Wine and Cheese Party

On Friday evening we hung out in the kitchen, listening to jazz and dancing, while I baked and Christopher made dinner.  I made some spiced nuts, and 65 double chocolate merlot cookies, while Christopher whipped up spaghetti and meatballs.

The next morning we cleaned the house, and got prepped for the evening.

We were having a wine and cheese evening with a close group of friends we get together with quite often.  Almost everyone in the group has had babies within the last two years, so grown-up evenings have become less common, and we thought it would be fun to get everyone together for a classy little evening, sans children.  We sent out invites back in December.

We had fun choosing many different cheeses (I think 17) and accompaniments, and then plating/arranging everything.

There was food in the living room, dining area, and the kitchen.

I forgot to get pictures of the hot dips in the kitchen - oops!  The dining table was full of goodies though ...

We had a fun evening catching up with pals, and snacking for hours.  As usual, we had way too much food ... but it's always better to have too much rather than not enough.

How was your weekend?  What did you do?

Start of the Week

We stayed up a bit later than usual on Saturday night, and then I was wiped on Sunday.  Christopher made a delicious breakfast, with my new favourite - crispy truffled potatoes. 

We watched Return of the Jedi in the afternoon, and now I've officially seen all three of the original Star Wars movies.  

Christopher then made an amazing Thai curry, noodle bowl for dinner. 

He made a big batch and packed me up some for lunch the next day.  What a guy.  The leftovers made my first day back to work after 16 days off pretty darn tasty. 

Yesterday after work I got a lot done around the house.  I vaccumed, cleaned the floors, hung up laundry, and baked six loaves of bread. 

Then I made a chicken salad for dinner ...





And cooked up some broccoli-stuffed chicken (from Costco) and potatoes so that we'd have lunch for today. 

When Christopher was done his band practice around 7:30 p.m., we ate and still had time for some shows.  We've started "Making a Murderer" on Netflix, as I'm sure many of you have.  It's crazy!

How's your week going so far? 

New Years Day

We started New Years day out with some green tea and a grapefruit.  We then ate some leftover pasta from New Years Eve, and I got to work on making some of Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls.

Christopher supervised.  He's a really good supervisor. 

Her recipe is different than what I grew up on, the ones my mom made regularly.  I barely remember not having fresh cinnamon buns in the house.  My mom made them all the time.  I have very strong, fond memories of making cinnamon buns with my mom, spreading that softened butter all over the dough with our hands, and spreading brown sugar and cinnamon everywhere.  My mom knew us kids loved the soft parts of the cinnamon buns best, and weren't fans of the crusty outside, so she put a rim of dough around the pan, before placing the cinnamon buns in, so that should could discard the crust, and leave us with only the soft buns.  She's amazing.

Next time, I'm making her recipe.  I think I've almost been intimidated to do it.  I want them to be as good as hers.  Anyway, I made Pioneer Woman's recipe, with a maple, coffee glaze.

I don't think there is such a thing as a bad cinnamon roll.Even the crusty ones are better than no cinnamon rolls.

After our morning of baking, we settled on the couch and I finally watched Star Wars Episode 4, for the first time.  We had attempted this a while back, but I fell asleep.  Yesterday, I watched it.  We sat up and ate some snacks - smoked oysters, and smoked salmon.

Between today, and tomorrow we're going to watch Episode 5 and 6, so that eventually (when the lines die down), we can go to Episode 7 in the theatre.

For dinner, we wanted to start the year out right, so we had bee bim bop.

And because New Years day fell on a Friday, we're pretty pumped that we now get to enjoy a weekend before we're both back to work.

Were you off on New Years Day?  How did you spend it?

New Years Eve

Happy New Year!

I've been doing a bit of baking lately.  On the 30th, I made some pumpkin spice cupcakes, with salted caramel buttercream.  These look like muffins until they are iced, but they are definitely cupcakes, and the moistest ones around!

Then yesterday I made some pumpkin gingerbread loaves for the freezer.  I'll just thaw them in a week or two, cover them with spiced buttercream, and they'll be a perfect treat for Christopher.

