Lingerie was their costume. Impressive. A great weekend was had by all

Saturday, April 9, & Sunday, April 10, - A beautiful weekend. We ate outdoors and I ran a 5K

Saturday was beautiful. We had our lunch on the porch for the first time this year...Nick poured a wonderful Chassagne Montrachet.

A perfect lunch for the day before the race: grilled lobster, roasted fingerling potatoes and advocado salad.

Just one glass of wine for me...I have to run tomorrow.

The day of the race. Here I am signing in with our friend Elie.

The weather was perfect and I had my ipod with all my good tunes...so it was a great 5K.

Here I am with Dad after the race. He and Colleen came up to watch me run. That was so cool.

After the race Nick headed right for the grill.

Nick marinated and grilled a skirt steak and cooked up some fries, I made a salad and steamed some mussels and clams...

...and we had this lovely Chateauneuf to go with it...the wine and the weekend: perfect!

Saturday, March 12 - Wine Tasting Dinner at Deer Hill

We'd perfected the recipes and paired them with wines. So we had a few people over for a dinner and blind tasting. The theme: France vs. California. May the best wines win.

Nick was advocating French wines, I swear by Califorias. We began arguing before our guests arrived.

Nick lost that round so he pouts and makes some final adjustments to the table.

These are my antique French budvase placecard holders. I relish every opportunity I have to use them.

The champagne is on ice as we await the arrival of our wine taster friends.

Adil prepared these elegant hors d'ouvres to go with the Champagne. He studied culinary in France and his gastronomic savoir-faire is quite remarkable.

Here are the glasses. Let the tasting begin.

Our first course was crab timbales serve with two different whites. A Joel Gott Savignon Blanc and a Louis Latour Chablis. All of us felt that the Savignon Blanc stood up to and complimented the multiple layers of flavor in this complexed dish. One point for California.

The red wines a 2003 California Red Zinfandel again by Joel Gott and a 1998 E. Guigal Chateauneuf du Pape were then served, expertly, by Katia.

Adil prepared lovely dinner plates. Filet Mignon in Blackberry Port Wine Reduction Sauce served with herb roasted potatoes and carrots.

Everyone tasted and tasted...and everyone agreed that the Chateauneuf was by far the better choice for this rich and refined dish. My California was a by far simpler wine ...but all things considered a very good one...anyway, it's my farvorite wine. So deal with it Nick.

These red wines were enjoyed by everyone.

Our cheese course was from Artisanal, arguably the best purveyor of extraordinary cheeses in the US. Their on-line shop is excellent.

We had after dinner drinks...many of them...in the parlor

The next day, there were my antique french place card holders with their pretty purple and gold tulips

...and lots of other tulips all around the house.

Saturday, February 26 - Future Food Network Stars at work!

We spent the entire day on the production of the first episode of our cooking show, The Tabouli Twin's Middle Eastern Adventure. As the name implies, this show will be dedicated to the cuisine and culture of the Middle East.

Due to a low production budget we have to do our own hair and make-up...what a drag.

Our mezze table glows in the afternoon sun.

Cat adds one final touch to the tablescape.

Amine prepares to film the final sequence.

After the filming...we enjoyed the fruits of our labors with cast and crew.

Adil, Amine, Mehdi and Sana

Forget about the pita chips this is best way to eat houmous! Guess we drank too much Arak with that dinner.

It was the last weekend in February...it was great, actuallly.

Started this winter weekend early...spent Friday afternoon in Manhattan. That was sublime and wonderful. Saturday we spent the entire day filming our cooking show. Hard work ...but fun. Now we have to edit and edit and edit... and then hope we have enough film left for the show. Sunday... well, it was sunny and beautiful. Will post pictures later this week.

Valentine's weekend - Delicious!

What is this supposed to be? Hint: It's entirely made from chocolate.

June and Halim joined us for a weekend of great food...and wine.

Sea scallops in sun dried tomato sauce with polenta.

sweet potato gnochi.

seafood pasta alfredo

This is the desert table. Two steaming apple/cranberry cobblers, one rasberry creme brulee, a couple of rice puddings and lots of molded chocolate.

...oh, and I almost forgot this one...Romantic, non?

The butler took this photo...just before dinner on Sunday. Bon Apetite.

Monday, February 8 - My breasts have been getting quite a bit of exposure...

...thanks to the awesome Amateur Gourmet. He put them on his site...and they were seen by many. Do check out this site. His writing is brilliantly funny and "taste-full"” and his food films and dinner songs are amazing. He and his beautiful Lolita rock!

February 7, 2005 - Another beautiful weekend. Worked on our cooking show, made breast cupcakes, ruined a keyboard...

On Friday night the gals came up. Cat and I did some more work on our cooking show(hopefully we'll have the first episode in the can by the end of the month). Here Lor and Jordy wait impaitiently for us to finish...so we can go out to dinner.

Had dinner at Two Steps, that verneralble Danbury dining institution. We had nachos, southwestern egg rolls, quesadillas, and of course tons of Margaritas..There are hundreds of decorated cowboy boots hanging from the ceiling. I decorated this one completely from Nouvelles Images cards. I think it's the most beautiful one there. (I say modestly).

I must have had a tad too much to drink cause later that night I spilled a small glass of Grand Marinier on the keyboard of my iMac...which, even after a delicate cleaning operation seems condemmed to a V, C and X less existance... But, the next day was beautiful and Sunday was the Super Bowl - which I always watch at the Hilltop with Cat and co....

Cat insisted the I bring a Super Bowl themed dessert. Inspired by the always inspiring (and brilliantly funny) Amateur Gourmet, and his voluptuous Breast Cupcakes, I whipped up these elegant little petit fours. (emphasis on the second syllable of the first word).

the game went on. I managed to ignore most of it. Even missed Paul McCartney's wardrobe malfunction...or was that just a vicious rumor.

modeling my creations for an adoring public.

February 2, 2005 - Now I remember why I used to love winter. I guess I still do...sometimes

The past several days have been beautiful! Brilliant blue sky and sparkling snow...and the temperatures were all the way up in the thirties, which is high for January 2005 in Danbury. Of course most days were spent at work...here's our snow covered office.

This handsome guy (gal?) was spotted several times in the trees surrounding our building. No wonder our street is called Eagle Road.