Fun weekend, fancy brunch, PolishFest

 What a nice weekend! There was beautiful weather. There's Wachusett Summer, and the crazies are on Bridezillas. Also - "Mad Men" finale (What?!).  First off, I decided to take advantage of the skills I learned at my ravioli class. I sauteed some shallots and added mushrooms. Then, I mixed in some salt and pepper, chives, ricotta, a little bit Adams Reserve cheddar and a couple of eggs.

 I spotted some Hodgson Mill pasta flour on Friday afternoon, and when I made that into ravioli it really created a different texture than just using regular flour. I think half semolina and half regular flour might give the best texture though. I'll have to do some experimenting.

The pasta was great. It felt like a very fancy dinner. Problem was, I totally overestimated the amount of filling I would need, and ended up with a whole big bowl of mushroom filling. I woke up the next day not wanting it to go to waste. I tried my hand at making crepes from the Silver Spoon Cookbook. Making crepes turns out to be totally fun! I felt like I was in France. "Je voudrais une crepe, s'il vous plait!" I rolled them around the mushroom filling, scattered on some parmesan cheese, a little bit of butter, and more chives. I baked them at 325 degrees for 13 minutes.

This felt like a big accomplishment for me in my cooking life. You can probably put anything in crepes. Ham and fontina crepes! Spinach and feta crepes! The sky is the limit. Scott listed off the top five things I made ever and included these two items, so a pretty good 12 hours for me as a cook!

Then, we went to the Polish Fest at the Blessed Virgin Mary Czestochowa Church. We really like going for Polish food at Muza in Troy - so we knew we would like the food. We had a great time! There was music. Older people were dancing. There were awesome looking vodka glasses and painted Easter eggs for sale. Check out what we had to eat (also Zywiec!):

 Ribbon fries and kielbasa with sauerkraut (there were mushrooms in the sauerkraut)

 Pierogi and kielbasa

Then, there was a girly lunch at the Tailored Tea, where I tried the turkey sandwich and found it very fresh and satisfying. This time I went with the chamomile tea. Oh, how I love that place! This time we brought Elizabeth who really liked it too. Then, Jessica gave us a garden tour, and I became the proud parent of a tomato plant. Check out this little guy:

Thank you to Jessica's boyfriend for having the idea of scooping up their little tomato outshoots and putting them in pots for favors to give to their friends when they come over. Somehow this adorable little idea warmed my heart. I so hope the little tomato plant does well. I was also very inspired by her boyfriend's herb containers on their deck since all I have is a small patio. I thought I had a brown thumb a couple years ago when my herbs didn't do well when I brought them inside, but now I am thinking maybe I should give gardening another try.

Very, very nice start to what feels like summer!