Merry Christmas 2011

The holidays were festive and fun around here!  We kicked off the holidays with a small shindig at our house the weekend before Christmas.  We had yummy food, wine, and cocktails (The Cranberry Kiss is a great holiday drink!).  The party really kicked off the week of Christmas appropriately!

On Christmas Eve we did the annual Day family gathering at my folks house.  Since we did a huge family Thanksgiving party, Brady’s First Birthday, and a family funeral all within a few weeks of Christmas, mom and dad decided to just do our small family on Christmas Eve (10 people vs. 25 people).   The party was great and mom and dad went all out with their menu.  After dinner we did the gift exchange, which is my favorite part!  This year my family used Amazon Wish Lists to help with the shopping and it totally worked.  Also, I was able to order almost every gift online…awesome.

On Christmas Day Ryan and I woke up at 6am to see what Santa had brought us.  Ryan got an XBox 360 and I got a Karaoke Machine and a new workout gadget called the FitBit.  We sang and danced using our new gadgets till 9am when we had to leave for DeSoto.

Ryan’s mom, Karen, was throwing a shindig in DeSoto, but it happened to be the same time as my Grandma’s party (so many parties…so little time!) so we arranged with Karen to come for brunch and leave around 12:30.  It worked out pretty good, we were able to visit with the outta town folks and open gifts with the kiddos.  From there we drove west to Everman, TX (south of Fort Worth).  My Grandparents have been doing this gathering since I can remember.  It’s an awesome lunch spread followed by a chaotic and fun gift exchange.  Each year we gain a few new family members (babies, husbands, wives, etc).  This year we added the new tacky sweater contest element.  I regret not getting any photos of the crew in horrible Christmas sweaters!

From there we drove back up north to Watauga, to open the wine and play with our new toys at my sister’s house.  We stayed way too late, but we were having such a good time!  Ryan had to work the next morning…sorry hun!

Overall it was a great Christmas season.  I got to see lots of family, ate delicious festive meals, and received some awesome gifts.  Below are some pics from the holiday festivities:

Mini Pumpkin Parfaits

A few months ago my sister and I were shopping at Pier One and came across their “Tasting Party” display.  Basically a bunch of cute tiny bowls, shot glasses, and spoons, for just a taste of dessert.  Ever since I saw them, they’ve been on my mind.  Earlier this week I went and purchased the 24-piece set for $29.99. Woohoo!

With it being the week of Thanksgiving, I thought it would be appropriate to attempt Mini Pumpkin Parfaits for my aunt’s Thanksgiving party.   I used this recipe from the Food Network.  The next challenge was how to transport the cute little creations.  Handyman husband to the rescue!  The morning of the party Ryan cobbled me up a carrying tray for my dessert.  Needless to say my family was impressed with my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner!  Pics below:

Front Yard Party!

We’ve had a dirt front yard ever since we ripped up those boxwood shrubs a few months ago.   My dad had an awesome idea to host a fish fry in the front yard while it is still somewhat cool outside and we don’t have our beautiful landscaping in place (fingers crossed that day will come soon!).  I sent out a few text messages and a Facebook invite and we decided to throw the shindig over Memorial Day weekend.   We had an awesome turnout, and the Grapevine Police had to show up around10:30pm to tell everyone to take the party inside! Success!

A few things that make a front yard party awesome:

• The front yard is super inviting!  All our neighbors stopped by to say hello and have a beer.  People hanging out in the front yard is way less intimidating to party-goers!
• Live music!  We are very lucky that my dad and several of our friends are musicians.  We told folks to bring their own instruments for a group singalong.
• Plenty of beer!  We didn’t anticipate a huge crowd.  We started with a pony keg (about 80 beers), we had to make another run to Grapevine Beer and Wine for more.  Don’t worry, everyone either lived within walking distance or had a designated driver.

Oh, and the Grapevine officer that stopped by was super nice and just responding to a noise complaint.  They are real sticklers on noise violations around here, which we are thankful for when the neighborhood dogs start barking at midnight!

Here are a few photos from this fun party (I was super busy hosting that night so didn’t get many photos…if you have any pics, send them my way!):

Sunday Dinner: Blueberry Empanadas

Last week I made this Empanada recipe featured in Cooking Light.  The whole family raved…they were tasty.  I was left with remaining frozen pie crust, so I searched the web for some inspiration.  It dawned on me that I had a bag of frozen blueberries in my freezer, leftover from a brief smoothie phase I experienced.  I found this recipe from an actual blueberry farm, with a few substitutions:

• Cut the Granny Smith apples
• I used a package of cranberries and walnuts (the kind used as salad toppings).
• Instead of regular butter, I used yogurt butter (Brummel and Brown).
• Serve warm with a side of ice cream!

