Monday Pot Luck; Mission Style

Mondays are rough.
Whether its school or work, its no fun getting back into the swing of the week. And to be sure, the more fun the proceeding weekend is, the worse the following Monday tends to be.

So when I received a text last Monday from Christy O. inviting me to a dinner party potluck at her place, I was aglow with delight. Having just driven to Napa and back, DH was less enthusiastic about getting back in the car for dinner. He quickly caved when I offered to drive and mentioned a few of the night's offerings, not least of which being Melissa's panzanella salad.

We arrive and not only is there a spread of delectable plates and Stevie Wonder blaring on the stereo but sure enough, Christy, Ade and Melissa are all dressed in black & white polka dot ensembles. They assured us it was a complete coincidence. This may seem like a minor detail and an entirely unnecessary detail for a food blog, but for ButterDate, this detail encapsulates this dinner party's ethos: This is a fun bunch. Stylish and food-minded? These are my people.

What I love in particular about the Bay Area potluck's I've been to is that there are as many dishes from local eateries as there are home crafted dishes. People bring what they can, even if that means buying it from the corner store.

Chunky, homemade guacamole along with charcuterie from Cheese Plus started the night's festivities. Beretta wood fired pizza paired well with Andrew's home grown garden vegetable salad. The main focus though was Mel's heirloom panzanella and Christy's BBQ chicken. Yum!

I was craving the Salvadorean street food, elote loco (crazy corn) so made that and an old dinner party standard, gorganzola stuffed figs.

For dessert, a homemade blackberry/nectarine crumble with cinnamon & pistachio ice cream from neighborhood favorite, Xanath on Valencia was the perfect summertime finish.
I could get used to more Mondays like this!

A perfect cure for a case of the Mondays...

simple dinner, padron peppers, wine & word games!

Sundays are bad but Mondays might arguably be worse. At least on Sundays there is still the freedom of free time. Mondays are back to work, back to reality...Bleck!  Mondays are particularly rough after the departure of fun houseguests, as was the case this past weekend.

Feeling low-down, DH and I decided to lift ourselves by the boot straps and go for a beautiful run along the Bay in Berkeley. Exercise can be an excellent anti-depressant.

from L to R: padron peppers, quinoa, big eye tuna

On the way home, we picked up some sushi grade big eye tuna & salad greens at BB.

I threw some quinoa on the stove while DH heated the panino press. Once the press was smoking hot, he threw the tuna on to sear for a minute or two on each side. We fried up some padron peppers we'd bought the day before at the Oakland farmer's market. (sidebar: Padron peppers are my latest obsession...the perfect snack, morning noon and night!)

seared cherry tomatoes

Once the peppers were finished, I threw some farmer's market tomatoes in the same hot pan to sear, then placed them atop lemony-dressed greens. 
The whole meal was as simple as simple can be and so perfect for the moment.

Nothing like a quick, 100pt. Scrabble game to cure even the worst case of the Mondays. ;-)