The week before Christmas break the girls had school spirit week.
They had pajama day.
And holiday fashion day.
And dress to impress, which Averi was all about.
One afternoon we decorated gingerbread men.
We had an early Christmas with the family and then spent an afternoon in Coronado.
We ran off for a few days over Christmas and celebrated with the girls a couple of days later. They were tortured by having to wait.
And wait.
Finally, they were able to open the ridiculous amount of presents that they had.
I need to have a talk with Santa about the Mini Brand Mart he brought all three girls. I think he needs to come back and put these together himself.
Save yourselves. Do not purchase unless you want to spend hours of your life putting together a million little pieces, that are flimsy… AND then watch the kids pull their hair out trying to the items to stay on the shelves.
Anxiety in a box. These should come with wine and a Xanax.
Last year my brother gifted us a night’s stay at Ponte’s Inn and Vineyard in Temecula for our birthday’s.
We finally had a free weekend to enjoy it. Once we checked in and dropped our stuff, we headed out for wine, starting at Altisima. They are a newer winery, making old world and new world wines with Spanish roots. The grounds are beautiful as is the tasting room. Luckily we had a knowledgable pourer who had a fun personality, that can make all the difference (well that can make a difference in the experience, not in the wine). Luckily the wine was superb, everything we tasted we enjoyed, and that rarely happens.
We moved on to a couple more wineries that we haven’t been to, and honestly, didn’t really like. We ended at Bottaia. Bottaia is Ponte’s sister winery, the same winemaker but elevated, I guess. I was eager to try it because I do like Ponte’s wines. When you walk in you are greeted and then asked to pay depending on what type of “experience” you want. Uh, ya, we want the one where we try your wine please. Their description reads “chic”, I say boujie… They say “elegant”, I say expensive. The experiences that they were offering were….we could either sit out on the deck and choose from a flight of wines or we could sit in the cold barrel room, and choose from a flight of more expensive wines. We chose the deck, ordered some hummus and wine.
Nope, not for us. It felt as if the focus of the winery was on the atmosphere, opposed to the wine. We didn’t like any of them and you guys, it’s not cheap. I wouldn’t go back on purpose.
However, the view of the vineyard when the sun started to set, was gorgeous.
We had dinner at Bouquet, the restaurant at Ponte. It was good, very intimate. Mushroom soup and scallops, not bad at all.
The next morning we were looking for egg bennies before we drove home. We stopped at a winery whose website said that they had it on their menu. Lies, all lies. Once we were seated we were handed a menu for lunch, which as you know, isn’t breakfast, it was very sad way to say, the end.
The next day the girls and I went to a Christmas party at the clubhouse.
They ran in and headed straight for the soda and donuts, and then waited for Santa.
Giving Santa the lowdown. Unicorns, horses and toys..oh my!
The girls met up with some friends and ran around outside for a good hour. Finally, when I was so bored I couldn’t take it anymore, we headed home.
The next morning we woke up to Cupcake confused on where he was at.
This is a festive and easy activity to do for the holidays. Two ingredients, that’s it. These will make the house smell amazing and they make a great homemade gift.
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup applesauce
4 oz. cinnamon
rolling pin
cookie cutters
glue
glitter various colors
straw
string
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 200°. Mix applesauce and cinnamon in small bowl until a smooth ball of dough is formed, your hands are the best tool for this.
I divided the dough amongst the three girls.
Roll dough to 1/4-inch to 1/3-inch thickness between two sheets of plastic wrap.
Peel off top sheet of plastic wrap. Cut dough into desired shapes
Make a hole at the top of ornament with a straw.
Place ornaments on baking sheet.
Bake for about 2 1/2 hours. Cool ornaments on a wire rack.
Once completely cool. brush with glue and decorate with glitter.
