Patrick and I just made a tasty dinner. It's good having him around, because we actually got everything finished at about the same time, which is much easier with two people working than one.

Baked Dijon Salmon - We'd had this one before. It's good, but I only like the part with the topping; the bulk of the fish isn't very exciting. Guess I should try and get thinner salmon fillets so the flavor is more evenly distributed.

Leek and Fennel Mashed Potatoes - I made these in an attempt to reproduce the mashed potatoes I had at Nokhu. They were, of course, not the same (I'm guessing Nokhu used sour cream and butter, which weren't in this recipe). But they were very tasty, though not particularly creamy (we used whole milk, which probably added a little more creaminess). In the future, we'd probably run the fennel though a food processor or just chop it more finely, since it made the potatoes pretty chunky.

Winter Greens and Black-Eyed Peas - My dad and Vicki told me that it's traditional to eat black-eyed peas on New Year's to bring good luck for the upcoming year, so I thought I'd try a recipe involving them. These greens turned out pretty tasty (we used kale and turnip greens), but kind of dry. Patrick said they were a little too bitter for him, so maybe next time we'll use something other than kale. But he likes the beans and greens together. And prosciutto makes everything better!

So that was a pretty good cooking adventure. I'm glad Patrick was here to eat it too and give feedback. Now he's playing Prince of Persia (he bought it this afternoon).

Um...what else? I passed up a chance to visit the new IKEA today because I wasn't feeling energetic enough for it. Maybe we'll go later this week. We had lunch at Il Fornaio, but neither of us was very hungry, so we have half a pizza sitting in the fridge. (It was prosciutto, arugula, mushroom, and truffled parmesan pizza, which wasn't all that great--I don't think I like shaved parmesan).

Oh, and I found this book about growing your own fruits and vegetables at Borders for only $6 on the clearance table, so now I have my first gardening book! The only thing it's missing is info about citrus trees, but other than that, it looks pretty comprehensive for a $6 book. Patrick says his dad has a copy of the Sunset Western Garden Book somewhere, so maybe we can snag that when we actually have a place to put a garden.

Also, we got pearl milk tea at Q-Cup again (we also stopped there on the way back from the airport on Saturday night). And we got a frequent drinker card (we had to ask for one specifically--they didn't have any on display), so now after we buy 10 drinks, we get one free. I feel inordinately proud about that :)