Friday Nights

Friday nights are my most favorite nights of the week. The whole weekend--unsullied--stretches before me. No work to worry about; no chores to contemplate.

A. and I are creatures of habit, so our Friday nights consist of either (1) dinner at our favorite steakhouse, or (2) (more frequently) dinner at home. The pivotal part, of course, is the dinner. Since A. and I currently work in different cities and only see each other on the weekends, Friday is one night we reserve for just us, and I often think about our menu all week. (Yes, I am Type A.)

Lent, however, has made my menu planning very tricky this year. (I gave up meat on Fridays and didn't want to force A. into the same deprivation by association. Although, I felt less benevolent after we went out to eat a few weeks ago and A. enjoyed a juicy steak while I was relegated to fish. Sometimes I think he has a mean streak!)

This Friday, I made grown-up grilled ham and cheese with strawberry-red-wine jam (mine sans ham). I used Smitten Kitchen's challah bread as the base, which of course was kind of ridiculous and took hours to make (but was, at the same time, completely worth it). With our sandwiches I served creamy tomato soup, the recipe also swiped from Smitten Kitchen.

And for dessert, we enjoyed tropical fruit sundaes. All in all, a great Friday night. In fact, it was so good, I felt a little guilty that my meat-less meal was so tasty.