This recipe for an updated tuna noodle cazuela {casserole} is ridiculously good. While I was at Trader Joe’s trying to not buy all of the new products, and just focus on my list, ha ha, I realized that I wasn’t sure what the original recipe for tuna noodle casserole consisted of. Obviously canned tuna and a condensed soup of some sort. A no skill required, long shelf life ingredients and comfort food all rolled into one dish. Probably originated in the what, the 1940’s? By someone who thought fish and cheese should go together, because, that is not a popular culinary pairing. I don’t remember my mom making this really… ever. She isn’t a big casserole person, aside from her amazing tamale pie. Anyhow, long story short, this version of tuna noodle casserole is just as easy and doesn’t require canned cream soup, you’ll thank me.
Since I have made this a handful of times, I decided to try a different shape of pasta. Let me tell you, this lily shaped pasta was a perfect fit for this creamy baked dish.
TJ didn’t have Piquillo peppers so I grabbed jarred roasted red peppers, they will do in a pinch. Other than that, instead of canned soup, we make our own roux, I added a little garlic and crushed red pepper because you know me. This is a simple and straight forward recipe for any night of the week.
Creamy Tuna Noodle Cazuela
*recipe adapted from Food and Wine
Ingredients
12 ounces farfalle (bow tie) pasta
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk or half-and-half
1 1/2 cups frozen baby peas
3/4 cup piquillo peppers, sliced (6 ounces) *substitute jarred roasted red peppers
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
One 6-ounce can or jar solid white tuna in oil, drained and flaked
Salt and Pepper
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
Directions
Preheat the oven to 450°. Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain.
Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter. Add the onion (garlic and red pepper if you want) and cook over high heat, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the milk and bring to a boil. Cook the sauce over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 3 minutes.
Add the pasta, frozen baby peas, sliced piquillo peppers, Parmesan cheese and tuna and season with salt and pepper. Transfer the mixture to a large baking dish, a cazuela (casserole dish).
In a small skillet, melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter. Add the panko breadcrumbs and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until golden, about 1 minute. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the casserole and bake for 10 minutes or until bubbling.
Serve right away. Pairs well with an Albariño or a good Chardonnay.
Did you remember…. the 1st night of December (insert Earth Wind and Fire tune) lucky for us, our elf did remember to pay us a visit. Santa sent his elf Cupcake Dustybum to ours on the first night of December. He left a wrapped present for the girls.
But first, they had to read the official North Pole letter that our elf brought.
In the letter, Cupcake pretty much threatened them to be good, or ELSE!
The present was the Elf on the Shelf book that Santa sends them each year. They each took a turn reading it.
Along with the book, Santa sent them each an animal ornament, so nice, that guy!
Then the girls ran all over the house looking for Cupcake, every noise, anything out of the ordinary, it HAD to be him. But alas, he didn’t show his face until the next morning.
He got himself all tangled up trying to write a joke.
What kind of pictures do elves take?
Give up?
Elf-ies. Haha ha ha ha
Speaking of pictures, I took one of him and this is what I got.
Spooky eh? I didn’t even show the girls, they would have been in distress.
Apparently there was a cold going around Averi’s classroom and I guess Cupcake must of caught it. We woke up the next morning to this….
I think we should take Cupcake to get his Covid vaccine, just to be safe. If this is who he is kicking it with at night, we can’t be too careful.
We went and picked up a tree while the girls were at school that day.
They were so excited to decorate.
They asked Alexa to play the Justin Bieber Christmas song, repeatedly.
Later that afternoon, we had a belated traditional Thanksgiving with Shawna’s mom. I had a game plan, the potatoes were prepped and ready to cook, stuffing was a no brainer, rolls just needed to be heated, but, there’s always a but, the turkey was still partially frozen, or so I thought. I over compensated for the cooking time and I’m pretty sure the (13 lb. ) turkey was done in an hour and a half. I had the oven safe digital thermometer inside of the bird while it cooked, and it read done hours before I was expecting, wtf? Anyhow, I second guessed myself and cooked it a tad longer, and we ended with dry turkey meat. The SOLE reason I’m not a fan on the traditional Thanksgiving menu is becuase there is nothing worse than, dry meat. (Get your head out of the gutter) Boring, not enough dark TURKEY meat, too much white meat AND it was over cooked. Ugh, it still makes me frustrated. Anyhow, I am going to try and make a cranberry pecan turkey salad with the leftovers, wish me luck.
