Our Table: The Oscars 2012

In keeping with our annual tradition, we again celebrated the Academy Awards in a big way.  After sharing our festivities on this lil' ol' blog last year, we couldn't let this year go by without divulging yet again.  Bill and I may have had to randomly guess our picks on the ballots, placing us pretty much dead last, but when it came to the food it's a whole nother story.  We kind of like to cook.  So between the two of us along with family and friends, we put together a nice little spread for the occasion.

From our table to yours, we give you the nominees for Best Picture...

1) The Decendants.  Because what's more "decadent" than creamy gooey irresistible cheesy mac n' cheese?

2) Moneyball.  Bean burritos for my man Billy, and Cake Balls.  And let me tell you, those cake balls?  They were money.

3) Hugo. The movie takes place in France.. French cheeses.. yea, you can't win em all :)

4) The Artist.  True to Bill-form, he made 28-day aged (as in, no packaged yeast) kalamata olive and caramelized onion artisan bread in both a loaf version, and in mini-melt sandwich versions.  The bread totally lived up to its Best-Picture-counterpart.. it was incredible.  

5) Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close.  "Key" lime for the key-themed movie, martinis to "toast" with, and the rims were pop rocks. They were "loud" :)

6) The Tree of Life. 

7) War Horse. Oat & Carrot cupcakes.

8) Midnight in Paris.  Midnight chocolate cake with mascarpone icing and port wine poached pears. 

 

9) The Help. Fried Chicken and Chocolate Pie.  If you've seen the movie, the pie is both self explanatory as well quite unappetizing.  However, I totally had two slices ;)

So there you have it.  Academy Awards, food, fam, and friends.  Nothing better.  So, how did you spend your Oscar evening?  Glued to the TV not missing a single Billy Crystal joke, wardrobe malfunction, or leg kick?  Flipping through the channels occasionally landing on the awards?  Forgetting/not caring it was on all together?  Do tell.

Five Years

Five years.  Five years ago today I stood alone in the quiet calm Neuroscience lab at Connecticut College running tests again and again, 20 times that day, not able to focus on a single second.  It was Winter break and the building was empty.  Any other day this would be my sanctuary.  A glorious opportunity to focus on everything I had to get done before the undergrads returned to the lab, bringing with them a world of college life, boyfriend gossip and where the best party was gonna be that night.  But that day it was different.  No distractions around me, but every distraction in the world going on in my mind.  Stopping then starting again, staring into the distance then shaking myself back to reality.  

Getting home I frantically scrambled around my teeny apartment picking out the best outfit, blow-drying my hair making sure every strand fell perfectly into place.  Then finally, oh so finally, sitting at the first dinner I’d ever have with the man I was to spend the rest of my life with.  He was the chef and owner of the two best restaurants in town, and man was I nervous.  We sat at a dimly lit table against the wall, and thank God for that because he wasn’t able to see my hands fidgeting non-stop on my lap. 

We talked about everything.  Life, dreams, goals.  The attainable and the unattainable.  We talked of the past and of the future.  Then, we talked of Melt Sandwich Shop.  Sure it didn’t have a name at the time, or a concept for that matter, but it had sandwiches.  Sandwiches that would be so good and so different.  It had no plan, nothing written down.  It was all just an idea Bill had had forever yet had never had anyone to share it with.  Five years ago, his dream officially became mine. 

People always ask me if I miss Neuroscience.  If I’ll ever go back to “doing what I love”.  I always answer with a polite laugh and say sure I miss it and sure I loved it, but I’ll never go back.  The truth is, I could never even imagine going back.  The dream that has become Melt Sandwich Shop is far too big and far to amazing to even think that my life could ever have been anything else.  Five years and we’re still only getting started.  This morning I stood in our shop.  Our sandwich shop that now has a concept, and a name, and food that blows all other places out of the water.  I answered the phone and I took an order.  I threw some freshly marinated chicken on the grill and I cut and wrapped sandwiches that made my mouth water.  I looked at my husband and we laughed.  Well, first we argued about the food order I was about to place, and as always my decision won out, then we laughed.  Then I remembered that this all began with just a dream, five years ago today.