Seasonal buffet

We’re not talking Golden Corral buffets here.  I know, I know, it’s hard to believe this isn’t a post about food, huh?  I photographed cookies tonight and made some of the easiest yummiest treats EVER as well so don’t fret, there’ll be more food soon.

I don’t do a lot of seasonal decorating inside the house, but the one place I will break out the fake flowers, color-appropriate candles, and candy-of-the-moment is the buffet in the dining room.

In the fall:

For Christmas:

And just to keep it real, this is how it looks now while my dining room is Giftwrap Central.

My office is closing at noon so we can have a company lunch downtown (FAAAAAR away from any shopping) then I’m heading home to spend some time in the kitchen making eggnog fudge and brownie bites with Candy Cane Kisses in them.

TGIF and Merry Christmas, everyone!  I’ll try not to be totally MIA next week during my staycation.

Recipe Recap: Eggnog Cheesecake Bars

Do you guys like eggnog?  I feel like it’s one of those “love it or hate it” foods  because most people fall into one category or the other rather than in the “Sure, it’s okay” group. 

Having revealed that little pearl of wisdom, however, I have to say I’m in the “It’s okay” category.  I don’t miss it when it’s not available, and I’m not checking Harris Teeter daily starting November 1^st hoping to find that the nog’s finally being stocked.

I made these bars last Friday and took them to Women’s Night here in the neighborhood.  They had to stay in the fridge for half the night because the house was so warm and I was afraid they’d pull a Frosty and turn into a puddle.  So by the time they came out, I think the ladies had filled up on the other snacks.  Oh well, more for me for sharing with my office and the McHusband’s.

I changed the crust a little.  I ground up some gingersnaps so that I used 3/4 c of those crumbs with 3/4 c of graham cracker crumbs.  Of course, I don’t know what the original tastes like, but I think my crust was pretty darn good.

The receptionist at the McHusband’s office emailed me and asked for the recipe, and my coworker really liked them.  I didn’t think the eggnog was the overwhelming flavor so keep that in mind.  If you love eggnog more than Katie loves bacon, you might be disappointed; if you tend to say no to the nog, you should give these a try because you might just like ‘em.

{Recipe here}

Recipe Recap: Red Curry Shrimp

As promised, I decided to make a Thai recipe for dinner this past weekend.  I found this one on The Sweets Life, one of the blogs I read.

I think my Lean Cuisine gave me too high of expectations.  I mean, this was good and all, but it wasn’t as yummy as my favorite frozen-then-nuked lunch.  What I like about the LC is that the food is coated in the delicious sauce, which is thick.

My sauce was watery and made our meal soupy, which wasn’t very appetizing to look at (and my bad photography isn’t helping matters).

I’m not exactly selling this recipe, am I?  We did like it, I just wanted it to blow us out of the water and it didn’t.

I made quinoa to go with our shrimp and green beans so that’s what you see under the meat and veggies.

You got through dinner, I guess that means you get dessert.  But you’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

Stick It

So remember I said that my new galvanized tub held wine and vodka?  I wanted to fancy up our Vladimir vodka that runs about $15 per gallon so I cleaned the label off a clear wine bottle, stuck some silver letters on it, and put the vodka in my new shiny glass bottle.

I kept the bottle after the soiree and plan to use it at more parties.

My other craft project involved more silver letters and another clear bottle, this one acrylic and with a pump.

Am I the only one who finds herself at parties wanting some lotion for my hands?  Especially in the wintertime.  Well, I assumed I wasn’t the only one so I decided to make lotion available in the powder room to my guests.

I’m keeping it to the left of the sink.  Partly because the area to the right of the sink is a little crowded as is and partly because it just seems to make sense to have the lotion near the towel. 

Wash hands.  Dry hands. Rub on lotion.

So next time you’re at my house, help yourself to some lotion and vodka, although the latter’ll have to come from the plastic jug we keep in the freezer.  Not that you’re not special enough to have vodka out of a wine bottle; you are.  It’s just that we aren’t that fancy on an everyday basis.

It’s not you, it’s us.

Holiday Soiree

Our neighborhood had a holiday party this year and we hosted it at our house. It was a potluck so I only had to make the few things that I signed up for, which was a nice change of pace (literally!) from our usual parties.

We used Lucky Potluck as our sign-up sheet and it worked out really well. I recommend the site if you have similar needs. The best thing about it was that only the organizer had to provide an email address; everyone else just used the link to get to our potluck and then they were able to add their name and what they wanted to bring without giving contact info first. I was the organizer and the only thing Lucky Potluck sent me was a quick follow-up survey on how the site fulfilled my needs, which I was happy to fill out.

Since I didn’t have to stress (too much) about the food, I was able to stress instead about the decorating. I was mostly concerned with the dining room since that’s where the food was going. I had this idea of using candy canes as wallpaper and it looked as good in person as it did in my head. People were pretty impressed with my ability to stick candy to the wall.

Of course, I have the tree up in the bay window and then I added berry garland to the two floating shelves on the wall opposite the candy canes.

The buffet served as dessert central. I made the cupcakes and a batch of Peanut Butter Texas Sheet Cake Bars.