To end off 2015, Christopher took me for lunch yesterday to Life is Good, a Korean restaurant in town.  We've given this place a couple of chances, but we think Korea House is better.

We never go out on New Years Eve ... instead, we plan a delicious meal for at home, and usually fall asleep before midnight.  Last night was no exception.  We made a garlicky, bacony, pasta, and had that with some bread, olive oil and balsamic.

After dinner we played a couple games, including Scattegories, and Pictionary.  Pictionary is not designed for two people, but we invented our own rules, and had a blast.  After the games, we moved to the couch, where we tried to stay up until midnight, but accidentally fell asleep around 11:30 p.m..

What did you get up to last night?

Did you stay up to ring in the new year?

2015, I Love You

Hands down, 2015 was the best year of my life.  I don't know what the big deal is about aging, each year of my life gets better and better.
 

But 2015, wow.  It's amazing looking back at this year.  For starters, and something very simple, it was the best year of weather I can ever remember.  January started out cold, but winter was over very early, spring was gorgeous, and summer was hot.  Our fall was perfect, and the fall weather lasted until December.  We still have pretty mild winter temperatures, and barely any snow on the ground.  

Top 10 highlights of 2015 

(starting with my favourite)

1)  In a top secret, private ceremony, on Friday, February 13th, Christopher and I got married! 

It could not have been more perfect for who we are as a couple.  It was as simple as it possibly could be - no fuss, no lead up, no party, no stress.  Just the two of us, sharing vows and a promise.  We wanted a marriage, not a wedding, and that's what we got.  We could not be happier!

2)  We traveled a lot.  We did some little road trips, flew to Edmonton a couple times, and also went on longer trips to Mexico, New York, Las Vegas, Mexico again, and then Vegas again.

 

 

3)  Christopher began playing bass, and formed a new band Lunar Lander Dance Commander.  Their debut single, Rooftop Renegade will be played tonight on The Cockpit, 91.3 FM CJTR.  The show starts at 11:00 p.m..  You can also hear it on The Wolf 104.9 FM between 9-9:30 a.m. on January 9th, and between 5-5:30 p.m. on January 10th.  Check it out!

4)  We saw some great live events in music, sport, and comedy.  In terms of music, we saw DeadMau5, Hozier, Eagles of Death Metal, K-OS, Kongos, Mother Mother, The Flaming Lips, The Zolas, and Tenacious D.  We saw numerous comedians at The Comedy Cellar in New York, and then also saw Jerry Seinfeld, and our favourite comedian, Bo Burnham.  We're not too big on watching sports, but we did go to Yankee Stadium this year to see the Jays vs Yankees.

5)  We had some incredible dining experiences, including a Chinese restaurant with a Michelin star, and a French restaurant with three Michelin stars, as well as some of the best tables at incredible restaurants.

6)  Everyday Foodie turned six, and I got some of my biggest writing jobs this year, partnering my blog with Sobeys, Menchies, and Loblaws, among others.

7)  Some friends got married this year.  We had an incredible time tearing up the dance floor at Tricia and Lee's wedding, and experienced luxury at Kaylee and Shane's Bellagio wedding.

8)  We spent SO much time in the backyard this summer.  It was the best summer ever.

I loved making lunch for Christopher when he came home from work, and I made him a different pie or dessert each week in the summer.  The peach pie and cheesecake really stood out.

9)  Many of our friends had babies this year; there was even a set of twins!  Our niece Elizabeth was born this year too, and she couldn't be sweeter.  We have some pretty special little people in our lives, and are looking forward to any more that may arrive.  Who knows what 2016 will bring!

10)  We cooked up some fun meals, including this Italian feast, a retirement celebration for my buddy Bonnie, and a southern-style dinner.  We also went to other peoples' houses for some pretty awesome meals.  It was definitely a year of good eats.

From our home to yours, have a safe and happy new year everyone!

I'm expecting to create more incredible memories in the new year, with love, laughter, and adventures.

Bring on 2016!

How are you spending New Years Eve?

 We're spending it together, at home ... as is tradition.