New Year's Resolution

As a rule, I don't typically make new year's resolutions.  This year, though, I think I'll start a new tradition and make some resolutions.  So, here they are:

1.  Brush up on my languages.  To make this one manageable, I'll do 4 months for each one of my three foreign languages.  Now, don't be impressed: I'm not fluent in any of them.  But I minored in Spanish, took introductory French, and even took two semesters of Hmong during law school.  I am now woefully far from where I once was in Spanish speaking ability, I can barely say four phrases in French, and I'm limited to "Hello, my name is Holly" in Hmong (nyob zoo, kuv lub npe hu ua Holly... it's definitely NOT phonetic).  So, I am starting in reverse chronological order: Hmong first, French second, and Spanish third.  Stay tuned...

2.  Stop biting my nails . . . for good.  I have been biting my nails for as long as I can remember.  My parents even bribed me with my choice of nail polish if I stopped for two weeks.  I stopped, picked black nail polish (how stylish was third grade me?), and immediately started biting my nails again.  I managed to lay off once more for the wedding, but when stress rears its ugly head, I'm back to biting.  Any suggestions on how to kick the habit?

3.  Learn to play the guitar.  How great would that be?  John has one, but insists he isn't any good.  So, I guess it falls to me to dust off the guitar and put it to use.  We'll see how it goes.  I used to play the violin, so I hope my experience with a stringed instrument will give me a jump start.  Anyone know of any good online tutorials?


Three seems to be a good number, so I'm going to focus on these and see what happens!

Do you have any resolutions?

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a fantastic new year's celebration!  We had some friends over, drank some bubbly, ate (in my case, way too much) yummy food, and rang in the new year.

I'll be posting my resolutions later this week, along with a how-to for one of our new year's eve appetizers: bacon wrapped, cream cheese stuffed dates!

(Belated) Christmas Cheer

So, I'm still coming down off of a Christmas high.  We had a fabulous Christmas with wonderful company and delicious food.  Despite it being our first time hosting Christmas, the day went smoothly with only one snafu: Inga's food jar was on the floor since we were using the table in the dining room and John forgot to put the lid on!  After her lunch, we found her head first up to her shoulders helping herself to who knows how much more food.  Oops!  But hey, it's Christmas.  It's only fair that the dog gets to over-indulge as well.  :)

Some of my Christmas highlights:

I love this tree! 
I usually only see it from the Cedar Ave. bridge; thanks to my brother for the up-close shot

Cupcake decorating set.
I have a feeling you'll be seeing this in some upcoming posts...

Our table, fiestaware all around

Our poached pear dish, caramel and ice cream included

I love when even the dirty dishes look pretty!

 I think I'm finally ready to move on past Christmas... :)  Happy new year!!

Reflections on the Year

This year has been momentous.  I:

• graduated law school
• got married
• went to 6 other weddings
• moved into a house with John
• got a puppy
• began a teaching job
• and applied for a PhD program.  

Phew!  I don't think I could have squeezed any more major events into a single year if I tried.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the coming year will be slightly more monotonous, but I will welcome the change of pace.  Now, don't get me wrong; I have lots of plans but on a much more minor scale (more on this in a later post).  For now I am going to relish the closing of this hectic year as I raise a glass with friends to ring in the new year.

Happy New Year to you all!

To Give and To Receive

My apologies for the delay in posting; Christmas has been a delightfully never-ending holiday this year :)  I hope your Christmas was as wonderful as ours!  I will have more pictures in a post next week, but for now a little bit on gifts :)

By far and away the best gift I gave this year was a remote controlled helicopter... to my husband.  He plays with it ALL the time!

If you need a gift for a guy, I could not recommend this more! Syma S107/S107G R/C Helicopter - Yellow

John and I also received a beautiful ornament from his grandparents:

I think Christmas ornaments are a perfect Christmas gift

 What was the favorite gift you gave this year?  Received? 

A Weekend of Christmas

One of the things I love the most about Christmas is getting to spend time with lots of friends, all in a festive mood.  This past weekend was full of Christmas-y celebrations!  This meant cookies, more cookies, wine, and the HOLIDAZZLE!

Typically, the weather here is unbelievably cold.  This year, however, the last day of the Holidazzle had us in the high 30s that night.  To non-Minnesotans, this might seem cold, but it felt downright balmy here!  And so, the Holidazzle was packed.  We got there maybe 10 minutes early and there was not a single good spot to be had.  So, you'll have to pardon my pictures- I was behind the crowds.

On our walk to the Holidazzle: a building reflected in a building

Trees along the parade route

The gingerbread house from Hansel and Gretel

Santa!

And we finished off the night with some holiday cheer at Solera, a really yummy Spanish restaurant on Hennepin

Christmas Menu: Cinnamon Poached Pears

From Real Simple

 For as long as I can remember, we have driven down to Missouri to celebrate Christmas with my maternal grandmother.  This year will be the first in many many years that I will not be in Missouri for Christmas.  While I will be sad to not spend the holiday with my grandma, it is time to start some new family traditions as John and I start our life together.  So, we have decided to host Christmas at our house this year!  We'll do presents and a wonderful meal for our parents and siblings who are able to come.

With this new tradition, we wanted to try some new foods for our Christmas dinner.  We've already done our own version of mashed potatoes and next up is a recipe I saw in Real Simple that I thought would make a beautiful dessert on Christmas day: cinnamon poached pears with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream.

I already have a caramel sauce recipe that I love and I figured I would give the pears a shot!

What we used:

2 pears
1/2 cinnamon stick
1/2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups water
2 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream

What we will use on Christmas:

10 pears
2 cinnamon sticks
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
2 cups of sugar
8-10 cups water (enough to mostly cover pears)
1/2 cup heavy cream
 

The steps are very simple (REAL simple, get it?).  First, peel the pears and use a melon baller to scoop out the core of the pears.

Then put all the ingredients in a pot and bring it to a boil, stirring gently to dissolve the sugar.

Once it is boiling, cover and reduce the heat so the pears simmer.  Let it simmer for a few minutes until the pears are soft (10-15 for the larger number of pears).  Then, remove it from the heat and let it sit for a while, cooling in the liquid.  After a little bit of cooling, remove the pears from the liquid.

After that, just add caramel!  Oh, and some vanilla ice cream on the side :)  I didn't feel like making the whole she-bang, so I just did the pears.  But they were delicious and will only be improved with caramel and ice cream on Christmas day!