what have we been up to?

We had a really great 3 day weekend. It is so nice when Todd can take an extra day off work. When you work for yourself, you don’t really just take holidays off because it’s a holiday. If he has work to do it still has to get done. He took a week at Christmas and that was really wonderful. And he took New Year’s Day off, too.

We spent New Year’s Eve at home. We put Hudson to bed, then ate a delicious Barefoot Contessa pasta dish. Here’s the recipe if anyone is interested. It was so easy and seriously so delicious. If it was part of my “make healthy choices” resolution, we’d eat it again next week! But it’s not. And we’re not. But it is yummy and I’d definitely make it for a crowd. It tastes a little more like Spring or Summer to me, but it’s South Carolina. Anything goes, right?

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt plus 1 1/2 teaspoons
• 3/4 pound linguine
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 1/2 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
• 1 pound large shrimp (about 16 shrimp), peeled and deveined
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1/2 lemon, zest grated
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
• 1/4 lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds
• 1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

Directions

Drizzle some oil in a large pot of boiling salted water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the linguine, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or according to the directions on the package.

Meanwhile, in another large (12-inch), heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Be careful, the garlic burns easily! Add the shrimp, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and the pepper and saute until the shrimp have just turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine.

When the pasta is done, drain the cooked linguine and then put it back in the pot. Immediately add the shrimp and sauce, toss well, and serve.

After dinner, we curled up on the couch and watched Shakespeare in Love (which neither of us had ever seen, but we did happen to own the movie. Still in its original packaging). When the movie ended, it was still only 11:00, so we watched some horrible New Year’s Eve programming and waited for midnight. Around 11:45 we went upstairs and got in bed and stayed awake long enough to give each other and kiss and wish each other a Happy New Year. Eventful, huh? But definitely cozy and just what I wanted.

On New Year’s Day we watched a good amount of football and I spent most of the day psyching myself up to prepare my first traditional New Year’s Day meal of black eyed peas, collard greens, and pork. I turned my black eyed peas into hoppin’ john and I soaked my collard greens in bacon grease and added bacon to the pot. Also not part of “make healthy choices,” but both of the traditional dishes were tolerable, if not delicious. I made a pork tenderloin. My favorite. And we really enjoyed the whole meal. I was actually quite surprised at how well everything turned out for a first-timer.

I think it’s pretty remarkable that Hudson has been alive in two different decades and he’s only 7 months old. He turned 7 months old  today! So you know what that means.

Monkey pictures tomorrow! (and tonight I’ll be watching Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs so I can share it with all of you!)