November's Here - Fall Golden Hour: Cocktails

Saturday, November 5, 2022

Took the above photo while walking home from school the day after Halloween. I guess this is a sign we're ready to move on to the next holiday. 

Out with Noel today for lunch. Afterward we of course stopped by the 2nd hand shops and they're starting to set Christmas stuff out. Personally I'd rather stick to one holiday at a time but I suppose  stores gotta make their money. 

Dale and I headed off to Kowalski's after my afternoon adventures with Noel. We picked up all the makings for a chicken pot pie and it's gonna be GOOD. Tonight's golden hour and dinner are to  celebrate going off Daylight Savings Time and going back on Central Standard Time. Not sure why  getting that one extra hour back feels so luxurious, but it does. Cocktail hour started at 5:30. 

The pot pie was assembled and in the oven by 6:30. 

Continued with cocktails and music while dinner was in the oven. 

Cocktail Hour, Cigar, Dinner, and a Movie

Saturday, May 1, 2021

Cocktail with Dale in the backyard. I had a cigar. 

Very lovely day today. It actually got up to 88 degrees. Dale grilled hamburgers for dinner. We also had potato salad and a broccoli salad from Kowalski's. 

We watched Grease which I haven't seen all the way through in a number of years. 

Mom took me so see it back in the summer of '78 just after my 6th grade year. She thought it was a little raunchy. It's tame by today's standards but this viewing made me realize how much went over my head as a kid.

Overall lovely day today. So nice to feel warmth and spend some extended time sitting in the yard. 

Jax Cafe With Friends

Thursday, August 3, 2017

Cindi made reservations at Jax Cafe for tonight and invited me and Dale, Wyn and James K., and, of course, Maggie. Dale and I arrived first. I ordered a martini at the bar while we waited. Wyn and James were next to arrive. When Wyn saw me she said, "Joe you are my spirit animal!" I asked her why but honestly I was so stunned to find out I'm someone's spirit animal that now I can't even remember what she said although I believe it had something to do with my affinity for gin martinis. She ordered one for herself while James ordered a beer.

We were seated when Cindi and Maggie arrived. Cindi ordered a gin martini as well. It really is amazing how much influence I have. 

Wyn was so excited to be at Jax. She told me she's known about it for 20 years and has always wanted to go. The experience eluded her until now. She wasn't sure what to order so I heartily endorsed the steak because, well, it is Jax after all. We each got the slow roasted prime rib which was 14 ounces of heaven on a plate. We both loved it. 

Our server was named Sandy which was auspicious as I've been texting Cindi pictures of pink squirrels all week to get her psyched for dessert and one of the pictures I sent was of Sandy Squirrel from the Sponge Bob television show. It HAD to be a sign that our waitress ended up being named Sandy. She took really good care of us providing awesome service the entire evening. 

Wyn, Cindi, and I each ordered a pink squirrel for dessert. 

Cindi even had matchbooks made for the event.

Thanksgiving 2016 - Thanksgiving Eve

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Martini time.

From Dale's blog:

"Joe’s burritos in the oven, my stir fried Brussels sprouts and a cheap bottle of French wine. Thanksgiving has begun!"

So glad to have today off and do some pre-Thanksgiving relaxing with Dale.

Thanksgiving 2016 - A Toast

Thursday, November 24, 2016

A toast to Thanksgiving and all that I'm thankful for (you're at the top of the list Dale).

Fall Golden Hour Kickoff 2015 - Cocktail Hour

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Rosie and Bachelor's Guide to the Galaxy.

Cocktail Hour

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Cocktail hour before Sunday dinner. White wine and a Hendrick's martini. 

Butcher and the Boar

Dale and I went to Butcher and the Boar for dinner last night. I had wanted to go for New Year's Eve but they were booked. Thankfully they weren't to busy last night. I had steak and he had BBQ'd octopus. Also had a couple martinis.

Mike and Charisse and Chili

We had our friends Mike and Charisse over last night and Dale did an improvised chili. Although we generally don't try out untested recipes on friends we felt pretty confident about this one. For cocktail hour Mike and I had martinis in the kitchen and reminisced about jr. high and high school. Dale and Charisse had beer and wine in the living room.

Holiday Entertaining

Two couples that we know from the gym came over for dinner last night. Michelle, who teaches a spin class that Dale takes, and her husband Steve, along with Fred, who also takes the spin class, and his wife Linda arrived around 6:30. Appetizers included cheese, tapanade and crackers. Everyone drank wine except Steve and me who had Tanqueray gin martinis [Note to self: Steve loves Hendricks].

Dale made rigatoni and green beans amandine. Fred and Linda brought the most divine chocolate cake from Cafe Latte in St. Paul (see above photo).

It was a lovely group of people and a good time was had by all.

Beef Stroganoff

Wow! Last week's beef stroganoff was incredible. Again, it came from Natalie Houghton's 365 One Dish Meals. What's great is that it is such an amazingly simple recipe and the prep time was minimal - only about 10 minutes. The cook time was just 15 minutes. The results were delicious! The ingredients included stew meat, butter, mushrooms, scallions, cooking sherry, beef broth, cornstarch, sour cream, and mustard. It was the mustard that really made it. We used Grey Poupon's Country Dijon which really gave it a kick. We had the stroganoff over egg noodles with steamed asparugus on the side.

Note: I love to have music playing while cooking. Last week while making the stroganoff we played the soundtrack from the movie Four Rooms. Most of the music is by Combustible Edison although a couple of tracks are by Esquivel. It's very lounge-y and fun to cook to while drinking Bombay Sapphire martinis and wine.