That's what I call Saturday night

Late Saturday afternoon Todd had so much studying to do and no quiet place to do it, (Todd has a roommate, I only have one room, and Todd's parents have a house on Lake Michigan just north of Manitowoc that was empty.) So I drove up there, it is just under an hour from downtown, while he studied in the car. Just before we left, I grabbed an armload out of the fridge to make dinner while Todd was studying.

It turns out I made entirely too much food - a dijon crusted, roasted pork tenderloin, insalate caprese, cracked pepper parmesan bread, and garlic sauteed spinach. The bottle of wine is a given*. Then there is the view of the lake - here we are sitting on the front porch. It was such a peaceful dinner; we like to imagine how much this dinner would cost if we were in a restaurant. The figure we came up with made me want to go into the business, but then I remembered my little chop-a-roo of the tip of my finger while working in the kitchen of Johnny D's. (That was two years ago, and I am just now getting feeling back. FYI, do not ever cut off the top of your finger. It sucks.)

Did I mention the fresh strawberries maserated in sugar, heaped over angel food cake, and topped with whipped cream for dessert? Silly me.

Insalate Caprese

Tomatoes
Fresh mozzarella cheese
basil
salt
pepper

Slice the tomatoes and mozzarella about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick, and stack them with the tomato on the bottom. Season with salt and pepper. Make a chiffonade of basil and sprinkle on the stacks of tomato and cheese. (To chiffonade, stack the leaves, roll them like a cigar, and cut into thin strips.) You can also drizzle with EVOO and balsamic dressing - your choice.

P.S. Like I said, I made way too much food, and we had a ton of this left. So, in the morning, Todd and I toasted two english muffins and warmed up the broiler. We halved the muffins, topped each half with the mozzarella and tomato, melted it under the broiler, and made breakfast sandwiches - YUM!

*Thanks, Dad.
** I will post the remaining recipes another time.