Texas BBQ

He has the day off today so he has decided to go for something that needs cooking longer (as usually he can only start cooking at 6pm or 7pm).

We only had a small amount of Texas BBQ when in Texas, so we're just guessing, and trusting the Internet (how could that possibly go wrong?).

And, a great opportunity to get our country music thang on.

Non, je ne regrette rien

Tonight we are (virtually) scurrying through the French countryside.  We were inspired by wanting to try out a full on rabbit dish, and ordered specially from our farm shop.  Rabbit is a really lovely meat but just isn't sold in normal supermarkets in my hood, but the French are more likely to have le lapin.  When I chanced upon a great theme, on an email subscription list, I fluttered my eyelashes at my awesome hubbie and he was similarly enthused.

We are going for a Rustic French meal.  Reading through the elements, it feels nicely authentic, and I am sure we have a French wine knocking about in our collection to have with it.  We recently went to a wine tasting at Laithwaites (their HQ is around the corner) and bought up a number of wines, some wonderfully French.  It was a great evening, there were amuse bouche for each course, and this drove home to us how the right wine and food pairing enhanced the experience of both.  I am not quite at the stage of being smart enough to make pairings, but I am in a place where I can steal the recommendations of others and pass them off as my incredible insight.

Funkytown

Tonight's theme is "funky".  I have been discovering all sorts of mad tunes recently; I have Spotify on my headphones at work and I follow something similar to the Wikipedia vortex (where you start on one page and you click on an interesting link on that page, and then click an interesting link on that page, and so on until you're reading about Hungarian architects and about strains of broccoli).

In this manner I start off with a band I like and hit the 'similar artists' and before you know it... you're in funkytown.

Caribbean

My friend Andy has recently moved to Reading and we tried out the local Caribbean cafe recently.  He is so from Jamaica in a previous life (in this life he is a white Welsh guy) and loves reggae and the cuisine.  And so do I.  Hot and satisfying.  We had a mutton curry with some ginger beer and it was epic.

We have been growing a chilli plant for what seems like forever.  A month of being outside and it has rapidly produced several Scotch bonnet chillies.  We've been waiting for an excuse to use the chillies and this theme is a winner.

Not sure I love reggae (I am being kind, I am pretty sure I really don't) so the quest is on to find some that I like.

3 is the magic number

Tumblr (the blog people) sent me an email congratulating me for three years of blogging.  Yes, yes, I know we're on Blogger right now, but I started it all off on Tumblr before they caused me to want to throw my laptop violently across the room with their lack of saving my precious words.

We have been doing FridayDateNights from the first time he made me game casserole many years back when we were all cute and new, and have, so I gather, been actually blogging it for three freakin' years.

And sometimes, wow, it's a pain thinking up a theme (and you'll have seen some desperate choices), deciding food, prepping, choosing music and writing it all up.  But, it's fun to read back on, not least because I am destroying my memory with all the lovely cocktails.

The Leftovers

How does the music turn out once someone has left the band?  Does the band try and imagine it's all the same as it was?  Do they go another direction?

Tonight we're looking at the music produced by the people leftover after someone leaves.

And an easy food theme!  We are a bit on a budget tonight as we thought we should pay a council tax payment rather than buy lots of food.  I KNOW!

By design

I finished my Uni design course U101 this week.  It was one of the best courses I have been on.

As part of the course, I had assignments to design a t-shirt, create a solution to a problem (my group chose a better way to transport drinks from a drive through), a board game and to fix a fundamental problem within education (I chose procrastination).  Phew!  It's been a really interesting journey, has made me bolder, more creative and willing to take risks and make mistakes.  No bad thing.

This FridayDateNight will be on the subject matter of design.  I spent a bunch of time researching what kinds of foods are particularly designed and in the end I decided on Scandinavian open sandwiches, which has moved quite beyond a usual sandwich into a bit of an art.