55, The Day Made Right & a Great Movie

I am finally on the upswing, feeling a little better and making it out of the house to the grocery to buy some ingredients for the dinner I missed! I also was in the mood to sew today, so Caroline and I put our heads together. She came up with how she wanted her apron to look and then I went ahead and designed how it would come together! She had picked some really cute fabric from reprodepot last month and I found the perfect ribbon to complement a kitchen apron! I'm almost done, but I had to stop so I could prepare Craig's belated birthday dinner!

Feta and Spinach-Stuffed Chicken Breast and Pasta Salad with Tomatoes, Arugula, Pine Nuts and Herb Dressing (click on it for recipe). The Pasta recipe was just in Food & Wine's Feb. 2008 issue. Craig picked a nice Jacob's Creek Reserve Chardonnay which was just perfect with it. And he had his whoopie-pies for dessert! So all is well for the birthday weekend after all!

Lastly, I talked everyone into watching "Babette's Feast" last evening. That was actually the first time I'd ever seen it and I loved it!! The kids even liked it, though it was all in subtitles. (It won an Oscar for best Foreign Film.) Anyone who loves food will appreciate the end, when Babette cooks her feast. I loved the symbolism of the food and the realization of the importance of joy in life. The scenery is gorgeous and the food was incredible. That is a talent I wish I did have. I actually found a website where a chef actually posted the recipes for the French feast in the movie! I also loved the message of the importance of giving to others. Someone wrote somewhere, "There are givers and there are takers and the world is more full of the latter." I have always subscribed to the former and find my joy in that.