panini – Fervent Foodie

Turkey Artichoke Panini with Garlic Aioli

It’s that time of year. The days are getting longer (and less depressing). The temperatures are creeping up. There are bugs. Everywhere. Especially caterpillars. Green ones and whites ones and ones that like to dangle discretely from low lying tree branches causing you to bust out a Michael Jackson sidestep during your walk to work. Granted, those people walking toward you have no idea that move you just finangled saved your face from creepy crawly impact. Just smile and nod. Or pretend you just received an important phone call. Can you hear me now? … How about now? Smile… Nod.

Besides the bugs, the gym is also crowded with people frantically getting ready for you-know-what season. Ok, fine. I’ll say it. The dreaded swimsuit season.

*cringe*

This time of year, swimsuits are in the back of my mind (in that deep dark spot where I keep all my greatest horrors hidden). Instead, I’m primed for a different sort of season: Sandwich Season.

Chicken Pesto Paninis

February 7, 2012 9 Comments

It’s Thursday–the day I spend approximately two to three hours scouring the internet, flipping through cookbooks, and rifling through my big black book in search of amazing recipes and/or inspiration for things to cook this weekend. It’s a ritual that borders somewhere between dedication and obsession.

Nothing cheeses me off more than spending all those hours (HOURS!) researching on top of shelling out my hard earned moo-lah on ingredients, taking the time to cook the darned thing, and having it turn out to be a flop. After trying one-too-many frown-evoking recipes, I adopted a new blog bylaw in 2012: only post recipes that I would recommend (without hesitation) to a friend. Even though I painstakingly snap photos of everything I cook, if it ain’t delicious, it ain’t going on the blog. Jarrod knows exactly what I mean when I ask if a dish is “blog worthy,” and he’s pretty truthful about so-so meals (in a I’m-just-glad-you-cooked-please-don’t-make-me-do-this sort of way).

When he REALLY likes something, he doesn’t hesitate to let me know. Like this Chicken Pesto Panini, for instance, which he declared the BEST SANDWICH OF HIS LIFE.

If those aren’t fighting words, I don’t know what are.