Sometimes I get caught up writing about things for the kids, and I forget to write self-care articles. Sound familiar? It's just like in real life when we are catering to our children (as we should) but don't find the time to take care of ourselves also. One aspect of self care I haven't spoken much of are date nights. This could fall under two items on the Dragon Mama Self Care Check-In : 1) Do something that brings joy to your soul or 2) Do something that relaxes you. Watching tv and snacking with no one asking me to do something for them relaxes me even if the show is a little intense.
My husband and I watched all the seasons of "The Sopranos" through the quarantine period of the pandemic. It's an interesting show and was fun talking about it with him. Who knew the pandemic would be so long we would get through all 6 seasons. (Of course, we only watched it when the kids were asleep. It is not kid friendly.) This fall we were ecstatic to find out they made a TV movie prequel called, "The Many Saints of Newark."
We had to make an official date night. If you've never watched the series, watch the first one with this spread inspired by the show. Or if you haven't watched the movie, follow our lead with this date night.
Now, not all date nights go as planned. I remember we started munching on our treats in the living room but the volume of the TV was waking up the kids whose room is no too far. So, we had to move to our room with a bit smaller tv that we could watch more quietly because we could sit closer to it. Just a bit of reality to share with you.
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If you aren't family with the Sopranos, it is about an Italian-American family. The father, Tony, is a mob boss. Hence, the Italian charcuterie selections. Specifically, Tony loved "Gabagool" which is Capicola. He specifically liked gabagool sandwiches with provolone and peppers. He may have eaten "vinegar peppers" that were not roasted, but we had roasted peppers in its place.
Ingredients:
Capicola
Salami
Prosciutto
Provolone
Mozzarella Balls
Roasted Red Peppers
Cucumber (1 or 2 should work depending on size)
Green Grapes
Artichoke Hearts
A Variety of Crackers
Focaccia Bread - We made this easily from a refrigerated roll of dough.
Directions:
As you can see, besides making the bread, everything is already prepared and I just had to lay it out. The only thing that was "fancy" was the salami rose pictured above. Guess what? If you haven't made them before, its is insanely easy. Watch this short tutorial here.
Have you ever made a dish inspired by a show? Let me know in the comments! I recently came across this cookbook and I can't wait to try the recipes.
Happy Date Night!
Dragon Mama