Tuesday, December 18, 2012

It's Looking a Lot Like Christmas!

I don't know if it's just me or the holidays season is going by too fast. Christmas is only a week away! I was so consumed in my work after the vacation, I thought there wouldn't be any holiday fun for me. So I packed all that I could in the last weekend. I hosted some San Diego food bloggers for a holiday potluck. Who doesn't want to eat with a bunch of great cooks? There were a few appetizers, a wonderful winter salad with lemon-tahini dressing (yum!), two kinds of chili and a pecan pie, and some bubbly mimosas to down it all. I made two of the appetizers - pesto pinwheels and fig compote bruschetta. I used store bought pesto and pastry sheets to make the pinwheels.  The fig compote was home-made using the figs in my garden! Lightly grilled baguette topped with fig compote, goat cheese and chopped walnuts made for a perfect appetizer. I like these kind of finger foods for parties. You can hold your drink, eat and have a conversation all at the same time.


For more holiday cheer, hubs and I went to see some amazing holiday decoration displays in a nearby neighborhood. It almost felt like we were in the north pole - except there was no snow. Oh, the decorations were lovely! Every single house in the Christmas Card Lane was decked out and you couldn't pick a favorite if you had to. It was all so magical. The pictures hardly do it any justice.



I also attended another holiday party at a friend's place. It was nice not to worry about hosting and cleaning the place and cooking for a change.

Although nothing holiday related, I tried two new things over the weekend. Some simple white bread - since husband was tired of being the Guinea pig for my whole-wheat or multi-grain bread making trials. I did sneak in 1/3 of whole wheat flour but this version was loved a lot more than my previous attempts. You know what I love on top of a slice of bread? Poached eggs! That's right - I poached not one, but two eggs without having any disasters! I'm so proud of myself and so very thankful to Anne Burrell for showing the perfect technique. I know what I'll be making for brunch the next several weekends.


A few more days of work and we'll be off on a mini getaway to celebrate Christmas. If I don't get to wish you before that, hope you have a fantastic holiday in the company of your near and dear ones. Do eat lots of food without worrying about the calories. There's always the new year to make resolutions!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...