Holiday Party

After Christmas we had a few people over to celebrate the holidays, basically, just another excuse for me to cook! Here is a peek at some of the festiveness and a rundown of the menu.

seasoned pork tenderloin slices

hot crab dip

spinach dip (thanks K!)

walnut & parmesan brushetta

mini pigs in a blanket

roasted red pepper savory cheesecake

grapes covered in goat cheese and walnuts

red velvet cupcakes

OREO BALLS!

I have to give these a mention of their own as they seemed to have been the hit of the holiday season. They are so easy, rich, and delicious that they are sure to please even the pickiest child!

Take a pack of Oreos and grind them in your food processor. Add 8oz cream cheese and combine until it forms a ball. Place ball in fridge until set (about half hr max). Melt 8oz white bakers chocolate (I prefer Ghiradelli, and yes, it does make a difference). Roll the Oreo mix into small balls and then roll them into chocolate. Place on cookie sheet in fridge until set.

** Melting chocolate in the microwave takes a little patience. Only heat the chocolate in 30-40 second intervals, stirring in between each interval. 8oz should only take about 90 seconds.

Below I simply hung a few balls from the dining room chandelier, in an effort to take away from the terrible brass fixture (future project). The other idea came from these two, and was certainly a festive way to make water more merry, all you need to do is add a few plain, plastic balls to any type of beverage container.

My explanation

Clearly, I still feel bad for neglecting the blog for so long, so I thought I would show you a small glimpse of what was consuming all my time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Each year I try to give tasty baked goods to the people nearest and dearest to me. Here is a picture of my dining room table, covered with everything from baklava to peppermint chocolate chews, everything homemade of course.



Just a little rundown of some of the things that were included in the goody baskets:

mini pound cakes
peppermint chocolate chews
baklava
cheese wafers
apple brownies
pumpkin suprise cookies
molten lava cookies
pecan meltaways
triple chocolate cookies
brownie cookies w/ peanut butter and frosting
sugar cookies

The list continues... but my memory does not.

Farewell

I do have to make a note of how sad I am to have lost this years official "Christmas Room." While I am very relieved the holidays are over I was in love with our second living room and the festive spirit it had taken on. Not only did I manage to keep the tree alive for nearly 6 weeks but the dog never even bothered it. Now, our "Christmas Room" has been reduced to a few bins and is on its way to the basement. Next year I am envisioning two trees!

Crackin' is hard to do.....

Oh man, I am so sorry I have completely neglected this blog. Meanwhile, there have been so many mini-home improvements projects, baking extravaganzas, and little holiday get-togethers.

Let me start off by introducing you to my new toy. The Hoover. After disposing of the Christmas tree we were left with quite a few pine needles in the "Christmas Room." In an effort to avoid sweeping I simply pulled out the old trusty (ie: crappy) Shark, the same one I've had for about 3 years. I know vacuums are supposed to last longer than 3 years, but being that it is a little basic and has dealt with a substantial amount of pet hair over the years, it had certainly lived its life. I somehow was able to put it out of its misery in one foul swoop of the "Christmas Room." Apparently, the Shark was so terribly it couldn't handle a few needles. After clogging the main suction area I decided to finish the deed and clog the auxiliary hose. Without even putting a decent dent in the needles I realized that the suction was no more. After asking the hubs to take a look the diagnosis was clear. Thus, time to get a new vacuum!! WOOHOO! (Sorry, I will try to keep my crackin' to a minimum.) Unfortunately, P put a halt to my dream. I decided to compromise and I let it be known that any old Dyson would do, no game. P, being the uber consumer had to compare vacuums and apparently a few faulty comments regarding one of my most envied household appliances was enough to put the brakes on my plan.

With the house in complete disarray after the holidays some action was necessary, so we settled on this. Actually, ours is slightly different but you get the drift. Ours does have a nice pet hair cleaning attachment, but let me tell you, that thing is a beast. While it probably weighs more than our dog it does pick up a significant amount of debris that the Shark completely ignored. It even has a nifty red/green light that tells me when something is clean or dirty and when it is ok to move along to the next area. Let me just say, I vacuumed cobwebs in the corners of the 10' ceilings! While it was not the highlight of my day( going to Whole Foods was!), I was happy that there were extendable arms on the hose that allowed me to do that. A sidenote, this vacuum is safe on all floor types, which was a must in the case of our house full of 100yr old wooden floors.

I give the new addition 2 tired thumbs up. However, when this one dies, a natural death (not death by needle again), there will be no compromise, there will only be a Dyson, being delivered to our front porch. Below is a pic of the new beast, in the background is ole' crappy.