VDay in the Kitchen

Valentine's Day 2011 was celebrated on February 13th in my house. 

He's sad because we're about to pop the bottle of Cristal bubbly gifted to us over 2 years ago at our engagement party.  You know, Cristal.  The staple of every rapper or basketball player's fridge, according to MTV cribs. 

So classy.  Drinking $400 champagne out of a $100 Tiffany flute* while sporting $10 fun pants and unwashed hair. 

V-day was the perfect day to finally enjoy the bottle but I will admit that it's a little sad to open the fridge now and not see the pretty gold bottle in it's spot next to the 40 of Colt 45**. 

Husband, I mean Chef, kept careful eye on his well-thought-out meal.

I played Sous Chef.  And I made these delicious little balls of bacon-wrapped cipollini onions.

 

Quick pause to ooh and aww over the cuteness that is Bella.  And little Miles down there on the floor.  They are physically incapable of being anyplace other than the kitchen while we create culinary masterpieces.  Or microwave leftovers for that matter.  They're not picky.

Counterclockwise from top left:  Bacon Vinaigrette for the salad.  4 hour Syrah Reduction for the beef.   Um, beef... no idea what kind.  Err, cut.  Mushroom Risotto.

Bacon-wrapped cipollinis over Boston bibb lettuce with bacon vinaigrette. 

F-ing delicious.  I'm proud of this one.  All me, baby.

The finished product.  I, unfortunately, can take no credit for any of this.  Chef Husband is incredible.  Homemade mushroom risotto?  Amazing.  Beef with Syrah reduction?  Let's just say that I don't eat beef.  I ate beef this night.  Every last bite. 

So.  Spending a quiet Valentine's Day at home with my husband was quite lovely.  Cooking a meal together is one of our favorite activities.  As is drinking bottle after bottle of wine.  And tearing the living room apart looking for the shirt that mysteriously disappeared after being torn off during a certain amorous Valentine's Day act. 

Wait, what?  That's a story for another day ;)

*Another gift. If we had that kind of money to throw around I most likely wouldn't be sharing photos of myself in aforementioned $10 fun pants.

**I wish I was kidding about the 40. But you know, that's how we do it at Turner Lane.

Happy Two Thousand Eleven

If you read* last year's New Year's Eve post, you'll recall that I'm not a fan of the so-called appropriate way to pronounce the years of the new decade we've entered.  Twenty-ten drove me nuts and twenty-eleven makes me even crazier.  It just sounds silly.  So I'm gonna stick with my way of saying it til probably two-thousand-eighty-nine** or so.

Moving on.

My NYE celebration took place, once again, at Husband's fantastic restaurant.  'Cause you know, I'm kind of a fan of spending holidays with him and he kinda has to be there.  This year, however, I roped several friends into joining me and we had an amazing time.  Show-girl feather headpieces and all!

I think we make 'em work.  Next stop, the Bellagio.

Mr. & Mrs. P.  Note the champagne sabre in my hand.  Husband is pretty talented with that thing.

So.  Good friends, great food, a full restaurant, lots of bubbly (maybe too much, as my hangover was not pretty the next day) and I managed to stay up well past the ball-drop, til 3am.  I'd say that NYE 2011 was a success.  Or is it NYE 2010?  It's the eve of the new year, ie 2011, but NYE is technically still in 2010.  Ugh.  I think too much.



*Who am I kidding.  I have almost no followers.  After 15 months.  Sad.
**'Cause I'm anticipating super-advanced medical procedures and strong drugs to be a part of keeping me alive til I'm 109.  At least.

Sugar overload.

See this?

 This platter of cookies?

This half-eaten platter of cookies?

And this half-empty dish of peppermint bark?

Might be my fault.

I seriously can't stop.  But I really can't blame myself.  I mean, my sugar cookies and peppermint bark came out so amazingly good this year it would be a sin to NOT eat them.  Right? 

Someone should have stopped me after #5 last night.

I woke up this morning with an aching stomach.  For real.  I thought that only happened to children. 

