feeling a little food-y.

so two months of being alone can take a toll on a woman. the first 7 weeks, i ate things that are almost too horrible to mention. think: a slice of bread, two string cheese sticks and a handful of baby spinach. it's just tough to cook when you are missing your chief eaters.

but a couple of weeks ago, i got my favorite thing in the mail (except checks made out to me), my real simple magazine. love. it had four weeks of menus as one of its cover stories, which tickled me pink. i am a weekly menu-maker and piecing menus from a hundred magazines, cookbooks, web pages and blogs can take a couple of hours.

so i decided to taste-test a couple of recipes to see if my beloved men (and momma) would eat them.

there's one of my first recipes: lemon tilapia with roasted potatoes (or something like that). delish. i think my fish-fearing husband would even love it.

then i made a pasta with eggplant, fresh mozz, and tomatoes. the beginning looked like this:

...and it tasted so good that i forgot to take an after photo.

but tonight takes the cake. i got the new food network magazine last week. and tonight i made ravioli with butter - sage - walnut sauce.

it started like this:

and ended like this:

luxurious was the word that came to mind. healthy i would not consider it except that it was vegetarian. but it was so luscious. i looked up at one point from devouring it and wanted someone to share my thoughts with. only it was just me and max. and i don't feed him from the table.

i really wanted to share this meal with jon and dennis. i know they would have exclaimed over it and had seconds and then they would have gotten up and done the dishes. that would be bliss.

but i'm going to make the most of my time alone. and if i cook every recipe in every medium i own, then so be it. i'd just better be ready to buy some new clothes.