Chicken a la Coworker Roulette (With Risotto!)

Yes, Aunt Candy did take a bite of bread before I could take the pic...

Last week we suffered a plumbing disaster that closed our home for business for almost a week.  I will not share all the dirty details of the dilemma but I will just say that we had no drainage whatsoever which prevented us from showering, using the commode, doing laundry or washing dishes.  Feel free to read the full account here but this story is just about a fantastic meal that came out of the train wreck we were experiencing.

We were unable to wash dishes so cooking was not really an option.  Since we had to eat and bathe, however, we were invited to Chris’s Aunt and Uncle’s house for dinner and a shower Friday night.  Chris offered to cook which was the least we could do for their hospitality.  As dirty and stressed out as we were, one might think she kept things simple.  Chris is not one to make things easy on herself though and she chose to use this opportunity to get experimental in Aunt Candy’s kitchen.

Her brain-fart of an idea was this: ask each of her coworkers to suggest an ingredient.  After compiling her list she would create a meal using each of their suggestions.  It was an idea born out of too many reality cooking channel shows and I was not quite sure why this of all weeks seemed like the time to attempt this.  I know better than to question her big ideas, though, so I just said “prosciutto”.

Seafood Date Night: August 26, 2011

Date nights are special to us. My six-year-old lives with us 50% of the time and we spend 99% percent of the remaining time on work, chores or something else society would deem productive. Obviously, the time my wife and I actually get to spend alone together is limited so twice a month we manage to push life aside and have date night.   Some date nights are planned together and some need a planner without someone else’s input. On this particular Friday, Christina assumed control of date night planning so I shut up and waited for my directions.