Christmas Celebrations

Tim and I drove around a lot for Christmas... We had Christmas with Tim's side. That was a really nice Christmas. I made some desserts and brought them for dinner. =) It was fun playing with the little kiddies. After Christmas, Tim and I really wanted to show his brother Jalal and sister in law Mary our new apartment. They're pretty far from us, so we figured this was a good opportunity to show 'em. So, we drove back home for the night and left out again the next day. (Lots of driving)=) hehe But it was nice to hang out with them at home too. After that, we drove back to Chicago and then headed to Michigan. We hung out with Tim's cousin in East Lansing... had some bubble tea at Bubble Island (of course) =)
I wanted to have a little After Christmas dinner for my brother and friends here at the condo. So, last night, I cooked up a meal for all of us. Everyone enjoyed it, ... everything was eaten up reallly quickly. It was very nice to see. =) I roasted a couple of chickens and a few sides. The chickens turned out yummy and moist. We had a lot of fun playing Guitar Hero all night long too. It was really nice to see my friends and family last night.

Here's our "Family Photo" haha.. our kids are growing up so quickly!

Christmas Gift!

I got a Barefoot Contessa cookbook in the mail today.. my brother Warly got it for me. =) I was pretty excited to get it. I decided to cook something from it for dinner tonight. I already had some chicken breasts in the fridge... so I decided to try out Ina Garten's Chicken Piccata. I love chicken piccatas..so this was an easy choice to make. Her recipe made a great one. It's not too saucy/soggy and just the right amount of lemony taste. Tim really liked it. I liked it a lot too - really tasty. We cooked up some pasta to go along with the chicken. We like having Buitoni fresh pasta on reserve in the fridge. Those are good stuff. These were mushroom agnolottis... just big raviolis. Delicious. Just cooked and then tossed around a little with olive oil and freshly grated gruyere cheese. Mmm... good dinner tonight. =)

I can't believe Christmas is just days away...

Party x 2!

This past weekend, Tim and I drove to Michigan for the Benchmark Logic Company party. It was a lot of fun. We had dinner at Ocean Prime Restaurant. Very good restaurant. Tim enjoyed some Alaskan King Crab or something and I had a delicious Steak with Scallops (my fave combo). I'm allergic to crabs, but whenever Tim gets a chance to eat it at a restaurant... he takes it! Oy.=) But dinner was a lot of fun and we all drove to a club called Main Street in downtown Rochester for some dancing and billiards, etc. We had their VIP room for the night, so we got to chill in there whenever we wanted. Good times.

BENCHMARK LOGIC

We haven't really had many friends come over to our apartment... really... it's only been my family and one friend who has really visited and hung out at our place. Tim and I decided to throw a little Christmas party for our friends here in Bloom... most of them are Benchmark people and State Farm people... =) A couple of the guys also helped us move back in late August.. so, this was a nice way to say Thanks again.. =) So, our party was last night and it was a lot of fun. I think everyone had a good time and everyone was pretty stuffed. I'm glad they enjoyed the food, and also the cooking show Tim and I provided in the beginning. Hah... I was running a little late on my schedule and Tim wanted to make his guacamole when he got home... so, when the guests arrived, they all sat or stood around the bar and watched us finish things up. Heh it was cute. A couple helped out in making the sangria. Yum. =)

Overall, it was a great time and we're glad people made it out to our place. We really like entertaining. And it's nice to see friends have a nice time at our place and eating stuff we made for them. We made a lot of things for the night... I made some chocolate covered pretzels that morning. We had pulled pork sandwiches, a strawberry & blackberry trifle (yummy), a caprese salad,chips & guacamole, a pesto chicken feta & pine nuts pizza, and a yummy & decadent bread pudding. It was my first time making the bread pudding and it turned out pretty good. Definitely rich. But tasty.

Chii-cken!

Hm. I spent almost 95% of my day at home yesterday... the snow and cold didn't make me want to walk to my car and go anywhere. hah I'm really not made for cold weather. Especially the bitter cold wind.... that's what gets me. =P But I like snow activities... like snowboarding. Hopefully Tim and I can do that some time this winter...

Last night, I decided to make some chicken tenders and pesto pasta. They turned out yummy. I was pretty happy. I think I always get happy now when I don't burn chicken on the stove. That used to happen to me often years ago.. I would burn at least one and then get the hang out it for the rest. I'm like that with pancakes too! But lately, I've been feeling a lot more comfortable cooking in the kitchen. Things don't freak me out as much. =) These chicken tenders were tasty.
This past weekend was nice. We helped celebrate Tim's nephew, Gabe''s birthday. He turned 4 already. It's so fun to see our nieces and nephews (on both sides) grow up ... they're all so cute and adorable... each with their own awesome personality. Tim mentioned that 4 years ago that all of our nieces and nephews didn't exist yet. It's a crazy thought. Gabe is the oldest of the 6 total from my side and his. Time really flies.

Daisy Days

Our friend Daisy visited us in Bloomington for the first time. She's one of my good friends (and one of my bridesmaids too!).. It was really nice of her to visit. She took an amtrak over on Wednesday night and she'll be leaving tonight. We've had fun the past couple of days. I just showed her around town and to some places Tim and I like to go to. Last night, we all ended up going to see the new Boondock Saints movie.. we all liked it. I loved the first movie and the second one was just as entertaining. We had Tim watch the first movie last night before going to the theater =)

The night Daisy got in, I wanted to make a nice dinner. I made a roasted pork with a roasted garlic vinaigrette. It turned out pretty yummy. =)
Daisy and I walked around downtown yesterday. It didn't last too long 'cause it was sooo collldddd. My gosh, it got bitter pretty quickly. But I think it was still a fun time. I took some "senior photos" of Daisy while walking around - haha =) At the candy store... the brick walls of downtown... hahah Fun times.
We went to Barnes and Noble for a quick cup of coffee.. we were just pretty cold to be honest. And we saw these magazines... and found them pretty entertaining. (We're not really big Twilight fans) but it was still fun to take pictures of our teams. hahaha
Last night, before going to the movies - I decided to make some chocolate covered pretzels. They turned out cute. I added some sprinkles on some of 'em .. for color and to be a little festive. =) After going to the candy store during the day, the smell of chocolate really got me to make my own at home instead of buying one stick for a dollar something. =P