beer Ice Cream


Everyone thinks I'm nuts until they taste this stuff.  Then, they're serious believers.

Puttanesca Salad


The recipe that won me first place in the Egglands Best contest.

Salmon with Mustard and Orange Marmalade

Salmon has always been one of my favorites.  This recipe finally convinced Connie that cooked salmon really IS good.