The next morning we woke to this.
Where are his manners?
This morning he was hiding pretty well.
I needed a hint to find him.
So, that is how the first few days of December has gone over here. I can’t wait to see what else Cupcake has up his elf sleeve.
This idea as I mentioned, came from a restaurant in Santa Monica, where everything we ate was delicious. I took this recipe and this recipe and combined them, so to say, and I wouldn’t change a thing.
Ingredients
6 oz. of your favorite goat cheese
24 plump Medjool dates, plus one more so you can taste it first
13 slices thinly sliced bacon, cut in half
16 roasted almonds
1/4 cup honey
1 tbls chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, add more if you’d like.
Salt and pepper to taste
Arugula for plating, if you’d like
Balsamic vinegar or glaze, for drizzle
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400°. Prepare a baking sheet lines with a baking rack.
Split the dates in half lengthwise, but don’t cut the date all the way through. Remove the pit and discard. Stuff each date with one almond and some goat cheese, probably around 1/2 teaspoon. Pinch to seal the date shut.
Next, wrap each date with bacon and place seam side down on the prepared baking rack. (This can be done ahead of time, and I suggest if you have other things to cook, go ahead and do these the night before and keep them in the fridge. It takes a bit of time to wrap the dates.)
(I put the dates on parchment paper to start, and then moved them to the baking rack)
In a small bowl whisk, honey, rosemary, cayenne pepper, a pinch of salt and pepper. Drizzle over the dates and then bake for 20 ish minutes. Until the bacon is crisp. These can be served warm or at room temperature, they are good either way.
To serve, plate with arugula and a drizzle of balsamic.
Thanksgiving is so much more enjoyable when I am not spending the entire day in the kitchen. I always fall into my overambitious entertainer phase that has me chaotic in the kitchen. Multiple foods overlapping with each other, I slowly lose my mind, usually break something and then complain about how much my back hurts as I nurse wine. So this year, we took a different approach, I ordered tamales, way too many tamales, of course, but that sure was the easier route. I did make an hors d’oeuvre, which was divine!
Bacon wrapped dates stuffed with goat cheese and an almond, served with arugula and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. We had this in a restaurant in Santa Monica so I tried to relive that experience, it worked.
SO good, I will post the recipe soon.
Along with those, my mom brought a salad, we had chips and guac, crackers with cream cheese and pineapple habanero jelly, the ham of all hams, tamales AND dessert. Just stupid, but so good.
Once again I failed with the pictures, I need to figure out how to force myself to take more pictures, suggestions welcome.
My brother brought a delicious dessert and an ugly dog (hopefully the owners don’t read this blog). He was dog sitting, sweet thing, the girls had a blast chasing the poor thing around the house.
She found solace on my dad.
We did manage to take a bad selfie of our chaotic family to send to our newest (cruise) friends. We are currently trying to schedule another one with them, so that’s exciting.
That about wraps up our holiday. We sent everyone home with food, Shawna did all the cleaning (thanks babe) and when the kids went to bed we finished binging season 3 of Hanna, so good.
Our weekday dinners are planned ahead, some of the days the menu reads kid friendly and the other days have more inspiration behind it. Nights where I want to create something more complicated or technically challenging with bolder flavors and spice. Meaning the kids won’t eat it. So, half of the time we sit down at the table all together. Asking the girls about what they learned, and who got in trouble, kids always like to tattle, so that will get them talking. The other nights Shawna and I eat in the living room watching Jeopardy, where the girls are hanging out.
This recipe doesn’t fall under complicated, actually it’s quite easy to throw together, but it’s a tad spicy. So if you have children with more refined palates than ours, they might eat it for you.
