Ah, candlelight.

Dear dear blog...I'm so sorry for neglecting you. I meant to update you this weekend, I really did, but you know how it is. I made some food and I was too hungry to wait to take pictures of it. Well, that happens sometimes, and I was all set to do some mad typing on Sunday, when I had some quiet time.

Wouldn't you know it - our power went out. No, there was no storm or wind or errant truck hitting a power pole; it just broke.

Funny story about that power outage. I left to take Munchkin home Sunday evening and we stopped at the restaurant to say goodbye to Kevin. The waitresses cooed over Munchkin and I asked Kevin if he wanted me to bring him a burger on my way back. See, he cooks all this fancy food, but he perks right up at the prospect of a Wendy's bacon cheeseburger.
So with Munchkin in tow, we walked across the street to the car and about 5 seconds later discovered that all the streetlights were out. Turns out the power died over like 3 blocks right after we walked out of the restaurant.

Ugh.

I headed back, Wendy's bags in hand, and saw that the streetlights - and, ergo, the power - were still out. Kevin wasn't home, so I discreetly slipped in the back door of the restaurant to see what was up.

Kevin and Chef C. were in the kitchen, cooking by candlelight for a dining room full of customers. Let me repeat that - they were cooking by candlelight for a full house, every table lit only by a couple candles. There were candles on the pass, candles on the stations, candles everywhere, and they were cranking the food out like nothing was amiss.

I shook my head and dropped off the burger and fries, only having time to mutter "What the hell, dude?" and for him to shrug in response.

Well, what could I do but head home and light some candles of my own? I huddled under a blanket and got through a couple chapters of The New Professional Chef by candlelight until PECO got the lights back on. Some nice, light reading for sure, right?

So we both survived the terrifying multi-hour blackout of 2007. I think Kevin made out better than I did, though; he came home after the night was over and said a diner had sent a bottle of wine back to the kitchen. Apparently he was quite impressed that dinner went so smoothly considering, y'know, no one could really see anything. Being that Kevin's not much of a wine drinker, I excitedly looked around for his share of the wine I was sure he'd brought home for me, but alas...he just shook his head and told me he & Chef C. had killed it.
I suppose they deserved it.

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This weekend's kitchen adventures were fairly tame, I do believe.

Munchkin and I made a giant pizza - dough from scratch, sauce from scratch, and just a bit of provolone cheese on top. I like square pizza, so we made a double batch of dough and used a half sheet pan to bake it. Mmmm square pizza.

Then for our sweet treat, we made mini churros. They had to be mini, as I did not have as much vegetable oil as I thought I did. They were very cute and very tasty, which is where there are no photos of the mini churros.

Next up: Valentine's Day!! Wonder of wonders, Kevin somehow managed to score the evening off. He's offered to make us a fancy dinner - steak and scallops are involved! - and I'm taking charge of dessert. And maybe some snacky foods if time permits tomorrow.

But it's a secret what I'm making so you'll just have to wait to hear about it.
I'll try my very hardest to get some pictures this time...

Technorati: The Bizarre Kitchen Incident