Christmas in Collage

This year my family decided not to exchange gifts…except for me and my Mom.  Clearly I like songs, TV and kitchen stuff. :)

My uncle did contribute gifts in the form of reprints of pictures of my Grandparents in honour of my Grandfather who passed away recently.

Grandma and Grandpa got married in 1949.  Love this photo.

Then we spent 457 hours preparing dinner and 4.57 minutes eating it.

Our traditional family Christmas dinner:

• 15lb turkey
• bread and sausage stuffing
• gravy
• the best mashed potatoes in the world (!)
• smashed carrots and rutabega
• Brussels sprouts
• Nana’s Cabbage Salad
• cranberry sauce (from a can…shhhhh!)

Don’t worry.  The pumpkin pie gets in my belly right.now.

Long Lost Friend

Well, clearly I had a whole lotta fun in Vancouver last weekend because here we are a week later and I’m still recapping.  :)  I probably could have wrapped this stuff into a previous post but we all know that Trader Joe’s loot requires individual attention! 

Thanks to my shock and surprise (and complete lack of brain usage) I didn’t get a photo op with my long lost friend Alecia when she showed up for a 2 minute lunch date while Sarah and I were eating sushi.  So instead I just spent 15 minutes stalking her Facebook albums looking for a photo to steal.

How’s that?  I could have used any number of cute photos of her, or one of her multiple shots of celebrity meetings, but no…I chose to use this one.  Your welcome Alecia!

The reason this sweetheart came and tracked me down at lunch time was because she had recently returned from a trip to Bellingham and thoughtfully brought a bag of Trader Joe’s fun for me.  What a girl!

She just couldn’t go another day without seeing the Flat Bananas on my blog!  My tummy and taste buds thank her.

Bad bad girl also brought the amazing Choco Covered PB Pretzels.  My waistline hates you.

And some other way-fun snackage I’ve never had a chance to try!  Pineapple salsa (I actually have a jar of this in my cupboard from my own trip to TJs months ago…obviously I need to get around to the fish taco recipe I was imagining for this), tapenade, black bean dip, crackers and Reduced Guilt (ha!) brownie mix.  All healthy, thanks girl!

Of course, no gift package from a Vancouverite would be complete without some Canucks swag.  White towels from the Playoffs!  Woooooo!

Thanks for the bloggie/foodie support, Alecia!  Next time we’ll spend more than 3.2 minutes chatting on your lunch break.  xoxo

Family Christmas

Christmas Eve 2010

After cutting up four kinds of cheese, three kinds of salami, and fishing around in multiple pickle jars I had about ten minutes to do my hair. A hot curling iron and a small child’s Christmas bling headband worked some Christmas magic.

I’m the one with the camera so the obligatory bathroom mirror shot ensures I’m part of the photo memories!

Enough snacks for a small family army.

Santa Mommy…

Generally camera-shy cousin…

Cute grandpa and lady friend. Might be the cutest damn thing of the whole year.

Festive Aunt…

Franklyn enjoying the high of his Catmas present…

Lizzie discovering shrimp…

Santa Mommy and the family spoiled me this year.  I’m back in the land of Blu-Ray, finally have a brie baker in my possession, have a cool Etsy tote for James Dean, and my own copy of Eclipse for inappropriate Team Jacob moments.

The surprise of the year?  Another piece of technology to excite and befuddle me!

iPod Touch 4!  Maybe now I’ll actually use the iTunes card she bought me last year.   App suggestions for a newbie to the Apple world?

Many happinesses to you and yours.

Trying for Snow

After Monday’s incredible wind and snow storm – Snowmaggedon! – I woke up yesterday to a completely clear day.  Not a drop of white stuff. I was oddly disappointed…I think the Halifax Winters rubbed off on me!

Being Wednesday I grabbed a simple breakfast for during my conference call.  Chobani and banana.  There was of course coffee too.

Stoopy helped to ensure the container was clean.

Lunch was leftovers from my dinner out Tuesday evening.  The salad was still fresh and super crispy…and I had extra dressing packed up for dipping the cukes and tomaters.

