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Party, Tasty

Football Funday

December 18, 2012

On Sunday we hosted a “Football Day” for our friends… due to an extra bloody mary (or two)… I blew it on taking appetizing pictures of anything we ate… but here was our menu:

Drinks:

Bloody Mary Bar

Mimosas

Appetizers:

Homemade Honey Mustard Pretzels: they were not good and were immediately deleted off my Pinterest

“Healthy” Buffalo Potato Skins: EPIC (in my opinion)… i put the toppings on the side so people could assemble as they “deemed fit”

Grilled Sausage with a Spicy Dipping Sauce: easy and uninspiring… but feeds the masses

Entrees:

Because Sunday was a full day affair we had different options available.  We made everything from polish sausages to burgers to chili.  We like to do a “toppings bar” so everyone can assemble their own but I also converted a chili recipe to a “crock pot recipe” and had bread bowls easily accessible.

Chili Recipe: I just browned the meat and sauteed the onions, then put all the ingredients into a crock pot for the day… sprinkle with cheese and diced onions in a bread bowl and… voila!

Having a massive sweet tooth you can’t forget dessert… Creme de Menthe Brownies

Enjoy!

Travels

I Left My Heart In San Francisco

December 18, 2012

*There have been some issues with my website transition, so please click here for the full post!

Each year my family goes to SF for a weekend of holiday shopping… this year we had our own personal tour guide (my sister recently moved to the city) and got the “locals” approach to SF during the holidays.

Some highlights included:

Scalas for lunch (we go every year)… had to get the lemon raviolis

– Drinks at the Clock Bar at the Westin SF (I highly recommend the Gene Persimmons 🙂

– Dinner Round 1 – Hops and Hominy… Gin and Jam cocktail and fried chicken… need I say more?!

– Drinks at Lipo – a DIVE bar in the middle of Chinatown that got put on the map after Anthony Bourdain visited them for their Chinese Mai Tai’s… worth a visit!

– Dinner Round 2 – Kokkari (no description needed… if you haven’t been yet… go… as in run there. now.)

– Breakfast at The Grove… lavender lemonade!?

The Corner Store – alcoholic milkshakes and epic burgers… quite the way to end a fabulous feasting weekend

Please excuse my excessive capturing of every beverage I consume… I can’t contain myself.

Domestic

Holiday Decor

November 30, 2012

My family has always set up our Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving.  This year was a little bit different though, because I had TWO houses to decorate.  That morning we helped to deck the halls of my parents house and we finished up the evening by picking out our first tree together (choosing one in a parking lot is a lot more anticlimactic than cutting one down…. but something to look forward to in years to come 🙂 Our tiny house is much easier to decorate than my mom and dad’s but it’s been so fun making tweaks to our house with each season.  Check out some of our updates so far…

Domestic

The Holidays

November 30, 2012

The Holidays are here!!!

First up… Thanksgiving!  We had it at my parents house but I was in charge of the centerpieces.  Thanks to Pintrest and all the fabulously, creative bloggers in the world I was able to put together something I’m pretty proud of.  I tried to make it both interesting and creative and used everything from fruit/vegetables, mercury glass, to organic flowers, mint julep glasses to a giant silver wishbone and artwork.

Dinner was epic (as usual)… we sipped Bullit Bourbon with a lemon twist and indulged in all of our favorites – sweet potatoes with pecans, green beans with a shallot vinaigrette, ham with a meyer lemon glaze, pecan/sausage/leek stuffing, mashed potatoes… ahh I’m counting down to next year already!!

Travels

CVR

November 30, 2012

*There have been some issues with my website transition, so please click here for the full post!

I’ve spent the last 2 weekends at Carmel Valley Ranch (1 for pleasure, 1 for business… kind of).  Due to the nature of the trips, I had a lot of alone time… and I couldn’t think of a better place to reflect, renew and refuel.  Here are some of the highlights:  a 3 hour solo lunch at (my favorite) corkscrew cafe (who said 3 courses at 2 in the afternoon isn’t acceptable?!), reading the “Happiness Project” in a 2 hour long bathtub session, room service (enough said), day hikes, exploring a new city, hot tubing with my mom and J, working out sessions with THAT view, exploring Carmel-by-the-Sea, talking to strangers and meeting new friends…

It was a rejuvenating couple of weekends but I’m ready to be home and enjoy the Christmas season at home…