yum.

My boyfriend and I do a lot of cooking because we love eating good food. When it comes to cooking we like to make a night of it and really go all out whenever we have the time. I'd compare the process to driving by saying that my boyfriend sits in the driver's seat and me, the passenger. He is just so good at portioning and plating and, well, everything. I love to help and I insert my opinion often, particularly on limiting the butter portions. I usually chop veggies or stir. I'm really, REALLY good at stirring.

Anyways, the point to all of this...I know this is way off the MEEP target but I've taken some pretty awesome photos of our succulent meals and thought I'd share. I hope it makes you hungry for some amazing, well-prepared food.

If you can't cook, don't fret...just go to Umai on Madison in Midtown Memphis. This is my favorite place to eat and it will seriously blow your mind. The flavors and presentation alone will cause your stomach to worship this place as mine already does...not to mention the sweet mural in the dining room done by the chef.

A few nights ago we had cornish hens. I'd had one out before, but never attempted it on my own. When it comes to meat, I'm not a fan of bones. I just like for my food to look as little like the animal that it came from as possible. These guys weren't so bad, but stuffing it was NOT fun. We cooked these in a pan first to brown then in the oven. That's prosciutto on top.

To go with our cute little hens we made mashed sweet potatoes. We added in some cooked banana, which I'd never had before...omg so good. If you like sweet potatoes you have to try this, stat.

The final mashed sweet potatoes went into the oven with a cracker crust on top. (and butter, duh.)

Below you'll see an amazing dinner than I can take zero credit for...no stirring, no cutting. This is beef tartar and it was 100 times better than it looks...so totally amazing.

These are stuffed peppers from yet another amazing meal. This picture was taken right before they went in the oven and you can kinda see the yummy filling spilling over.

While we're on the topic of eating this is the picture I took of the fancy dessert our hotel served with Christmas dinner. Doesn't it look fabulous? Holiday treat tray complete with peppermint hot chocolate, eggnog ice cream sandwiches, homemade gingerbread cookies, yule log, and a parfait. I mean wow, right?