We kicked off our three day weekend with a Friday Date Night. We had dinner and then stopped for dessert at a crepe stand. I had the “I’ll Have What She’s Having”, a crepe filled with Belgian Chocolate, strawberries, and whipped cream! For the “When Harry Met Sally” reference alone, I was sold. It was delicious and the perfect end to a wonderful evening.
Tonight is date night! And while I am still enjoying it, I just couldn’t wait to blog about dinner! I have wanted a Lodge cast iron skillet for ages, but in the many things that I always stuff in my suitcase to bring back to London, I could never truly justify putting a large heavy skillet in my suitcase, since all of my bags are usually marked HEAVY anyway. The skillet is where Mr. Michie drew the line.
My Nana has had her cast iron skillets for over 50 years and they are still beautiful! So, when I saw this gorgeous Lodge skillet at West Elm yesterday, it just jumped into my hands. Now, I broke all of my Southern upbringing rules today, because the first thing I should have been cooking in this pan was either fried chicken or a fresh batch of biscuits. I went to my Italian roots instead and the first thing we made was a cast iron skillet pizza.
It is a recipe I mentioned in my post yesterday. I used my favorite dough recipe from Annie’s Eats, although it isn’t quite her recipe any more. I have made it so many times and have incorporated elements from an Ina Garten recipe I like and some of my bread making techniques.
Mr. Michie made a delicious fresh sauce with wispy strips of basil ribboned through it, while I rolled out the dough. I was in charge of pizza making, he was in charge of pizza cooking. Now, just like the gorgeous Jessica, I don’t own a pizza peel either. So, we improvised, I wasn’t a Girl Scout for nothing!
Once the pizza hit the blazing hot pan, dinner went 1,2,3, literally! In 3 minutes we had dinner and you would have thought that we cooked it in a wood oven grill in our backyard, not in a cast iron skillet under the broiler!
It puffed up, some of the edges charred, the cheese was perfectly melted. We let it set up for a few minutes and then transferred it to our cutting board. Mr. Michie cut it and we couldn’t even wait to get it onto plates before we devoured the first slice. Oh My God! I don’t think we can ever go back to our normal pizza methods ever again! This was fantastico!
On a side note there was a bit of smoke, so while Mr. Michie took care of the pizza, I had the front door ajar and was busily fanning our smoke detector. It was like an “I Love Lucy” episode in here for a few minutes. Also, one section of the pizza stuck to our skillet, so next time I might need to use a bit more flour. I managed to get it all out and after re-seasoning my pan, it looks as good as new.
What a perfect date night. The pizza was so good we never even bothered making the salad or opening the wine. We split a beer, listened to music and ate dinner by candlelight! What could be better?
Even the floor is beautiful!
Mr. Michie was coming in to London to meet me for a date last night after a very long week of work. While I was awaiting his arrival, I did one of my favorite things: the Late Shift at the National Portrait Gallery. They had a drawing class, a choir singing Bach, and many other happenings hidden in different gallery spaces.
It is always a mini adventure. I normally put my headphones on and go visit a few of my favorite pieces, although without fail I always discover something new, a painting or bust I hadn’t paid attention to before. I came across a mini Vivien Leigh exhibition in the downstairs gallery. What a stunning woman! One photograph that caught my eye was this one:
by Madame Yevonde, colour dye transfer print, 1936
This image doesn’t even begin to do this print justice. It is a color dye transfer print, which was a process used by Technicolor. The red was so very vibrant, but not garish, it was almost surreal.
The building is just buzzing with energy it is such a great place to be and an interesting way to spend your Friday night.
Last night Mr. Michie met me after work, I had been doing a little bit of Christmas shopping. It was dark and the Christmas lights were lit everywhere you looked, it was just magical!
We went to one of our favorite places: Wahaca! It was WONDERFUL!
For dessert we got churros and I had a shot of Mexican hot chocolate, while Mr. Michie got a coffee. It was the perfect ending to a perfect date!
Last Friday, Mr. Michie came into London to meet me after work. I had planned a mini date. The great thing about living in London is all of the magic that is on your doorstop. For one, the plethora of museums. I have my favorites, I will admit!
My feet decided to take me to the National Portrait Gallery on Friday. It was a Late Shift evening so there was a lot going on, the bar was open, there were lectures, a harp player upstairs and a very eclectic crowd. There is something special about being in a museum in the evening, it comes alive in a different way.
I wanted to see the Jonathan Yeo portraits and once I saw them, I knew that Mr. Michie would like them as well.
I loved the unfinished pieces. I loved that you could clearly see where he had graphed out his canvases. Some of the faces were almost unreal looking, there was a photographic quality to them.
After a snoop around we picked up some cheeseburgers at Five Guys. We sat in one of our favorite spots, ate too many french fries and drank too much vanilla coke, and talked and talked. It was a lovely date!
Last night we got caught up on the shows we missed during the week. We sat down on the couch, and watched the new Sleepy Hollow show. Two episodes in, we are really loving it!
It was a cold rainy evening, which created the right Sleepy Hollow atmosphere, candles were lit and we feasted on popcorn and hot apple cider. What could be better for a cozy date night in?