Awesome day! And a recipe.

I love that the sun is just starting to set when I get off work now! It makes me so happy. The sun setting behind the mountains has been so gorgeous the last couple of days. It makes me sad that I lost my camera charger and have been unable to take any pictures. Imagine something like this.

Then when I came home, there was a mysterious package on my porch! The box had a perishable sticker and a return address label of a toffee company, so I was pretty excited to open it. I tore into it as quickly as I could manage, and I was stoked to see that Dan's parents had sent me some of Brandini Toffee. We'd eaten a ton of it when I was in Palm Springs over Thanksgiving, and it's super good. The best part is the business was started by two best friends in high school to raise money for a trip to Italy, and now their younger sisters run the business while they're in college. They also use alternative energy to run their company!

It was an all-round good food day in my life. We had a welcome potluck for our new intern, and there was so much delicious, delicious food. There was curry soup, homemade potato salad, lasagna, spinach salad, hummus, cookies, brownies, cupcakes...the list goes on and on.

I had originally considered making polenta, but, since I have never made it before, I decided to go with something I make all the time: brussel sprouts. I was a little worried about how they'd go over, because some people seem to really hate brussel sprouts. But I thought if that happens, more for me! However, everyone seemed to like them. In fact, someone told me that I should always bring them to all potlucks, forever, no matter what the potluck theme is . Success!

I thought I'd share the recipe, if anyone was interested.

Ingredients:

Brussel sprouts

Olive Oil

Sea Salt

Fresh Cracked Pepper

For the potluck, I used a whole bag of brussel sprouts, but if I'm cooking for myself, I use 6 - 10 depending on size/how hungry I am.

1. Heat 1 - 2 tbsp olive oil in pot or pan with lid over medium low.

2. Cut off the end of the brussel sprouts and cut them in half.

3. Add brussel sprouts to pan, drizzle a little olive oil, and stir with a fork so they're lightly coated.

4. Add a pinch of salt and cracked pepper to taste.

4. Put on lid and let brussel sprouts cook until you can stick a fork through the big ones easily, stirring every couple minutes, so they all get time on the bottom. This will take usually take 8+ minutes, depending on temp and number of brussel sprouts.

5. For the last 30 seconds or so, turn the heat up to medium and stir so they sear a little bit.

6. Enjoy! They're best directly out of the pan, but they're also good refrigerated and served cold. I've never tried reheating them, so I'm not sure how well they reheat.