Wednesday, December 24, 2008

I'm no Annalise ...

But every now and then I can fake it! I love to bake, especially at Christmas. I've been baking and cooking up a storm lately for parties and gift giving. Here's what's been going down in my kitchen.
Just a taste (pun intended) of the Christmas baking I've been doing: all manner of cookies, fudge, almond truffles, pumpkin truffles, white chocolate macadamia truffles, nutella truffles, cherry chocolate scones, turkey cheese scrolls, a white chocolate raspberry trifle ... I guess January is going to be the time to get back on the wagon with my diet. :-)



These sugar cookies were awesome!

Super simple, and a great appetizer for parties.

Where my heart will always be. :-)

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Nostalgic Music

At what point in life does some experience go from routine to past?

There are some experiences that remind me so much of home that their very mention takes me back to that time and place. This is especially true when it comes to music.

For example, this past weekend I visited Anne and Brian in MA. We had a great time exploring the cape in the frigged weather (it was 16 degrees with the wind chill) and eating some delicious cupcakes.


What was so special to me, however, was being at the Cheers bar in Boston before I had to leave on my flight Monday afternoon. The theme song, "Where Everybody Knows Your Name", always reminds me of the Thursday nights I would spend at my Mom and Step-Dad's house. Even though I didn't get all the jokes, I knew all the lyrics to that song by the time I was seven years old.


As I've gotten older, I have come to appreciate the little things that take us back to when we were young. Every time I hear Billy Joel, I'll think about my friend, Ben, who always played his songs in high school. The song Dancing Queen always reminds me of Annalise, who sang it in our high school pop show (I think my Dad still has the video). And Bon Jovi's album Crossroads will forever be memorialized as the soundtrack to many drives to Hallettsville, TX to visit my Granny. (My Mom is a huge Bon Jovi fan.)

I wonder if anyone else can relate. What music takes you back?

Friday, December 5, 2008

Thankful

Last week my parents came in town to visit for Thanksgiving. They brought along my brother, Reid, and it was a blast seeing all of them.

We decided to meet up in DC when they arrived and spent some time on the national mall and inside the Smithsonian. Go to my mom's blog here to see some pictures of us inside the National Art Museum. One little tip, though: if you decide to park on Ohio Ave NE on a regular work day, move your car by 4 PM. They were about to tow my car when we arrived at 4:05. They didn't tow it (thankfully) but I did get a nice little $100 ticket as a parting gift.

The Thanksgiving meal can be a little overwhelming, but with all of us cooking we pulled it off in no time. Including my roommates family, we had eight people surrounding our table. Everyone loved the dinner and we were full for days. During the meal we went around and said what we were thankful for. Everyone was so blessed and thankful for having employment, food on the table, and wonderful friends and family to share it with.

I guess most families watch football after they eat. My family got to have ECGs, blood pressure measurements and card tricks courtesy of me, Adrianne and John. Adrianne is Marie's eldest daughter and just started medical school. She was eager to try out some of the clinical procedures she'd learned and I jumped on the bandwagon with my electrophysiology background. John (Marie's boyfriend) entertained the patients with card tricks. Even though we'd just consumed a huge meal, everyone checked out great!

I look forward to next year's holiday, but I hope Adrianne isn't going to be doing a surgical rotation around that time ...