Weekend Stuff – Friends and Food

Vishnu’s done with all of his exams!  Next up…residency interviews.  But for now we’re going to focus on the fact that he’s FREE from his books!!!

To be completely honest, it was a little weird to see him just hanging out all weekend.  Weird and of course nice!  He even came to Trader Joe’s with me at 8:00 am on Sunday. 

Let’s rewind a bit because the weekend officially started at 5:00 pm on Friday.  Vishnu and I spent the evening at home eating butternut squash mac n’ cheese and drinking wine (ok fine, it was mostly me drinking the wine!).  I have zero pictures of dinner (or the wine), but it looked very similar to this recipe.  We used Gruyere, Monterrey Jack, and a little bit of Gouda in this version.  Delicious and even better the next day!

On Saturday I went for a run…that didn’t go as well as I wanted (I blame the wine!).  We also cleaned and lounged around for most of the morning.  I attended a volunteer event in the afternoon, and Vishnu relaxed at home. 

The absolute highlight of our day was dinner at Michael’s Genuine with our good friend Rohit.  This is a farm to table type restaurant that serves incredibly unique and fresh dishes made with seasonal ingredients.  We’ve wanted to try this place for a while now, and because a lot of the dishes are heavily meat focused, I figured it would be a better experience for Vishnu to have a fellow meat eater with us.  And I was right!  He and Rohit shared a number of dishes, and if I remember correctly, the pork belly dish was his absolute favorite.  Actually, I know I’m right because we talked about it for five minutes on our way to TJs!

 
My favorite was the butternut squash arancini appetizer (rice balls filled with cheese) – perfectly crispy on the outside and soft and gooey on the inside.  YUM!

 
And the sweet potato sundae wasn’t half bad either!  It tasted like Thanksgiving in a glass!

 
There was no shortage of good food and good conversation!  We can’t wait to hang out with Rohit more now that he’s a Miami resident again.  In fact, Vishnu’s already planning their next meat filled dinner date!

As I mentioned, Sunday started with a trip to my favorite place – Trader Joe’s!  Speaking of my beloved grocery store, I think it’s time I do another “Favorite TJ’s products” post.  Lots of great finds this week, including tortillas made from both corn and wheat. 

On Sunday afternoon I met up with ROBIN!  I hadn’t seen her since June due to our crazy schedules, so it was wonderful to catch up on each other’s lives.  I miss her so much!  We spent almost two hours at Starbucks talking away.  I’m crossing my fingers that we end up near her for residency!  That would be incredible!

 
And of course Sunday evening was filled with the one and only…football!  I also made a delicious veggie filled stir-fry and Gina’s zucchini bread – both of which I will share in an upcoming notable meals post (I’m bringing it back!). 

Happy Monday, everyone!

Who did you spend time with this weekend, and more importantly, what did y’all eat?