Cheap Date

This is one of my entertaining tricks. Everyone loves sangria. But serving alcohol can be expensive when entertaining.

Enter $3 buck chuck from Trader Joe's.

And this recipe, which also calls for Ginger Ale to round out the drink.

This is an insanely cheap way to serve drinks while entertaining. You end up with a whole pitcher FULL with 1 bottle of $3 buck chuck, 1/2 a bottle of ginger ale, some OJ, triple sec (if you have it on hand), and lemon and orange slices.

I think if you have the triple sec on hand, it helps stretch it even more. Because it makes it a lot stronger. 

Okay, so it's cheap. I've proven that. But it's also delicious. I promise.

As Alexa kindly said earlier this week, "You make the best sangria. I love your recipe." Aww, thanks Alexa! :)

Sangria, Adapted slightly from Williams-Sonoma Cocktail Parties

1 bottle Trader Joes' $3 buck chuck red wine

24 oz ginger ale

3 cups orange juice

1 orange, thinly sliced

1 lemon, thinly sliced

1/2 cup triple sec (optional)

Mix it all together--that's it! (I make mine a couple hours in advance and put it in the refrigerator to let the flavors develop.)

Sandwich Sharer

I suggested to Zach that he go to Clancey's today to get us some sandwiches for lunch. (In case you haven't heard me go on and on about their sandwiches before, I think they are consistently some of the best sandwiches in town. I love them.)


I told him to get me whatever their hot sandwich special was. I trust Clancey's and their hot sandwich specials. I'm not sure they could create something I wouldn't like.


What I didn't tell him (and felt guilty about the whole time he was gone) was that I was pretty sure it would be a madhouse there today with everyone in an Easter frenzy, picking up their legs of lamb and hams. The place gets a little crazy on Saturdays. Let alone the day before holidays.


But all resolved itself when Zach got home and instantly said that he desperately wished he had ordered my sandwich for himself too instead of his cold turkey sandwich (which to be fair is also quite delicious).


The hot sandwich special today was BBQ Pork. With homemade tangy and smoky BBQ shredded pork, homemade coleslaw, and jalapeños. On a big ciabatta roll. Placed in a paper boat, wrapped in foil, then in white butcher paper, safe for the ride home. Apparently, the person waiting on Zach told him that it looked like the best batch of BBQ pork he'd ever seen then make. And that was it. Zach knew he had ordered wrong.


I kindly decided in a moment of generosity that I'd share with him. He could have half of my sandwich.


We both were over the moon for this sandwich. It was beyond good. It was...just...I don't really even have words. It was perfect. It was amazingly delicious. So delicious that I stood in the kitchen after polishing off my half, picking bits of the leftover pork that had stuck to the paper and eating everylast bit.


I knew I needed to share this sandwich with you.


But I couldn't muster up the willpower to walk away from my sandwich until Zach said "You better get a picture now before it's gone." So, here you have it. My almost gone half of a sandwich.