Weekend Highlights

Here's a recap of a few of the things I did this weekend (plus a new recipe or two!):
-Attended my first bachelorette party!!! Which included one of my first rides in a limo. High rollin'! (Totally kidding.)
-Pet sitting as usual. :-) We had a lot of little yippy toy dogs this week. (Think Pomeranian and chihuahua.) Remind me never to buy a little dog. Ever.
-Farmer's market shopping! Will picked up this fun little fruit - called a "banana melon". We had it after dinner on Saturday. Honestly, it tasted just like cantaloupe... but it sure looked cool!

-Took a couple long, much-needed naps.
-Tackling a mountain of laundry.
-Met Emily to run on Mud Island and the streets of downtown.
-Completed an R-athon... ie. a (bike)Ride, Run, and Rollerblade! Yep. That's right. I said rollerblade! Will found a couple pairs of cheap rollerblades on Ebay a week or two ago. (And the funny thing was that mine had all the pads included!) On Sunday, I "padded up" with wrist, elbow, and knee pads and we hit the parking lot (feeling a lot like Young Frankenstein... or maybe that little kid that's all bundled up in The Christmas Story). Luckily I had no falls, but I do need a lot more practice! Will was so patient with me. :-) I'll have to get a picture of my "get-up" next time. I'm sure I looked hilarious.
-Watched The Help (based on the book I had blogged about a few weeks ago!) with the girls from book club. This movie was fantastic. Seriously.  I had trouble holding back tears for what felt like half the movie, it was that touching. Definitely one I'll want to see again!
-Shaksuka! Will introduced me to this hearty dish in Cleveland. At first I was skeptical. Eggs in tomato sauce? Umm... eww. But I was soon won over! On Saturday, we used a few of our market tomatoes to whip up a batch. Here's the recipe...

Shakshuka
(Inspired by this recipe from Smitten Kitchen)
Ingredients:
-4 medium-sized heirloom tomatoes
-1 medium yellow onion, chopped
-2-3 cloves garlic, diced
-2 tbsp butter
-2-4 dried adobo peppers (per your spicy-preferences)
-A few tsps of curry powder, paprika, adobo pepper powder, S+P (per your taste preferences)
-2-4 eggs
-Goat feta and fresh chopped basil for topping
Directions:
-For the tomatoes, bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Cut out the tough top/middle of the tomato. Next, make 2 slits in the shape of an "X" on the bottom of the tomato with your knife. Plop your tomatoes in the pot of boiling water. Fish them out when the skins start to peel back from the cuts you had made. Place them in a bowl of ice water to chill a minute. Drain the water, then peel the skins from the tomatoes. Now, the fun part! Squish the tomatoes between your fingers until they become a soupy-like mess. Set aside.
-While you are boiling water for the tomatoes, heat a cast iron dutch oven over medium heat. Melt the butter in the pot. Add the chopped onion, garlic, and assorted spices. Cook until the onion is translucent/tender.
-Add the tomato "mess" to the onion mixture in the pot. Simmer until it begins to thicken.
-Once the sauce has been simmering/boiling for a bit and is seasoned to your liking, grab an egg. Crack the egg and gingerly drop it onto the surface of the sauce. Repeat with all of the eggs. Continue to simmer until the eggs start to poach on top of your sauce.
-Once the eggs have "poached" - grab a bowl and a spoon and enjoy!! We topped ours with a bit of goat feta and chopped basil. So delicious!

Hope y'all had a fun weekend! One more recipe to come tomorrow (I didn't want to share all my good eats at once!). It looks like this is going to be another busy week!