Hot Food for a (unfortunately warm) Fall Day.

This weekend was a weird weekend. Friday was incredibly fun... we had dinner with an old friend (we ate at Taco Mamacita, so I got to see a lot of my dear Taco friends), and then met up with a few Nashville friends at a Harry Potter-themed party to celebrate the release of the last movie. Well, we didn't know that many people at the small gathering, and we ended up in the bedroom just chatting with each other. We decided to ditch the movie-party & instead go to Bosco's for dessert & beer. It was SO fun. We sat around a circular table, me, Nathan, & our awesome friends Marie, Sarah, Lauren, Katherine, & Shelly. Nathan & I got the creme brulee, and it may be the most delicious dessert I've ever tasted.

Saturday I went to a Nonviolent Social Justice meeting & then to a food stamp informational session at the nonprofit where Nathan works, The Nashville Food Project. Both meetings were great. Then I entered a funk. Oh, rollercoaster weekend. Thankfully I got to end the evening with a fun dinner date with my BFF Stephanie & we watched the film adaptation of Rabbit Hole. It was a surprisingly good film! And our dinner was also awesome. =)

Sunday was a day of dreams. Nathan & I enjoyed cinnamon rolls & Harry Potter for the first half of the day. Glorious. And then Yoga & a tasty dinner of Dominos Pizza. Seriously, perfect (and unhealthy, for the most part) day.

Now onto my latest cooking endeavor: Chili & Cornbread.

Funny thing about cooking such a delightful comfort food for dinner--- it was freakin' 70 degrees today... the week before Thanksgiving. What the heck? But, whatever, the chili was still damn good.

Sauteeing the onions with some peppers from our CSA. Didn't realize how hot it would make the dish. I guess I should've known when I started coughing from the fumes.

Stewin'

Oh, heavenly cornbread.

Such a delicious meal... I'll need to make this again when it's actually cold outside.

A little cheddar on top, and perfecto! 

Cornbread is honestly one of the best things. ever.

The chili & cornbread recipes both came from Smitten Kitchen, and they were both simple & delicious.

In other news, the Hillsboro High School christmas tree farm is going up!! Every year, the high school down the road sets up a christmas tree shop in front of the school. I've been waiting for the day when I can have my very own legitimate Christmas tree, and this is finally the year. I can't even put into words how excited I am to enjoy Christmas in this new season of life... I get to share Christmas with my wonderful husband & begin creating our very own family traditions... we're definitely going to have stockings this year- for us AND the cats. I also get to share Christmas with my parents & in-laws, which is a huge blessing that we are very fortunate to have. Of course, I get to share the holiday season with my dearest friends. And, I get to share Christmas with my awesome clients & co-workers. What a great group of people to have in our life for our first Christmas of many, many wonderful holidays to come.

Nathan had to stop by the store on the way home because I forgot onion for the chili... and I convinced him to buy a holiday scented candle. :-) and, I'm going to make these delicious cookies to get myself even more in the mood...