Smiling/Baked Chicken Meatballs

Last night, at 7:30 pm I was at the supermarket hoping that I wouldn't have a botched dinner. At 9 pm after my first bite of these meatballs I was smiling like a goon, theses meatballs were anything but botched. Wholehearted, goonish smiles are one of my favorite things; seriously, if there is one thing I love more than good food, it’s smiles. They say that if you smile for long enough, no matter how low you are feeling, eventually the physical action of smiling will translate into smiley thoughts and eventually into a smiley state of being. So if it's food (that I made) that makes me smile so wide, it's kind of the best of win-win scenarios. Not only am I pleased with my work, but I also get a dinner out of it.

I am starting to worry that I am tooting my own horn a little too much these days, I keep raving about all this food I make and patting myself on the back.

So Long Gourmet/Ten Minute Dinner

Gourmet magazine is folding. I know that this is no longer news, but it is still shocking to me. I have loved this magazine for as long as I can remember, when I was younger flipping through the pages and gazing at beautiful pictures fueled my love for cooking and food. Since then, it is has always the magazine I buy at airports, my stoic companion for fun, uncertain, and sad trips alike. I imagine that something new and "better" is already in the works, but for me Gourmet will remain the first and the best. Really, I am just grateful to the people who devoted their lives to this beautiful publication; their hard work and love for this magazine did not go unnoticed.

Last night for dinner I wanted to make Orecchiette with Pancetta and Broccoli, one of Gourmet’s “ten-minute mains.” Although it has often been regarded as the food magazines for connoisseurs, in the past ten years big efforts were made to make Gourmet more accessible to everyone.