I ended up with hot pink frosting instead of red. Luckily, we kept the lights low in the house during the party so the cupcakes weren’t as Barbie-tastic as they appear in the photo.

I made doctored-up chocolate cupcakes with Andes peppermint bits in them, then made that white chocolate peppermint buttercream, the same one I used on the brownie pie. That stuff is goo-OOD! Just so people had some idea of what they might be eating, I stuck a mini candy cane in each cupcake.

One last look in the dining room. We pushed the table over to the side and lifted the light so people would have room to move around.

In the kitchen, I put Christmas lights up on top of the cabinets. Of course, now we like how that looks and adding lights up there and a switch down below might be a winter project.

I set the drinks up on the kitchen table.

I made a Pomegranate Martini and we also had a non-alcoholic punch and some sangria. I made some signs to go with each drink.

For mine:

For the sangria:

And the non-alcoholic punch:

We got a galvanized bucket from Lowes for about $13 and I used it to keep wine and vodka cold.

If you’re looking for a non-alcoholic punch, this Jingle Juice (a.k.a. Apple Orchard Punch) was tasty. I may or may not have spiked mine with vodka…

I made some other signs, thinking everyone could take turns having their pictures taken. You know, a version of the trendy photobooth pictures, but our photobooth was our laundry room.

I borrowed a Santa hat from Scott and Kara, but I think I was the only one who used that prop.

The Santa hat didn’t make clean-up any easier, but I suppose you could call it my spoonful of sugar.

I hope this was just the first annual Holiday Soiree and that more neighbors join in the fun as the years go by. After all, nothing fosters a sense of community like alcohol and innuendo the holiday spirit.

Recipe Recap: Peanut Butter Cup-Stuffed Chocolate Cupcake with Peanut Butter Frosting

{Is it wrong that I’m typing this up as I watch the finale of The Biggest Loser?  Hey, at least I’m not EATING one of those cupcakes while I watch the weight-loss show.}

I made these cupcakes using my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe and Annie’s peanut butter frosting.  If you check out the cupcake recipe – don’t be afraid of the coffee.  Embrace the espresso.  It totally enhances the chocolate flavor.  I don’t like coffee at all, and I can’t get enough of this batter where the coffee flavor is much stronger than in the finished product.

I decided to bake a miniature Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup into these cupcakes.  I froze those little bites of heaven then pushed them into the batter and covered them up.

Quick aside: If you don’t have one of these Measure-All measuring cups, you should get one.  It makes measuring stuff like peanut butter, sour cream, and Cool Whip so much easier.

Mine’s from Pampered Chef, but I’ve seen them at Bed Bath & Beyond and Crate & Barrel.

Okay, back to the cupcakes.  I was disappointed that the frosting was so soft and didn’t hold its shape very well.  It tasted amazing, though, so I forgive it.

I have to admit, I didn’t love the peanut butter cup in the middle.  I don’t know why exactly, but it just didn’t taste as good as I imagined it would.  I seemed to be in the minority as no one else voiced any complaints.

I wouldn’t say DON’T make these cupcakes, but instead of putting a Reese’s cup inside, maybe do Annie’s recipe with the peanut butter ball in the middle.  If you do, be sure to let me know how it turns out.

Jenny and I are on the same wavelength this week.  She also made some peanut butter and chocolate treats so if that’s a combo that floats your boat (although too much of a good thing might sink that same boat…), check out her buckeyes.

I think I’m going to try some Eggnog Cheesecake Bars for the Women’s Night that my neighbor is hosting on Friday.  If the McHusband doesn’t drink the rest of the quart, I’ll look for something else eggnoggy to make to use it up so stay tuned for those treats.

Oh, and a Lean Cuisine inspired me to look for a Thai recipe, and I found one that I think we’ll try this weekend.  Fingers crossed that my homemade food is at least as good as the frozen-then-nuked meal that I had for lunch on Monday.  Whether it is or not, I’ll be reporting back.

2011 Girls’ Christmas Dinner and Gift Exchange

How many years have we been doing this now?  I think this was at least the sixth year, and it might’ve been the seventh.  We use Elfster to draw names for the gift exchange and then this year, Google Docs and Sara – and her potentially unhealthy affinity for spreadsheets – helped us figure out where to go for dinner (Firebird’s).

Yep, it would appear we should’ve toasted technology at dinner. “And I’d like to thank the interweb, without which we wouldn’t be here tonight.”

We had an awesome waiter.  His name was Tom and he took great care of us, beginning with showing up with a stack of napkins to mop up the spilled water on the table.  See, what had happened was…  The menus were really big and our table was crowded so I pushed the menu out of the way and straight into a full glass of ice water.  Oops.  Luckily no one was sitting at those seats yet.  No, really, it was lucky because the table was far from level and the water made a beeline for the empty chairs.

Guess what Tom brought me after that?  A to-go cup of water with a lid.  Point to Tom.

Of course we girls had a wonderful time.  There were nine of us this year.  From my left around to my right: Vickie, Kim, Chelle, Heather, Anna, Leigh, Sara, and Vanessa.

Can’t wait to do it all over again next year!  Well, minus the spill…