Served up with crack hummus…and I finally opened the box of Mary’s crackers I bought like 3 weeks ago.

After lunch I got a chill.  Maybe eating yogurt and salad once Winter has hit isn’t the coziest of ideas?  Tea took care of that.

A mid afternoon swim in the almond butter jar…

And a late afternoon snacky-poo to tide me through the evening…mini Mandarins, dates, and chewy oatmeal cookies leftover from my last TJs gift package…

After work I bundled up against the cold and made the 15 minute walk over to Ingmarie and Alex’s for some chitchat and cocktails.  I had hoped by leaving my car at home I might convince the snow to come for my walk home, but no luck.

Alex made us drinks that warmed us from the inside and his sister showed up with homemade chocolate chip meringues…so delicious.  I then walked back home and decided to heat up a late night bowl of leftover soup.

I couldn’t resist the warmth and spice of the broth and dumplings calling me from the refrigerator…

And would you look at the lovely hand made gifts from Ingmarie.  As if she hasn’t spoiled me enough since I returned to town but she had belated birthday gifties for me too.  :)  Such a talented friend I have.

I just want to stuff that bowl to the brim with fluffy white rice!

Birthday Party #3

Awwww yeah!  Three!!  ;)

Not really so much a rockin’ partay as it was a Mother/Daughter day, but we still think we are pretty freaking cool. ha!

Mama let me sleep the morning away before arriving on my doorstep with a warm and caffeine filled latte and a bigass bag of birthday loot. :)

In the first bag was a snack (Cranberry Bliss Bar anyone?), a Starbies gift card (um, hello…mother is definitely perpetuating my coffee addiction) and a new sippy cup!

I had thought it a little unusual that Mom was making a big effort for me to find time for a visit BEFORE my birthday because often she and I don’t see each other on my birthday. I figured it mainly had to do with me living in Halifax for my last two birthdays.

Little did I know Mom had been sneakily cahooting with my friends via Facebook and decided to get me a way-fun, unexpected present!

That there is my very own Kindle!  I had absolutely no idea. :)

Since I had been eating out all weekend and really had nothing in the way of groceries on hand, we opted to head out for an early dinner.  I had a burger on the brain and after thinking about it for a bit we decided to head to John’s Place.

I haven’t been to John’s in EONS!  Not sure why…it just isn’t always on my radar.  Well Jebus…we are soooo glad we decided to go. 

Fun interior…

Delicious, soft focaccia bread with whipped butter…

Fluffy yet crispy battered onion rings with chipotle mayo…

(which we received for free because the waitress forgot to order them…her boo-boo, our gain!)

And what might possibly be the BEST BURGER WE’VE EVER HAD.  Definitely Top 5…more likely Top 3.  Hand to God.

I can haz cheeeezeburger!  Not sure if it was the perfectly soft bun, the BBQ sauce instead of ketchup, the thick and juicy beef patty, or the melted cheddar and crispy onions, but someone knows what they are doing. Oh.Em.Gee.

Who knew?!? John’s is so well known for it’s popular Sunday brunch and their yummy ethnic inspired dishes that I am pretty sure I’ve never heard a word about the burgers. Well, here is my word (and my Mom’s) on the subject: DEEEEEELISH.

That juicy pickle was tangy, and the side Caesar salads were damn near perfect too.  Creamy dressing with just the right amount of garlic and lemon…and we loved the addition of the hard boiled egg.

We waddled on out of there very happy campers.  Nom.

After dinner Mom had to head home and I spent part of my evening perusing the Kindle store.  I cannot for the life of me figure out which book to order first.  Help!!

Finish this sentence: If you loved The Time Traveler’s Wife you will also love _________________…

Obviously I haven’t been perusing book store shelves much lately.

With Winter rapidly approaching I can see a lot of cozy afternoons on the couch with hot tea, my fuzzy blanket, Mr. Stoopy, and hopefully a whole Kindle full of good reads.

If only I can come up with something more substantial than the newest Shopaholic book as my first purchase… :)