DJ's Birthday Weekend!!!

WOO HOOOO!!!!  The Deejster turned 33 this weekend, and boy did we party!

Saturday was reserved for family fun in Connecticut.  We checked out the new sushi place, Fin.  Really fresh fish and creative specialty rolls!  And at the end they were nice enough to surprise DJ and his mom with a plate of fried banana and ice cream with a birthday candle.  Yum!

Then on Sunday we spent time with friends for a birthday brunch at Intermezzo, our favorite place for unlimited mimosas and bellinis.  Funny coincidence: we made the reservation for 1pm, which we then found out is around the time DJ was born!  And, if you can believe it, it's around the time we went on our first date on his birthday last year.  :) "1" is the magic number!  But, in terms of the brunch crew, 9 was the magic number and we had a great time with Liz, Mark, Rachel, Carole, Laurence, Brandon and Ladell.

Nothing better than great food and friends for a birthday!  

Here's to yet another wonderful year for Mr. DJ.  :)

Beans, Beans, The Musical Fruit

Mel read an article in the latest Readers' Digest about black beans having a lot of nutritional benefits.  At the end of the article was an appetizing recipe from Rachael Ray for Coconut Mango Chicken with Black Beans, so Mel figured - why not?  Let's give it a shot!  The result? 

Overall, it's a great high-protein meal with nice light summery flavor thanks to the mango and coconut milk.  Could also taste good over rice if one is looking for a carbohydrate.

Lesson Learned:  The recipe called for a bit of fresh lime juice in the beans, perhaps to balance out their starchiness.  However, DJ suggested that maybe the beans didn't even need that splash since the sweet taste of the mango complements everything nicely on its own.

And the Leo Partying Continues...

It was yet another opportunity to toast August birthdays when we headed up to Fairfield to see DJ's parents, Hana, Manny, Hirut, and Hirut's family.  What a fun group!  We enjoyed an AMAZING meal of traditional Ethiopian food.  Once again, we were so busy eating and chatting we forgot to take pictures of the awesome spread.  But, we did remember to snap a quick shot of the birthday cake and tasty cookies. 

Let's hear another cheer for Leos!  :)

Yay Leos!

It was a beautiful day on Long Island to celebrate FOUR August birthdays: DJ, Mel's mom, and both of DJ's parents!  Quite the Leo bunch.  :)  There was tons of yummy food and cake to enjoy as we chatted on the porch.  Hooray for Leos!

Pearl Couscous Experiment

Recently Mel has seen pearl couscous served at different restaurants and was curious if it's difficult to make.  So she picked some up at the store, along with some shrimp and cucumbers/corn for a light summer meal.  Turns out the pearl couscous is just as easy to make as the regular kind, and paprika with a bit of olive oil and fresh dill adds great flavor to cucumber/corn salad!  (Still working on how to get the shrimp to be a bit more spicy.)