it's been an exciting day

Today I really wanted to spend some time in the kitchen being awesome.
So I did.

I made Ricky a pork Milanese sandwich for lunch. I used the leftover pork from last night, on a split roll with baby romaine and tomatoes tossed in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper. It was a successful sandwich.

For dinner I made a vegetable lasagna. Instead of noodles, I used my vegetable peeler to create thin ribbons of zucchini and eggplant. Clever, no?
Vegetable noodles, portobello mushrooms, ricotta, mozzarella, tomato sauce... this thing was bad ass.

Then I turned my attentions to sweet treats.

I made this: Eggnog and lavender honey panna cotta. There are vanilla bean seeds in the panna cotta, and I served it on a layer of raspberry sauce. I think the presentation was gorgeous.
These were just poured into tartlet molds and allowed to set, then I dipped the little pans into boiling water for a few seconds and inverted the panna cottas onto the sauce. They popped right out, it's a nifty little trick. ;)

Then, not feeling as though I'd done enough I guess, I made a chocolate ameretti cake.
Flourless cake made with melted semi-sweet chocolate, crushed amaretti cookies and almonds, butter, sugar, eggs, and orange zest.
A generous dusting of cocoa powder covers up those little cracks that will inevitably appear on your cake's surface.

Here is Jira, all ready to go to someone's house for the holidays. See that adorable apron? Ricky got that for me, once again in secret, from Anthropologie. It's gorgeous, so gorgeous in fact, that I don't want to use it and make it dirty.

Oh, and check out this great foodie site!
Marx Foods