Pasta Party

My mom went to the doctor today. They told her she has bronchitis. But her symptoms weren’t nearly as bad as mine, and my cough is lingering, so that’s most likely what I have if I caught it from her. I don’t really feel sick, I just have phlegmy coughing episodes (gross) and stuffy nose on and off. I’m much better than I was the first few days. I’m going to ride it out a few more days and see how I progress. If I go to the doctor and they tell me the same thing, they’ll want to prescribe antibiotics and I really want to avoid that if possible. I don’t have a fever—just took it and it read 98.2, a pinch below normal. I’ll see how I feel on Monday.

My cousin, Tricia, joined us for dinner tonight. She just returned from Puerto Rico, tanned and giddy.

She knew I was sick, but hugged at her own risk, lol. I’m that irresistible! hahaha Or, maybe dinner was.

I’m not ashamed to say I got busy like Sandra Lee and went the semi-homemade all over the kitchen. Last year, when Buitoni and Foodbuzz sent me vouchers for free fresh pasta, I fell in love with their four cheese ravioli, so I bought some for tonight’s dinner.

I even made “fancy” placeholders for the occasion.

Dinner menu: Buitoni four cheese ravioli with Classico four cheese sauce (mixed with one can no salt added diced tomatoes), eggplant vegetarian meatballs, and Al Fresco roasted garlic chicken sausage.

Simple garden salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

Crusty French bread #1

Bread #2: Roasted garlic bread with butter. (Roasted garlic baguette spread with butter and a sprinkle of dried parsley, baked on 425F for about 8-10 minutes)

After dinner, we played two games of Pass ‘N Play Scrabble on my iPad.

I won both games.  ‘Cause all I do is win, win, win no matter what!! Ha. I’m fiercely competitive with Scrabble and Literati. Serious business, yo.

Back to back victories make a nerd hungry. That’s when we had dessert, a fruity custard cake I bought from the bakery. I’m telling you, Sandra Lee had nothing on me today!

Believe it or not, it came with the slivered almonds. I didn’t add them. That’s half of what attracted me to it. That and the pretty fruit on top.

The inside: yellow cake with vanilla custard; whipped cream frosting.

It was ok. Not the best cake I’ve ever had. One of those cakes that looks prettier than it tastes. At least I didn’t go through the trouble of baking and decorating it. hehe

It’s been a long day. Dustin’s been asleep for over an hour already, and I should have been too! I think I’ll get some Zzzzzzzz’s. After I visit a few blogs. Nite nite!

Do you ever go the semi-homemade route like Sandra Lee and me? It sure is nice to have most of the work done once in awhile!

Tagged as: Buitoni, dinner party, guests, Italian food, pasta, ravioli, Scrabble, semi-homemade, sick