My husband, Tim, and I met and lived in San Francisco but were married in our favorite city — Chicago. Chicago is my home town; Tim grew up in Indiana, but he spent many years in the city going to school and working. Shortly after we married, Tim was relocated with his job to Southern California where we settled into a beautiful home and have enjoyed the weather. However, something was missing. What was lacking? The food! A good Midwestern steak…
Do you have that favorite restaurant that’s out of town? You know, the one where you make a reservation weeks before you go because you’ve been craving it since you were last there?! We actually have a list of faves…pretty much anywhere and everywhere! And in San Francisco we’ve got tons! Way too many to choose! Can you blame us? That amazing city is full of hidden gems! One of ours was…
Here in California we never know what our winters will be like. Sometimes we are trading in our Christmas sweaters for t-shirts and sometimes we get to wear our wool coats and boots. This winter has been one of the chilly ones…and we’ve had a lot of rain, too! On these chilly, rainy days I love nothing more than to have a big pot of soup simmering on the stove. The flavors of the ingredients…
Wow! Just thinking back to our first Great 8 dinner makes me smile. I remember the beautiful invitation so well…including the menu listing all of the delicious flavors we’d look forward to having that evening. Wild Rice with Mushrooms was what Anna and Vince had chosen for me to bring! “Oh yay,” I thought! I couldn’t have been happier! The chewiness of wild rice, is something I have always loved…and…
Want to impress your family and friends? This easy meal will be a hit at your next dinner party. Whether served as a main course or mini appetizers, these can be prepared in advance, frozen and cooked right before your guests arrive. Fresh crab meat is best (especially when it is in season) but I occasionally use the Chicken of the Sea lump crab meat in a can from Costco; it is meaty and reasonably priced. Print Crab Cakes…
It seems that we here at Great 8 Friends are a little late to the sheet pan dinner party. Have you seen all the ideas? A sheet pan dinner is just what it sounds like, an entire dinner is roasted on a sheet pan. So it’s time to join the party! If you’ve been following Great 8 Friends for a while, you know that I love old family recipes. And when Vince was a single professional…
Our sweet, creative Debbie’s special day falls at the end of December and she loves that it’s extended into January every year as we Celebr-8 her! As you all know from many previous posts, Debbie did a year abroad in college and she spent that year in Spain. So in addition to being fluent in the language she LOVES the food. (Here is her Gr8 Dinner celebrating the foods of Spain.) Lucky for us a…