I need to get rid of these cookies fast.

To do that, I've come up with two possible solutions:

1:  Eat everything that remains as quickly as possible.

2:  Throw them away.

ha.

Let's be sensible here.  We all know I'm going to eat them.

So if anyone needs me in the next day or so, I'll be in a sugar-coma on my couch.

Happy Christmas!

This Thanksgiving I'm thankful for year-old cake.

Much to Bella's joy, my parents drove in from the 'lou for a Thanksgiving-week visit.

Much to Bella's dismay, they were here to see me and the husband.  Not her.  Ok, maybe her too.

And Miles.  Poor, tortured Miles, looking completely dejected in his sweater. 

Being the nice dog parents we are, we let him take it off.  So he could kill it.

Then we started the week off on the right foot with a Pre-Thanksgiving feast.  Italian-style.  'Cause, you know, everyone needs a 3,000 calorie meal four days before a 5,000 calorie Thanksgiving dinner, right?

And then we had cake.  Yes, we are those dorks who adhere to the old "let's keep the top-tier of wedding cake in our freezer for an entire year and eat it at our first anniversary!" tradition.  

Now obviously we missed our anniversary.  But look at the size of that cake people!  There was no way we were going to eat that without some help.  Or without subjecting loved ones to freezer-burned buttercream.

In actuality, the cake wasn't that bad.  The frosting was a bit chalky but the cake and filling tasted just like they did at our wedding.  Or so I'm told.  I didn't get cake at our wedding.  Not sure how that happened. 

The week of my parents visit was, per-usual, jam-packed with fun things to do.  What's a vacation if you actually get to relax, right?

First up was a New York State Restaurant Association dinner honoring my wonderfully-talented father-in-law, Chef Yono, for the Faces of Diversity award he received earlier this year from the National Restaurant Association. 

Here we are looking pretty.

 And here we are in the limo we surprised my parents with.

Remember this?  Because of that, we rode in style for the evening.  For free.  Suck on that, Unnamed Transportation Company.

We look happy, no?  Doesn't mean you're off the hook for last year's debacle.

More highlights of the visit:

Lunch with the Plue-family patriarch, Great Uncle Art.

Lunch with my dad's fourth grade teacher, Shirley, who is now basically a member of the family.

 Mom drinking a Sweet Carolyn at dp.  Named for me, duh.  Mom loves martinis at dp.  I love watching Mom drink martinis at dp.  Tipsy Mom is hilarious.

Aren't we precious?  Please ignore the fact that my shoulders are up to my ears.  I always forget that this is NOT a flattering way be photographed.

 Mom and me, post 5,000 calorie Thanksgiving dinner.  If only I hadn't been so preoccupied with stuffing my face then I would've gotten a shot of the dinner table over-flowing with food so good that I ate leftovers for breakfast, snack, lunch, snack and dinner the next day.

Don't you just love food Thanksgiving?



Holiday Hell

Well, not really. 

But does anyone realize that Christmas is in like 2 freaking weeks?!!

Do you all feel like the holiday season completely snuck up on us this year, out of nowhere?  Like, hey, hello!  It's almost Christmas, remember?  Better get your shopping done!

Haven't even started. 

Nor do I want to.  Not sure what it is about Christmas this year (oh, wait!  maybe it's the lack of money in my bank account) but the thought of Christmas shopping is seriously daunting. 

It's making me sad that something I thorougly enjoy has no appeal this year.  I pride myself in coming up with the PERFECT gift and I love spending an evening by myself at the mall hunting for said gift.  And even better, I love the actual giving and opening of my gifts.  What's better than making someone you love happy?

I need to snap out of this. 

I think a trip to the mall is in order. After a large glass of wine.

A Mean Little Groundhog.

Ugh. Winter makes me lazy. And stupid Phil had to crawl out of his hole and see his stupid shadow. Or not. I don't know the mechanics of Groundhog's Day, I just know that he's jinxed us into 6 more weeks of cold.

