Every year, Holly, Eric and I have our annual Christmas dinner. In the past we have dined at Dolce, Farm Burger and some other a’sundry spots.

Love this place!

This year, we were fortunate to have our annual fete at Cypress Street Pint and Plate. First, I must say – the address is listed as 817 West Peachtree. Let me give you a tip and tell you it is actually on the corner of 6th and Cypress. Hence, the name. Turn right on 6th from West Peachtree and it will be on your right. Look for the gorgeous fire pit and you will be right there. There is a parking garage next door with lots of spaces, so you can bring your entire crowd with you.

Park your car and enter the coziest bar and restaurant. The bar wraps all the way around, allowing for groups or single diners alike to feel comfortable. Our friend, resident beer geek, Robert Merrick, took us on a tour of the menu and beer list. Chef Richard has put together a fun, unusual menu full of surprises. We started with the meatball sliders (or rollers, as Holly referred to them. They’re round, you know….). I have a deep abiding love for meatballs. In pasta, in sliders (rollers), or just on a toothpick. I love them all and do not discriminate. These were particularly tasty, with just enough marinara to keep them saucy, but not messy. Yum.

Three perfect sliders for three celebrating friends.

Oh! The drinks. I almost forgot – what? Eric started with the Ten-Fidy Stout and Holly & I opted for the Loico Noco Chardonnay while we discussed beer pairings with Robert, who was sure he could find a beer Holly & I liked as much as chardonnay. This sounded like a fun challenge.

Eric's Ten-Fidy Stout

Next starter was the BBQ Egg Rolls, filled with tasty pork and collard greens. Now this was something I had never seen. Collard greens make it healthy, yes? Of course they do.

Nom nom nom, it's bbq egg rolls!

Robert suggested that we share two entrees between us because they are so hefty. He was right. We opted for the meatloaf and the cajun pasta. Both terrific choices. The meatloaf is wrapped in proscuitto and served with some of the best mashed potatoes I have ever eaten.

Meatloaf - it's what's for dinner!

The cajun pasta was filled with chicken and andouille sausage. Love!

Eric tried another selection from the vast beer list. This time a Christmas Bock. Thumbs up from my husband.

Yummy Christmas Beer.

And Robert made believers of Holly and I, as he mixed up a “beermosa” – like a mimosa, only with beer. In this case, Aligash White, oj and a secret ingredient. Yes, I know what the secret ingredient is, but I want you to go visit and be surprised. We announced that we liked it even better that the wine. Imagine that!

Frost, luscious beermosa. Get one.

When hot donuts with High Road Ice Cream grace a dessert menu, one must never say no. And so we did not. Say no, that is. We said yes. To the hot donuts and ice cream. With three spoons, so as not to seem greedy.

You need this. Right now.

We are looking forward to Beer Geek dinners in 2012 with Robert at Cypress Street. And they have a swell deal on New Year’s Eve. For $10 you get one hour open bar, buffet and champagne toast at midnight. And you get to sit by their swanky fire pit.

Sounds great.

xoxo, Patti

Today blogging to Esquivel – The Christmas Song

Oh, you know how we are here in the south. We have to make sure everyone is fed. And fed well.

One night not so long ago, we had our dear friend, Johnny P. over for supper. I made meatloaf. To feed about 20. You never know how hungry men will be. Or who might stop by.

Johnny P. says, "You made HOW MUCH meatloaf???" lol

Now, Eric says this is not exactly the time anyone would want to hear about meatloaf. It’s summertime and it is so hot outside. But my thought is, put it all together and fix yourself a cocktail until it’s done. And put together a nice green salad to go with.

You will need all this stuff.

We have a funny way of making meatloaf at our house. For one, I do not use breadcrumbs. I use oatmeal. When I was a child, the mother of my best friend Parri (our names together spell Parti!), used oatmeal and I thought it was a revelation. I have used oatmeal ever since.

Eric says this one is a winner!

