A wonderful, busy life

We've been very busy lately -- with work, school, applications to school and other such busy-activities -- but life has maintained its wonderful-ness nonetheless.

How? You ask and I'll tell. No matter how busy we get, we eat together. Just to give a rundown of the last week:

• Monday -- B put together some seriously simple, but scrumptious pasta. We had leftovers for his lunch the next day, too.
  
• Tuesday -- I worked late as an Election Judge and felt completely wiped out. B used some pizza dough that we made a while back, tossed in the freezer and defrosted. His pizza is a favorite of ours -- prosciutto, sausage, cheese and topped with arugula (a delicious, spinach-type green that goes with pizza like a dream) -- it's just amazing.
• Wednesday -- We made stir-fry after long days at work for both of us. We tossed carrot, garlic, ginger, snow pea pods, peas and some Trader Joe's wontons with sesame oil, soy sauce and spices.
  
• Thursday -- I went to class in the morning and spent the afternoon relaxing, studying and finishing up my application to DePaul. For dinner though, I put together Shepard's pie (for my Irish husband, you know) -- it turned out a little soupy, but delicious. A wonderful meat-veggie stew with a creamy layer of mashed potato goodness baked on top. And really good the next day as leftovers, too.
  
• Friday -- We put together a spicy mac-n-cheese from scratch while sipping cocktails and catching up on our financial life. It was easy, but not uncomplicated.

The food is really besides the point (I might just enjoy bragging about our week of successful eating) -- the point is that we build-in this together time. Sometimes it's just the time it takes to eat, sometimes it's all the prep-time too. We talk about what's happening, our plans, work, life, politics, science, silly stuff and food (of course). Tonight (Saturday) we ate salad with some crusty bread and Dominick's chili-lime crusted tilapia. It's one of the few prepped foods we adore - but we figure the fact that we're eating fish makes up for the processed bit (and it's not too processed). Tomorrow I'm making pear granola breakfast crisp which is mostly an outstanding excuse to use pears. Pears are so yummy, but not so pretty so I'm hopeful that this will make me a better pear-friend. There's a magic in putting together a meal at the end of the day -- it's an accomplishment. And eating together means we're talking, smiling, listening and stopping whatever other crap that's going on. And that's pretty nice.

Pictured is a rainbow of beautiful Fiestaware -- we love our peacock, shamrock and colbalt pieces. I hear white place-settings are most flattering for food, but I'm certain our food prefers these gorgeous shades.