Friday, December 21, 2007

The cutest thing ever

This is video from my camera of the seals at La Jolla. So cute!!! (and if you have your sound on you can hear me being a dork and giggling like an insane child in the background)

Like a clown car, only smaller


Well, I'm happy to say the first annual Aly and Chris holiday party was a rousing success. We were surprised--and thrilled--that everyone who rvsp'd to our e-vite (and then some) showed up. There were 20 of us crammed into our tiny shoebox of an apartment. We had friends from like five different "groups" so not everyone knew each other, but by the end of the night we were all so cozy that everone was bffs--er, sort of. I totally forgot to take pictures when everyone was there--probably because I could barely move. My food was a hit, and our supply of Christmas cookies was greatly reduced. For apps I made butternut squash and pumpkin seed spring rolls (vegan), panko-stuffed mushrooms (also vegan), artichoke dip (vegan, again!), and olive cheese puffs (not vegan, and the only ones that weren't gone by the end of the night--funny how that works). Yay for parties and friends and holiday cheer!!!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

A Cup of Christmas Cheer

I wouldn't mind being paid to bake cookies all day (or simply eat them!). On Sunday I went over my parents and spent roughly eight hours slaving over batches of the following Christmas cookies:
  • sugar cookies (dairy-free for Chris!)
  • peanut butter balls (my fav--we made almost 100 and I don't think it's enough)
  • chocolate crinkles (my other fav)
  • pizzelles
  • pecan cookies, topped with caramel and drizzed in chocolate (I'm afraid to even try it)
  • candy cane and chocolate covered cookie sticks

It was exhausting, but tons of fun. Monday I rolled out and baked gingerbread for a gingerbread house and a few gingerbread punks. And last night I prepped and assembled as much as I could deal with for our Christmas party tonight. The appetizers I'm making are all new recipes, and I'm a little nervous about that since you're never supposed to test new recipes on guests. Oh, well, at least we'll have tons of alchohol to wash it all down!

Monday, December 10, 2007

Viva San Diego


Just got back from four days in sunny (to be honest it was pretty cloudy and a bit rainy during my stay) San Diego. I went out there to visit my good friend from college, Katie. We had lots of fun just hanging out, and it was really nice to get away from work and all the crap I have to think about in everyday life--not to mention the brutal weather here. We didn't really do anything exciting: went to a few parties and hung out with Katie's boyfriend JB; ate at some of their favorite local spots, like the restaurant Katie works at (I had fish tacos--my fave!); experienced the bar scene; and I helped Katie through a minor drunken breakdown after said bar scene. Katie lives in Cardiff by the Sea, which is in North County, so that area is where we spent most of our time (Del Mar, Encinitas, Carlsbad, and lots of other little towns that are all grouped together along the coast). On Saturday we headed into the city and checked out Balboa Park, which was really beautiful. I wish we would have been able to visit some of the many museums in the park, but that will have to wait until my next visit. Saturday night we bartended for Katie's dad's company's Christmas party, which was at her parents' house in Carlsbad. It was a really neat party--they had a chef come in and cook up a bunch of fun appetizers. Most of them were pretty meat-centric, but the ones I could try were really good. Anywhoo, I'll put some pics from the trip up soon. Meanwhile, I'll be freezing my butt off and dreaming of faraway lands ...