1/2 diced jalapeño (this can be omitted if you don’t want it spicy spicy)
1 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped roasted peanuts-a little extra if you want to garnish
1/4 cup minced cilantro-a little extra if you want to garnish
Salt to taste
Sriracha for garnish
Directions
In a sauce pan cook the rice according to package directions. Or, the way I do it. Heat a drizzle of oil in the sauce pan and stir in rice, let it get a little toasty and then add the water. Season with a little salt and a dash of sugar and the cook as the package suggests.
While the rice cooks, combine the sliced beef, soy sauce, brown sugar, fish sauce, diced onion, garlic, ginger, chile paste, diced jalapeño’s and lime juice. Stir and set aside.
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. When the pan is hot, add the meat and the sauce (everything in the bowl) to the skillet and cook, stir until meat is browned and the sauce thickens a bit. You can always add a little cornstarch slurry if you want the sauce thicker.
Remove from heat and stir in the chopped peanuts and cilantro, taste for seasoning.
Serve over your desired amount of rice, garnish with the extra cilantro and peanuts and drizzle with some sriracha.
Yes, I know we all just ate an excessive amount of food.
Whether you devoured the traditional Thanksgiving classics, decided to go global with your menu, or maybe you just said f*ck it, and ran off to Vegas for drinks and chips, the other kind ch$ps.
It takes awhile to get back in the mindset to meal plan again, I know because I’m struggling.
But, I do have a couple of recipes for you to jot down, you know, for when you’re ready to eat again.
Starting with….
Whipped Feta Dip with Olive Oil, Thyme and Roasted Toms
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled or cubed (room temperature)
4 tablespoons cream cheese ( room temperature)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium lemon zested & juiced
1 clove garlic minced
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven 400 degrees Place the tomatoes (toms) on a rimmed baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Add crushed garlic cloves and Thyme. Toss to combine, then roast for 20 minutes OR until tomatoes soft and begin to burst. Allow to cool as is, then remove the thyme and garlic.
While the tomatoes roast, prepare the cheese. In a small bowl, combine the minced garlic with the lemon juice, only if you want.
Combine the feta and cream cheese in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the cheeses are mixed and smooth. Drizzle in the olive oil while pulsing, followed by the honey. Then add the lemon juice and garlic mix, salt and pepper.
Process until smooth and airy.
Transfer to a serving dish. Refrigerate until the tomatoes have fully cooled.
Top the Whipped Feta Dip with cooled, roasted tomatoes.
Serve with anything, pita, crackers, toast, or even just your fingers.
You guys, we have fifth graders…. 5th graders, that is absolute bullshit. I had lunch today with my uncle and he brought up a memory that I had completely forgotten about. In 2011 San Diego had an unprecedented and unplanned power outage. I vaguely remember trying to put a five month old
baby to bed, in the dark with no power. We live on sound machines, so I am not sure how I survived that, probably with wine.
Anyhow, now she is finishing her last year of elementary school and that makes me feel all sorts of ways.
To raise money for their fifth grade promotion, the girls volunteered at their school craft fair selling food. They loved it, they would have worked until sun down. Even Averi got in on the action, amazing, ask them to help around the house, and I am a mean mom, but at school, it’s a holiday.
They were able to raise over $1,000, so the hard work paid off. They were rewarded with free room and board.
That was the tail end of the busy week I was talking about. It was nice to see other parents that we’ve missed, we talked to the girls old, that doesn’t sound right….the teacher they had for Kindergarten? You know what I mean right? Well we chatted with her for probably an hour, and I was lucky enough to meet Averi’s teacher, in person, and see her classroom. Funny how we aren’t allowed on campus during the week but on Saturday…. Speaking of that, all the girls have gotten their first dose of the vaccine, they should be fully vaccinated by Christmas. Jesus is clapping, be like Jesus.
I celebrated getting through the week with this.
A Thai Tornado with Tiramisu foam from Ding Tea. I can’t begin to try and explain to you how GOOOOOOD this is, it’s just, so good! And rich, I put half of it in the fridge for the next morning and then when I was prepping dinner, it fell to the ground and SPLAT, I cried. So, we now have a date with Ding Tea on Friday.
The Art of Thyming 