What I had for lunch on Sunday

No joke:

Spicy Black Bean Soup
Antipasto Salad with Green Olive Tapenade (which I made)
Bruschetta with Broccoli Rabe Pesto and Pecorino

Crispy Chicken Parmesan with Homemade Marinara
Chiang Mai Curry Noodles
Gemelli with Peas, Lemon, and Black Pepper
Individual Meatloaves with Carmelized Onions
Spinach, Prosciutto, and Goat Cheese (switched to Gruyère) Frittata
Quick Cioppino (which I also made)
Szechuan Pork with Basmati Rice

Strawberry Cupcakes
Milk and Dark Chocolate Pots de Crème
Vanilla Scented Beignets
Tart Lime Wafers

Yeah, we were pretty full at the end. My dad got me a cooking workshop at Tante Marie's, in town, for X-mas, which I attended this past Sunday. There were 13 students, including me, so they paired us off and set us to make two recipes each. I think I was the youngest person there, but I got paired with the probably the oldest person. He was sort of a kooky guy, but very friendly. Sang a lot. He ended up cutting his fingers and bleeding all over our work space, which was a little (ok, a lot) stressful, but we got everything made and it was delicious :D

Actually it was pretty cool that we got paired together. He was in awe of my planning prowess (Basically, I just said we should make the salad while the soup simmers, lol), so he always just asked what he should do, and I was perfectly comfortable with delegating responsibilities, although I felt bad that I made him mince so much garlic, especially since the first thing he did, as I said, was chop his fingers.

Cooking is a lot better with a partner! That is for sure. I hope to replicate some of this tastiness at home, but I need a pal, for sure. OLEYA, I MISS YOU! We could've made so many tasty vegetarian variants!