Still Cooking.

So, I could start this post off by apologizing profusely for my absence. I'm the worst blogger, sorry I never update, blah blah blah.

Or I could just skip all that and get into it.

Here's some stuff that's happened since last time:

1. David and I are getting married. I KNOW, RIGHT? We're deep in the forest of wedding-planning with approximately 4 months to go until the happy day. I am artsing and crafting all over the place. I am weeping over caterers. I am keeping a running list of songs to play at the reception. And I am loving the hell out of my fiancé. Planning a wedding is one of the most enormous, exhausting, exhilerating things I have ever done.

2. David is in graduate school for his MBA (Masters of Business Administration).

3. I am still working for the state if Minnesota (39 hours per week, y'all) and still loathing every moment of it.

4. I've cooked some pretty damn amazing things in the last year.

5. But maybe not quite as awesome as what David made me for dinner tonight. This was his first Saturday off since January and he probably won't have another one until the wedding (September 1, 2012!) We really took advantage of every moment.

We slept in until 8:00am (for people who normally get up around 5:00am, this was heavenly) and went grocery shopping first thing to get it out of the way. It was supposed to start raining later in the day, but the morning--although cloudy and crisp--was clear. We headed to the park to play catch for an hour.

Afterward, we came home and watched some TEDtalks on food systems and agriculture (we are food people. Um, clearly) while drinking beer and working on wedding arts and crafts.

Yes! (A quick aside; bear with me).

In the interest of saving money while simultaneously indulging my inner craft-whore, I decided to make all of the decorations for our wedding reception!

I'm making paper flowers out of book pages (David and I are also book people) and using paint chips swiped from hardware stores to make garlands. Here's a sneak peak:

ANYWAY. Around 3:30pm we packed up the art supplies and spent the next four hours making dinner. Actually, David spent the next four hours making dinner, and I kept him company and documented things on Instagram. Here's how our evening went, start to finish:

Lamb shank stewed with caramelized onions, prunes, and garlic, topped with mint and served with an Israeli couscous with quinoa, parsley, shallots, and toasted pine nuts. ***

Recipes adapted (rather loosely) from: 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/pine-nut-and-preserved-lemon-couscous-recipe/index.html

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/12/fall-apart-lamb-with-prunes-recipe.html

Am I the luckiest, or what?

***We didn't realize this until after the fact, but this is basically the Lamb Stew with Dried Plums that Katniss is so obsessed with in THE HUNGER GAMES. She is correct; it's freaking amazing.