Aww, boo hoo Pats fans! Sorry you lost to the Giants in the Super Bowl. Again. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like the Giants, but no one likes New England, so last nights outcome was all one could have hoped for, especially Bradshaw’s slow butt-roll into the end zone. Classic!

We watched the game at our neighbors place, with the main emphasis of the night being the food theme – everything deep fried. Of next order of importance was the halftime puppy bowl, funny commercials, then the Madonna halftime show, and then finally the actual football game. I made jalepeno poppers (photo above) stuffed with goat cheese, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, bacon, and topped with Panko bread crumbs. They were a hit, and not as spicy as they’d seem like they’d be, but still some kick.

I was also introduced to the concept of fried macaroni and cheese balls, above, which were every bit as delicious as they’d seem. By the time the deep fried Oreo’s and bananas were coming out to be served, I was just too full.

This evenings agenda = go for a loooong run.

On Friday evening, we drove up to Delaware with Val and Ty. Tiki and Bowser rode along, too, of course. Traffic was slowww getting up there, the usual for Friday rush hour, but we made it. On Saturday morning, the guys all went to a pen-turning class and the girls went to a omlette and crepe-making class. I’ve never taken an actual cooking class before (unless you count home-ec back in high school), so I was looking forward to it. The chef was really laid back and gave us all sorts of tips on cooking eggs, omlettes, and crepes. I learned that a French omlette should end up smooth as a baby’s butt when you flip the eggs over onto the fillings. I’ve never really sucessfully made an omlette in the first place — what always starts out on the omlette track generally ends up as scrambled eggs — so now I have some goals for next Saturday breakfast at home!

We also learned how to peel ginger with a spoon, how to finely chop cilantro, and that bechamel (basic white sauce) is amazingly delicious, and easy to make. That last part was learned while we were devouring our savory ginger shrimp crepes. YUM. We each took our turns with making basic and then chocolate crepes. It’s all about getting the heat of the pan just right. I took an attempt at flipping mine, but lost half of it on the burner. Bad kitchen skills, but at least it was all over their stove and not mine. Mom was the only one who managed a sucessful crepe flip AND a perfect French omlette. The chef even called his assistant from the back to check it out! We ended the lesson and tasting with chocolate, whipped cream, and strawberry dessert crepes. Soooooo good. I was so busy watching and tasting that I only managed to snap a few blurry camera phone pics, but you can still get the idea. Everyone should take a cooking class at some point, it think it gives you confidence to watch something being made and see that it is possible to make meals that you might not normally attempt otherwise.

French omlette!

   

Val getting ready to flip that crepe

This is just… no. Please Kraft, you make an amazing product with Macaroni & Cheese Dinners. Don’t try to add vegetables. When I want to eat delicious carbs and cheesy goodness, it shouldn’t be contaminated with other parts of the food pyramid. Just noodles, and yellow. That’s all I want. There doesn’t need to be any green text on the box.

On Christmas afternoon, we headed up to Delaware to spend some more time with family. We had breakfast for late lunch/early dinner and opened presents. One of the traditions that I’ve learned from Matt’s family is how to open one gift at a time, going around in a circle and taking turns. Growing up, it was always chaos with everyone going at once and paper flying everywhere, and then afterwards inspecting what gifts had actually been given. There is something nice about both methods, and I love the fact that we get to do it both ways now. Another tradition of theirs is eating grapefruit. Though I tried it one year, I just can’t get down with it, but it is still a comforting reminder of Christmas day for me now, regardless of the fact that I don’t eat it.

The day after Christmas, we decided to get out of the house, and went for a walk around the lake at Carousel Park with the doggies. It was windy and chilly, but it felt nice to stroll around and let Bowser and Tiki enjoy some play time.

Woweeezowweee, I can’t believe that the new year is almost here, and I only managed to post twice before now in the month of December. We are still alive! We’ve been crazy busy, but in a good way. Finishing up the semester always feels like it rolls right into the holidays without much time for a breather, and with family visits, home projects, and all the rest in between, this last month has really flown by with lots of happy times. Matt and I each put two more grad classes behind us and are now a 1.5 years (Matt) and 1 year (me) away from our Masters Degrees. Woo hoo! Will life go back to normal after that?

In early Decemeber, David and Kristy flew home from Alaska to visit until Christmas Eve. We got to see them a bunch of times, and Kristy even came up to Delaware for the day with us ladies for the annual Christmas tea. A few nights before Christmas, we had the whole family over for dinner. We exchanged gifts, ate sweet-potato-chicken chili for dinner, and played Bananagrams (best game ever). Oh, and we all ate lots of cookies and drank chocolate falvored wine. Kristy and I came up with the idea that maybe we should line the rims of our wine glasses with Nutella. Kind of like the same idea as a salt rim for a margarita. Though we didn’t actually execute our plan, I still think we were onto something brilliant that night.

cookies, fudge, and bananagrams!
   

our stockings
   

please note the awesome tuxedo shirt that Kristy is wearing while playing Quordy so quickly that her fingers are blurry.