Sunday Roast

Hey. How was your weekend? I had just the right balance (for once!) of socializing and lazing around, catching up with friends and Netflix (any thoughts on House of Cards?) at the same time.

On Sunday, we went over to Tom and Cristy's as we hadn't seen each other since our respective Christmas trips to the US (us) and Australia (them). It was also a great excuse to play with baby Dorothy, of course, who was on her usual cuteness-overload form yesterday. What is it with baby feet and baby bottoms? So darned adorable.

I helped peel some veggies (so, really, sous chef territory), but Tom whipped up this amazing chicken roast with lemon, thyme, and garlic - it was perfection. There's something about sitting around a table together, sharing a bottle (or two - sore head this morning!) of wine and catching up with delicious food that's just so comforting - the smell of chicken roasting in the oven when you walk into a house is one of my favorite aromas in the world (next to the smell of one of my mom's soups simmering on the stove!).

For dessert, we had this ridiculously delicious apple tart (also made by Tom) that looked relatively easy to make (says she, who watched from the sidelines) but tasted positively heavenly with a fat dollop of creme fraiche on top:

One of these days, I'll try it out for myself (substituting the creme fraiche for an ice-cold scoop of vanilla ice cream - yum). I'm just amazed at anyone who has the ability or energy to make a dessert from scratch after cooking and organizing an entire roast!

Now that January's in full swing, it was nice to ease into the new year before our calendars become frantic and full again, which always seem to be the case for city-living.

How are you getting back into the "swing of things"?