Recap of My Month Long Bender

Conscious decision to enjoy my weeks off during the holiday to unpack, organize, and explore Cincinnati and make some new friends in the process.  All while unplugging from this bad boy.

Without further a do, my December bender, in review:

Went to frigid Bengals games (twice).
Got harassed by large man behind us sick of the selfie-cam in his face, hence the photo of us in the bottom right.

Braved the latest Hobbit.  Unsure what part of the 14 part "trilogy" we are now on.
They are clearly all the same, and all entertaining nonetheless:
Hobbits fulfill little-people fetishes, Orlando bats for the other team, Dumbledore visits from Hogwarts.

Missed the Santacon memo.
Preparation have begun for next year.

Found Finnley a friend.
Meet Bertha, my new pet pelt.

Regretted not purchasing Galaxy Cat Pants from Target.

Reunited with roomie and friends from freshman year at UPenn!

Met up with my cousin and her bf in NYC!

Learned what it's like to fly out of not-Atlanta.

Saw the Nutcracker and washed it down with some amazing ice cream.
Added ice skating to our Cinci bucket list.

Checked out the home rival game of Xavier - Univ of Cincinnati.
They serve beer, so I don't know who won.

Celebrated Christmas our way, with meat, cheese and booze (also the traditional Ray crab bisque!)
The underage kid at the package store assured me Fireball + Rum Chata are what the kids drink these days... 

First bathroom stall selfie!
Added "maturity" to my 2014 Resolution list.

Explored Mt. Adams (patio bar).

Pre and post-gamed our NYE celebrations with these bad boys.

Toasted NYE at a delicious Italian place in OTR.
I do consider myself cooler because I know what OTR means and you don't.

Brought in the New Year with new friends, our next door neighbors!
Vowed never to return to the Cinci casino for fear of catching bankruptcy and airborne herpes.

Killed another animal for my new Eskimo jacket.
What did this fox say?  Nothing his grandmother would be proud to hear.

Got stuck in the airport for 8 hours trying to get to an engagement party I co-hosted for my childhood bestie.
Made some new friends [on my iPad].

Finally arrived to be greeted by this fool, unsure where the people driving the jetway were.
Waited another 30+ min for them to page someone to attach us to the airport.

Visited the gorgeous Raleigh outdoor museum, including Rodin sculpture garden for bff's engagement photos.
Not stealing her thunder, so I won't post any... but wow.  What a location and what a gorgeous couple!  Will link once she posts!

Link ups: Funday Monday, Transatlantic Blonde, Monday Bloom

Holiday Cheer is Finally Here

While our house may still be a debacle of cardboard boxes, insane amounts of unnecessarily clothing (due entirely to my the Hubs' obsession with coats, and none of my own) and two people now working from home without a desk or breath of fresh air... we found the Christmas supplies this afternoon!

Up went the mini tree and around the house I sprinkled the few measly bits of holiday cheer I could muster the energy to put up, knowing they were coming down in (presumably) 3 short weeks.  But seeing as how this is a new city and we know nobody... no promises on these puppies not making it straight through to Spring.  I have literally no where left to store any of them anyway!  

Love these little guys - especially the feathers!

I will so miss Swoozies :(
Best place in Atlanta to get super cute hostess gifts and fun house decor, especially at the holidays.

Fun Mrs. Claus apron from the mom-in-law last year.

No mantle - haven't Macgivered anything crazy yet to substitute, but I'm pontificating as we speak!
I lucked out and got some great family ornaments this year from my parents!

Cute set my brother made me for Christmas a couple of years ago, when we celebrated in NOLA.

At first I thought this was one of those horrible "Keep Calm And...." things when I unpacked it.
After I got over my mortification at having bought something so cliche, I remembered this has sparkles! and stopped caring.

Mr. Claus looking festive, and demonstrating our serious spacial issues in the house right now!
This is our "home office" - mine is located at the dining room table!

Botanical Garden Holiday Lights

'Tis the season for all things jolly and delicious.  And cold.  So much cold.  Makes my lady balls shrivel up just thinking about the impending cold of Cincinnati.  I'm finally starting to embrace snuggly clothing, mostly thanks to my new fleece-lined tights.  Hubs: "I see these are an acceptable form of pants to you now."  In past years I would just wear my usual short sleeve stuff and then throw on a bigger jacket.  So much easier than having to worry about layering or comfort.  Not to mention the PITAness of dressing and undressing, or, God forbid, an emergency pee stop.  You know the kind, where you're twitching and hopping trying to get your button undone, but you have to go so bad that your pants are on extra tight and you seriously consider just peeing straight through?  These are the fears I have around cold weather clothing.

And sweaters never stay their shape.  What is that.  How can a t-shirt last for 20 years and they can't figure out how to mold my llama fur back into arm holes after it accidentally takes a whirl in the washer?  I googled a badly-fitting sweater gif, since gifs appear to be my latest attempt at acting well under my actual age.  I got a link to these guys' 3-D printed sweater on kickstarter instead.  This 3-D printing phenomenon is pretty cool so I investigated.  First comment: "Um. That's not 3D printing. It's called "knitting" and it's been around for quite a while."  Hahahaha.

Wow.  How did we get here...

Bestie-best scored tickets to see the Botanical Garden Holiday Lights before they were open to the public.  They had s'mores and hot toddies for sustenance as you wandered through the gorgeously lit up garden and admired all the dead-for-winter plants.  Then we hit up Ormsby's for some tipsy Jenga action.  Because that's what we do.

Linkuperoo!

2013 Henri Bendel Holiday

My 2013 Holiday Catalog came in the mail from HB!!!  *drool*

 



 

 

One of the reasons Hubs is lucky I had to stop going to NYC for work...

