i love a good ol’ home-cooked gourmet meal. you know the ones. you get all sorts of inspired to make everything yourself and you bust out all those fun kitchen gadgets that tend to collect dust. you create some that is simply delicious and you have moments throughout the process where you find yourself proclaiming out loud: “your got nothin’ on me martha! take that rachel ray!” and then you partake in the meal and it tastes even more delightful because you cooked it all by hand. well that happened to me and my auntie this weekend.

i love to cook and so does she especially in her gorgeous new kitchen. and she has all the fun gourmet kitchen toys. it is a cook’s heaven to be sure. we worked that kitchen, oh yes. we made chicken picatta served atop handmade pasta with a lemon, capers sauce, a caprese salad with fresh heirloom tomatoes, mozzarella and basil drizzled with evoo and lemon and a dusting of salt and pepper, and a chocolate cherry tort that was simply heavenly. we even made custom malibu rum cocktails with cherry, cranberry-pomegranate, and pineapple juice. yup. jealous? you should be. it was amazing. if you’re just so lucky, perhaps i will invite you over to dinner sometime. haha. ‘course i can’t guarantee that it will be as good without my auntie’s special touch. and i will have to get me a few more toys before then. :).