My sister's new house

Went to my sister's and her fiance's new house yesterday. Sweet mother of Jesus. It was huge. 3700 sq ft. Just for the two of them. They look like they live quite lavishly. They buy top of the line everything. Their kitchen is like a Williams and Sonoma catalog. I am a little nervous that they have stretched themselves thin. Who knows. I know that they are not going to have kids. They both need to be working to pay off this mortgage.

My sister cooked Moroccan. Not big on Moroccan. Not big on Cumin and Cinnamon in my meat and vegetable dishes. We were going to make a fig jam, goat cheese and toasted walnut Bruschetta. My sister bought Feta cheese instead...and claimed that Feta is the same as Goat cheese. IT IS SOOOO NOT. Would have been better with the goat cheese.

She made a rice pudding...with risotto rice....ummm...very bland.

My sister needs to cook more. She needs an Isadora to help her dishes. That is how I learned. Isadora always new how to rescue a failed recipe. She also knows how to substitute.

I think my sister will get a lot better and I applaud her effort. I started that way. It is nice to go and try new recipes. It is amazing how you can cook a gourmet recipe at home...for a fraction of the cost. You need to understand that chefs are experts because they can cook for 100 people at the same time, because they can manage a kitchen, because they can chop, slice, saute really fast. They know what is in food when they taste it. They are experts.

But anyone can cook for two or four people with a good recipe and fresh ingredients.

We played Trivial Pursuit. My sister and I against Isadora and my sister's fiancee. Two teams. Isadora and Steve kicked our asses. Trivial Pursuit has changed a lot since 1984. Now you have question levels 1 to 6. 1 easy. 6 hard. You get the question level depending on your dice role.

My sister and I were rolling high numbers all night.