Secondly, instead of cooking green beans on the stove, we use canned green beans and just pour the whole can (liquid and all) over the molded meatloaf. It cooks with the meat, flavors the green beans and keeps the meatloaf super moist. That was Eric’s idea. I think it works pretty darn great.

Looks a little weird, but I promise, it is SO tasty!

Recipe? Why, sure! Here you go.

Meatloaf For One Million (ok, maybe just 20)

4 lbs of Ground Beef
2 Eggs, cracked and mixed
4 oz Mushrooms, chopped
1 Medium Onion, minced
3 Garlic Cloves, minced
2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
2 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Ground Pepper
1 Cup Oatmeal
2 – 14.5 oz Cans of Green Beans

Set oven to 375F
Mix all ingredients except the green beans
Divide into two loaf pans or casserole dishes
Pour one can of green beans each over each loaf pan

Bake for approximately 1 hour, 15 minutes. Or until the internal temperature of the meat registers 135F.

Serve with mashed potatoes, green salad and maybe some nice brownies for dessert.

Enjoy a legion of meatloaf sandwiches for the rest of the week!

We poured you a glass, join us? We have PLENTY!

Might be a great way to surprise Dad for Father’s Day?

And, if you just do not want to cook for a crowd, you can always halve the recipe. Don’t blame me if the friends and neighbors smell this cooking and come knocking on your door.

Blame Eric. It’s his recipe.

Today blogging to Meatloaf – Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad

And although this week’s posts might lead you to believe I have not been cooking this week, I have. It just seemed like each meal was not very exciting by itself. But as a week’s worth of food – that would be much better. Let me share what’s been happening in my kitchen the week of November 9-13, 2009.

Monday – We are still craving comfort food, so tonight it was meatloaf, green beans and mashed sweet potatoes. In our house, Eric has come up with a cool way for the meatloaf to stay moist while baking. After forming the loaf and placing it in the pan, we take a can of green beans (or two) and pour the whole thing (liquid and all) over the meatloaf. Not only does the meatloaf stay tender, but the green beans taste much better as well. Try it next time and see what the family thinks. I also whipped up some bread dough from the book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes. Here’s a site that gives you all the details. The dough is sitting in my fridge and I bet I will get around to baking some up this weekend. It is the handiest recipe ever. Now for photos of Monday’s offerings:

Dough Waiting to Become Bread

Cozy Meatloaf Supper

Tuesday – If you are in the Atlanta area, you will know that Tuesday brought torrential rains and many areas were flooded. Not the day for going anywhere. Even Karen came back immediately after jumping the fence. What’s for supper? More comfort food, of course! I stood gazing into my fridge, trying to decide what to cook.  I had a big bunch of chicken breasts, so I poached them and used the two biggest for chicken and yellow rice and the others for dilled chicken salad for lunches. The leftover chicken and rice will be used later in the weekend for fried rice. I also used this rainy day to organize my pantry. I picked up these cool containers on sale at Target that would keep potential mice from making a meal out of the staples in my pantry come winter (sorry little mice!) All the laundry got done, too.  A successful day for housework.

Yellow Rice Goodness!

Wednesday was Veterans Day and that means a day off for the state, which means a day off for both Crystal and Teague, who were total sweeties and invited Eric and me for supper. No cooking for me tonight! Whoo hoo! What a wonderful feast she and Teague prepared for us.  Teague made his fabulous apple, roquefort, bacon pie – as a side dish! I wish I could serve you a slice from the computer – it truly is amazing.  Crystal was making kitchen magic with a perfectly prepared pork tenderloin (a huge pork tenderloin, I might add), roasted with parsnips and sweet potatoes, accompanied by pan fried cabbage (Teague is the Cabbage King, after all…).  I baked up some blondies for dessert.  Ohhhh, we all ate well.  And Crystal set a beautiful Autumn table, also! And Crystal’s gift to me was homemade pork fat (I am going to have Crystal explain the technique in an upcoming post) and a giant chunk of the tenderloin, which I will slice super thin and use on cuban sandwiches this weekend. Golly, I love a cuban sandwich.

