What Caroline Quinn Made for Dinner Last Night

I'm trying not to make this blog become "What Caroline Quinn Made for Dinner Last Night" but I made something pretty good the other night and thought I'd share. When I was home in January, I copied a few recipes out of my mom's various cookbooks. One of them was a swanky British one full of "new" foods (I can't remember the name at the moment but I can ask). I'm not sure what "new" foods are, other than maybe cheesy blasters, but it had some good stuff. And it called arugula "rocket," which I am always a big fan of.


---Aside: I am listening to my Avett Brothers Pandora station right now and an acoustic version of "Fake Plastic Trees" just came on. Guess what CD it's from? Just guess. Clueless. Radiohead had a song in Clueless?!? That's right, the 1995 masterpiece that shaped my tween years and has had my mother yelling at me for saying "like" too much for the last 16 years. HOLY HELL. Clueless came out 16 years ago. That kind of makes me want to curl up in the fetal position. Also, just so you're aware, individuals born in 1990 can legally drink this year.---


Okay, well, that was just a deep dark hole. Let's climb out... Anywho, the British cookbook had the great idea of making miniature "lunchbox pies." They suggested some odd assortment of meats and vegetables but I just picked my own favorites to go in my pies: chicken, sweet potato and green peas. 


First, I cooked each of these items individually. This took the most amount of time but at least you can have everything cooking at the same time. I then put them all together, added some curry powder, salt, pepper and lemon juice and mixed everything up to make a nice filling.

Pepé the rooster/oven mit oversaw the whole operation.

Next I rolled out store-bought (gasp!) puff pastry. I used the top of a glass to cut out 18 or so circles.

Next I placed a few spoonfuls of the filling on one pastry circle, placed a second circle on top, and pinched the edges together to form a little pie. 

After that, I popped the tray in the oven for about 15 minutes and out came delicious little pastries that I took in my lunchbox every day last week.

My next project is to figure out what to put in this large vase:

For perspective:

I had Christmas ornaments in it over the holidays but haven't figured out what to put in it next. I looked at some potpourri mixes at Home Goods the other day, but I would need a few to even begin to fill the vase and that's just more than I want to spend (read: more than $7). I'm also feeling a little frustrated that I don't live somewhere I can just go pick up some pine cones or rocks and fill it with those for free. So suggestions for what to put in the vase on the cheap are welcome and appreciated. 


My update on the dating front is that my date yesterday with Bicycle Guy went swimmingly. He made lunch for us and we spent the afternoon working on fixing up my bicycle on his front porch. Then we went to Thai food for dinner and watched a movie on his couch. Considering I have a hard time spending eight or so hours with anyone, the fact that I really enjoyed our day is a very good sign. We both have busy weeks so I'm sure when the next day is but hopefully it will be soon!