I actually can't believe I'm saying this. I love winter. And snow. Seriously.

But this year, it's turned me into a food-loving, weight-gaining couch potato. I literally don't do ANYTHING when I get home from work anymore. The cold weather makes me want to curl up into a ball under my blanket with two cuddly dachshunds in front of the tv for hours. Or maybe it's the fact that my house is freezing all the time thanks to the constant draft entering through our disgusting old windows.

Either way, I'm sick of it. Bring on the warmth.

I want the sun to be shining past 5 o'clock. I want to go for a run - OUTSIDE. I want to be a good dog-mom and take M & B for walks. I want to drink a margarita on my front porch...

Think summer would come any faster if I went to Punxsutawney, PA and had a little chat with Phil? ;)

A Little Overdue Christmas Post

I know, I know, it's January. I like to drag the holiday season out as long as possible... although, my tree did come down before New Year's this year. How sad.

Onto the pics:

~OUR FIRST ANNUAL CHRISTMAS EVE BASH~

Mr. & Mrs. P, in front our gorgeous tree :)

This party was specifically designed for those of us who don't yet have to play Santa and have the kiddies in bed by 8 to put the presents under the tree.

Me and Sissy (in-law)

We had a fantastic time. What's not to love about food, liquor and a little Christmas cheer?

Note the picture of the bar taped to the wall above the, um, bar. It was scheduled for delivery the day after Christmas. Go figure.

Nunz thought it appropriate to tip me, as my "shot girl" skills were top notch.

Two of my favorite girls.

~CHRISTMAS MORNING~

Please try to contain your laughter. I don't photograph well to begin with... glasses and last night's makeup only make it worse.

My beautiful new watch (courtesy of Mom) and ring (courtesy of husband). I could be a hand model, no? ;)

The pups, playing with their Christmas presents. They obviously hate them ;)

The aftermath. Ugh. Even at almost 30, we can't open presents neatly.

The piece de resistance, finally out of Crate & Barrel's warehouse, put where it belongs. Don't judge. It had to be filled and photographed before we even thought about cleaning the floor around it. Alcohol takes precedence over cleanliness in our home ;)

So that's that. Christmas 2009 is over. Hope everyone got (and gave!) everything they wanted!

Maybe I'll start decorating in October next year...

Happy Twenty Ten

That bugs me. It's two thousand ten. Twenty ten sounds silly. Just my opinion.

Hope everyone rang in the New Year as uneventfully as me :)

Gifts Galore

So now that I'm out of my post-Christmas funk, I can focus on happy things again. Wanna see some of the lovely things we received for Christmas this year?

Of course you do.

The husband and I didn't do too much for eachother because we splurged on the last (well, maybe not the last) piece of furniture that we NEEDED for our house. Everyone needs a really expensive home for their liquor, right?

I'd love to tell you that this beauty pictured is the actual one that was delivered to my house (two days AFTER our Christmas Eve party, I might add) but I can't in good conscience tell you that my glassware is that shiny.

Even though we agreed not to do much besides the bar, the husband was fantastic as always and got me some pretty lovely things.

I can no longer say that I'm the only girl in the world who doesn't own a iPod.

Yes, he picked this out from White House Black Market all. by. himself. Good husband :)

Think he's trying to tell me something?

Aside from these lovelies, he got me some fabulous costume jewelry. I've had an (unhealthy for my earlobes) obsession with big, dangly, sparkly earrings recently, and he took notice. I found four pairs under the tree.

Now you're probably wondering what I got him.

Apparently I got him everything except what he really wanted. What could that possibly be, you might be wondering?

Underwear.

Seriously.

He has an obsession with a very particular type of designer underwear. He cracks me up. Now, as much as he needed new ones and as much as I'd like to see him in them, they're expensive, and I couldn't see spending $100 on a few new pairs for him. Where's the fun in that?

So instead, I got him the usual... shirt, several ties, cufflinks, peanut M&Ms...

Oh, and this:

I'm a good wife ;)