Teague's Fancy Schmancy Yummy Pie

The Prettiest Table Setting - Martha Should Be Worried...

Nom, Nom, Pork!

Thursday was bittersweet. I got the greatest news that Morgan, the niece of my very bff, Vickie, would be stopping in this weekend on her way back from Tennessee with a carload of her buddies and having dinner here with us. I can’t wait! It was also Miss DeVore’s night. Miss DeVore has had a weird week, after being bit by her dog, Lenerd, and saying goodbye to CNN. I went into super comfort food mode for this night. Burritos made with the leftover meatloaf and fresh made guacamole, along with the most beautiful Cinammon Bread gleaned from a recipe posted by the most talented Kate at Framed. Go check out her blog – everything looks so good! I loved this cake recipe because it tastes like cinammon rolls (a serious weakness of mine) and it goes together in no time flat. Special note if you decide to make this pan of deliciousness – DO NOT PREHEAT THE OVEN. IT GOES INTO A COLD OVEN. I wasn’t paying attention and had to turn off the oven and let it cool down before I could put the cake in and start all over. But let me tell you, this is going into my permanent recipe file. We gobbled it up like…yes, you guessed it – wild, hungry badgers. Go to Kate’s post to see how it should look and I’ll show you how mine looked.

Entire Cake Before Demolishing

One Perfect Piece of Cinammon Heaven

Burrito Before Rolling Up

There’s my wrap up for the week, Darlings. Today brings some fun culinary treats that I look forward to sharing with you tomorrow.

Use this weekend to pay it forward. The kindness will return to you threefold.

xoxo, Patti

But I wanted to bring you something cool to get you started for your own Halloween celebration. You’ve bought the candy, yes?  Good candy? Not candy corn and Werther’s Originals, right?  We’ve got Tootsie Rolls, Baby Ruth, Snickers, 3 Musketeers, Milky Way, Milk Duds, Hershey Bars, 100 Grand Bar and Crunch bars.  So I think we’re set.  Weren’t you disappointed by the houses that gave out lame candy? Why bother? No Dum Dums, either. You might as well turn out your lights and go get a beer.

I’m sure you got the good stuff.  How about decorations?  Here’s some photos from our house to yours:

She crash landed on our middle column – but missed the first one?

Something super spooky for the older kids

My adorable mice and spider pumpkin
idea courtesy of Martha Stewart

Ohh, spooky and sparkly!

Side of the porch

Front door fun

Those are my decorations, but out there in blogland there are some truly astounding ideas.  Here are a few that I really loved.

First, from Matt Bites , are these stupendous candy apples to go with a holiday cocktail. Could you die over these wine glasses?

Professionally spooky!
Photo by Matt Armendariz

Go check out his unbelievably cool site for all the info.

This next site made me clap my hands with joy.  She is the Un-Martha at Not Martha .  This dinner idea was just too much. I am so making this next year.

Creepy, cheesy meatloaf!!

This site is my new blog crush. You have to see how she did this. Don’t you just love it?

And from Not Martha to Martha.  Remember those Monster Fingers I made?  Here is what they are supposed to look like.  I might be more Not Martha than Not Martha.

Click here for all the ghoulish details from Martha

What about your costume?  Mine is ready to go and Eric’s is almost finished!  A couple of places that should be able to overnight you the goods if you waited too long:

HalloweenExpress.com is a fantastic source. They have a ton of costumes left (I checked for you) and are able to overnight them so you can be awesome on Saturday.

Spirit is a cool place with pop up stores just for the season.  When I visited the store earlier this week they were very patient and helpful and had just a ton of insanely wild stuff.

Here in Atlanta we are dressing up to give out candy to the kids from 5 – 8 pm, then off we go to a couple of really spectacular parties before heading back to our neighborhood party til the wee hours.

You know I will reveal our costumes on Sunday morning.

Happy Haunting, my dearies!!

xoxo, Patti

Special Note:  I will be cooking with Lisa at Cabbagetown Market tomorrow. I will be making the special – Dilled Chicken Salad. Come see us!