I hadn't seen the Henri Bendel flagship in the daylight yet!

Gift Thy Neighbor

So we moved in to our new home 6 months ago and I still only know a couple of the neighbors!  Eek!  Between traveling all week to Birmingham, out of town almost every weekend for weddings, Clemson games, and otherwise and being DIY house project-attempters in every other waking minute I haven't exactly been the most open-door policy newcomer!  

To be fair, my neighborhood literally is 90% couples with little bambinos, all of which seem to have paired off into teams of roaming stroller gangs.  Besides taking Finnley for her walks, our only neighborhood social outings have consisted of a couple of sunset booze cruises in the golf cart - still working on our theme song.

It's a convertible.  No big deal.

So I made some gifts to spread some holiday cheer!  Seriously only 2 people out of 12 were home when Patrick, my brother and I wandered the streets handing out our hot cocoa mix, one of which had literally no idea who we were.  Ha!  Thought that counts - good thing I put our address on the label!

Hot Cocoa "Snowman Soup"

1 cup unsweetened hot cocoa mix
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips (mini melt better!)
1/4 cup crushed peppermint candies
Lots of marshmallows!  More marshmallows!

Fashion some tags and write some instructions (I happened to have hot cocoa stamps and cutesy things in my grandma stash of scrapbookables!)

1.  Mix ingredients in a large bowl
2.  For each serving, stir 1/3 cup cocoa mix into 1 cup boiling water or warm milk

Yummy and adorable!



But then again, maybe this is why we have no neighborhood friends...

1st Holiday Dinner Party

Last night I hosted my first ever seated dinner party, in the new home and in life! Fiancé I hosted his family for a gourmet meal and cocktails at our house and I think it went off rather perfectly!
I notoriously stress the heck out when I'm on a time crunch but luckily I prepped everything beforehand and even wrote out a timing chart for myself!  OCD much?!  Unfortunately I got so caught up in the cooking and entertaining I forgot to take pics of the final products, but lets just say mine made these pro photos look like they belonged at the kiddy table (right...!)

Every recipe I used was a new one, except the cashews and potatoes and I will reuse every one! The tenderloin will take some adapting for a better crust though, as there wasn't any crunch factor. Lots of firsts: 1st lobster, 1st Brussels sprouts, 1st beef tenderloin and 1st cheesecake!

 

My future mamma-in-law got me this adorable apron for the occasion!  So thoughtful!

The Menu
Appeteasers
Rosemary and Cayenne Tossed Cashews
Dips & Spreads (tapenade, spin dip, hummus, etc.)

A Little Sumthin Sumthin
Avocado and Tomato Lobster-tinis
Toasted Baguette with Killer Italian Olive Oil (snuck home from Verona visiting my bestie last year)

The Big Kahuna
Mustard and Horseradish Crusted Beef Tenderloin
Balsamic Glazed Brussels Sprouts and Dried Cranberries
Roasted Rosemary Potatoes and Cippolini Onions

Sweet Treat
Individual Caramel Cheesecakes with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

The Recipes

Rosemary and Cayenne Cashews
These are so fabulous and addicting like crazy! You have to serve them warm though, because as the butter cools it gets a little sticky. These smell just amazing while cooking!  Don't cut out the cayenne, it really makes them pop!

Avocado and Tomato Lobster-Tinis
I adapted this recipe and added cherry tomatoes for some Christmas color! This is a very acidic vinaigrette but quite delicious - I baked the lobster tails, cut the horseradish in half and added more honey but otherwise stayed true to B. Flay.  Next time I'll slow it down on the Worcestershire too I think!

Cut as close to the edges as possible for max yummability

Run your knife around the edges of the meat to separate, as well as get the marinade in the little nookies

Drizzle with the good stuff

Make some fun animals - a whale, a goose andddd a lobster tail, whammy!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Balsamic and Cranberries
I've never made Brussels sprouts before this because I don't care for the bitter almost pungent flavor, but after this recipe I am a changed chicky! I didn't even know they were "Brussels" sprouts, as in the location, and have always referred to them in the singular!  Learned something (or 57 things) new!  I used premade balsamic glaze to save time and just tossed the roasted sprouts w the Craisins and glaze until it looked pretty!

Check out that Stalk o' Sprouts!  

Roasted Potatoes and Cippolinis
This is a ridiculously easy, foolproof recipe that I've made a dozen times. I ran out of dried rosemary so I subbed an Italian blend of dried herbs (not fresh!). If you can't find Cippolinis you can chunk up a large onion into similar sized pieces and throw it in instead! I used a fingerling blend that included purple potatoes, who doesn't love that??



Dijon and Horseradish Crusted Tenderloin
This monster was a super easy prep with pretty good results. I marinated for 24 hours which could be why it didn't get a true crust.  It was good, but not super duper great flavor.   Also I cooked it at the same time as the potatoes, so I had to add about 10 min to the cook time for medium-rare. SUCH a tender cut of meat, which I love!  Even after my future sister-in-law nuked hers to a dark gray puck, it was still pretty tender apparently!  

Lather on the goodness!

Salted Caramel Cheesecakes
Oh. My. Goodness. These were amazing. Like make every day and hide them in your pocket amazing. I made 12 for 7 people in case of breakage during playing, which I'm glad I did - not because a single one broke, but because I have 5, FIVE! to devour today!  I made these 6 hours in advance and you definitely need to refrigerate up till the moment you're ready to plate.   I cheated here too and used a squeeze bottle of Ghirardeli caramel to drizzle on top to save time. The salt is a MUST on top.  AND they're from Cooking Light and relatively low cal (254 calories each!)

Drinkable.

Golden little crusties

Such a fabulous meal with fabulous family!