See you in 2011

I'm off the Red Sea tomorrow morning for a week of relaxing, sightseeing and fun. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe New Year's Eve!

Colored Canyon, Egypt
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Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
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Merry (belated) Christmas!

The mister and I had a fabulous Christmas in London. We ate so much food I'm not sure I need to eat for another couple of days. (Of course that didn't stop me from making White Chocolate-Gingerbread Blondies tonight)




sister in law's Christmas tree



our (huge) amazing turkey

Christmas crackers
cool windup reindeers that came complete with a racetrack

my Christmas present!



We played the game Logos for a few hours. It was so fun!



Engagement Presents

Two of my very dear friends got engaged last weekend. Tears streamed down my face as she told me the story of the proposal (I am such a sap). As I mentioned previously, I seemed to have reached that point in my life where everyone I know is celebrating a great milestone in their lives. I love celebrating (mostly because it involves champagne which is hands down one of my favorite drinks on the planet) and I also love giving gifts.

I have given this ring bowl several times as an engagement present (as well as purchased it for my own wedding) and I absolutely adore it. It is such a personal gift without being over the top or cheesy. I especially like that it can be included in the ceremony or simply used as a wall ornament or a ring holder (which is what I use it for).

Personalize ring bowls
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our ring bowl that I now use to hold my rings at night.
ordered off etsy from Paloma's Nest

Snowy Days in London

The weather has turned quite cold in London and after several days of snow dumping outside, all I want to do is stay inside and stay warm.



 



 

As the snow came down the other night the mister and I curled up to our HD fireplace. Since our flat lacks a real fireplace we decided to hook my laptop up to the TV and enjoy some fire-like ambiance.

 

While I've spent a good amount of time inside during December's "arctic blast", I am still longing for a winter get-away to somewhere warm. I've been searching for deals to North Africa and have come across quite a few great ones (here and here to name two). Here's hoping we can squeeze in one last trip away this year!

Individual Meatloaves

Meatloaf is one of those all-American meals that most other cultures look at in bewilderment. I know when I first introduced the mister to meatloaf at my parents house, he was nervous; didn't know what to expect.

I have never made a meatloaf mainly because of their size. I never want to eat that much meatloaf (and I've never seen a meatloaf recipe that feeds less than 4). After a fairly successful phone interview for a potential job late Friday evening, I decided to make Pink Parsley's individual meatloaves for the mister and I. We spent Friday night in, eating delicious meatloaf, having a few drinks, watching NCIS and waiting for the last of our Wedding presents to be delivered.

The mister also cooked up some of The Pioneer Woman's crash hot potatoes. I had to half Pink Parsley's recipe in order to make meatloaf for just two, but it worked out really well.

Whoopie Pies for an early Christmas lunch

Last Sunday the mister and I attended a Christmas Lunch. After spending almost all of Saturday nursing a hangover, it was good to get out of the house and eat lots of great food. My fellow Balham dweller did an unbelievable job preparing the turkey, veg and my favorite, sausage wrapped in bacon. What was even more impressive was that she had stayed out with me until the wee hours on Friday night, did it again on Saturday night (while my elderly body failed me at home) and was still able to cook an amazing lunch for 10 people! What a gal!

My contribution to the party was an east coast delicacy known as whoopie pies. As far as I know, we didn't have these in California when I was growing up. I saw a recipe for pumpkin whoopie pies over on Jamie of All Trades and they did not disappoint.

While my whoppi pies were not nearly as symmetrical or pretty, they tasted great. I didn't have any cream cheese frosting so I substituted it with vanilla frosting by Rachel Ray.

homemade whoppi pies

Mini Cupcakes

While I could easily bake mini cupcakes in my oven, I love this mini cupcake maker!

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At £24 (from John Lewis) it's not a bad price, considering a mini cupcake tin would cost about £10 and the mini cupcake maker is slightly more convenient. But alas, my kitchen is still running on full after the arrival of our wedding presents. Speaking of wedding presents, I still need to put my Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery cookbook to use.