Linbo’s Blueberries Recipe #36: Blueberry Empanadas Printer-friendly

2 cups blueberries
1 cup finely copped, pared tart apple (such as Granny Smith)
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
dash salt
12 each 4 1/2 inch pastry round
1 tablespoon butter
Cinnamon-sugar for dusting 

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Combine apple, walnuts, sugar, flour, cinnamon, vanilla and salt in a medium bowl and mix well. Gently fold in berries. Place 2 tablespoons berry filling on half of each

4 1/2” pastry round, leaving about 1/2 inch along edges. Fold the other half of pastry over filled half, moisten edges and seal by pressing with fork. Repeat this procedure until all rounds are folded and sealed. Combine 2 tablespoons sugar with 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Brush each empanada with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar. Bake on greased cookie sheet 18 – 20 Minutes or until golden brown.

Grapevine Main Street Days 2011

Last night Ryan and I spent the evening at Grapevine Main Street Days.  We had an amazing time!  We got to the festival around 7pm, found a parking spot right away (we parked in a free spot right behind the Tap In), and began partaking in wine drinking and art shopping.   Right away we stumbled upon a booth by Chloe Lane Studios…and wow, beautiful stuff!  I bought this necklace:

We continued to wander down Main Street.  Ryan was really interested in checking out the Vetro Glass Blowing Studio on Main.  We’ve heard about it, but haven’t ventured out there yet.  To get to the studio we had to walk through the petting zoo, that’s where I saw this little guy:

The petting zoo was hoppin! Actually, the entire kids area looked like a ton of fun!  Kids were running around everywhere, riding rides, playing Simon Says, or playing with Legos.  After we found out the Glass Blowing Studio was not open (bummer), we grabbed dinner at one of our Main Street faves, Big Fish.  We had our wedding rehearsal dinner at Big Fish, so it’ll always be a little special to us!

After dinner we settled into chairs in front of the Bud Light stage to hear some live music.  We were fortunate to discover The O’s, which are two guys playing multiple instruments.  Ryan and I were super impressed with these guys.  The crowd started growing and the lawn filled up quickly with kiddos dancing, couples canoodling, and people enjoying the music.  Next up we headed down to the Gaylord Texan Main Stage to hear one of my favorite party bands, Professor D.  These guys can jam for sure.  At this point in the evening, the crowd was thick and having a good time!  I witnessed some spectacular dance moves and even did a reggae version of the Cupid Shuffle.  Around 11pm the event ended and Ryan and I walked down the now vacant Main Street…it really amazed me how quickly they cleared that place out!  As we are walking to our car we passed by the Pizza vendors again, the guy from I Fratelli asked if we wanted a slice for the road…um yes!  As he reaches into their warmer to pull out a slice he decides to go ahead and give us the whole pizza pie!  Fantastic!  Honestly, I had felt a little guilty that we went to Big Fish for dinner instead of eating Pizza.  Pizza was the theme this year for Main Street Days and they had about 7 different local Pizza places competing for the best pizza in Grapevine.  Well, not sure if I can still vote but I Fratelli would get mine (and Ryan’s)!

Definitely a fantastic evening out!  The folks who organize Main Street Days did a great job, and we couldn’t have had better weather!  Now we begin the countdown to GrapeFest 2011.

A few other faves of the evening:

• These wine stoppers we purchased from D-Patt Fine Wood Products.  Ryan was so excited that they had a Southwest Texas State University stopper (after he graduated they university changed it’s name to Texas State).  And we bought a TCU stopper to give to my dad for Father’s Day.

• This sign/concept is awesome:

Appreciating Mom

Mother’s Day is this weekend…don’t forget!  I’m not a mother yet, but I have a Mom, and have a few friends that are new moms!  So here are a few ideas for celebrating Mother’s Day (specifically some ideas for folks in the Grapevine/Southlake area).

• Take your mom to your local plant store and let her pick out a few items for her yard.  Then, go to her house (assuming she’s local) and help her plant her present.  It’s a good way to spruce up her yard and spend time together.
• Cook a new meal together.  Pick out a challenging menu, take all the ingredients to her house and whip up something new and interesting.
• Try a craft.  Ryan laughed when I told him this idea, I think he had a visual of me, my mom and sister sitting around quilting.  I was thinking more of a DIY project for the home.
• Afternoon themed movie marathon.  Pick a genre or actor and rent 3 movies…watch them all back to back over a few glasses of wine.  When we were little my mom used to do this (minus the wine) for us.  She’d theme each month of our summer vacation with something like “back to school” or “beach movies.”
• Did I mention wine? Go to a wine tasting.  A few of my local favorite wine bars/wineries are Cross Timbers, CorkIt, or Into the Glass.
• Live music!  Who says you have to appreciate your mom on Sunday?  I say make it a weekend goal to appreciate her!  My mom likes to dance and hear live music, so I also thought about taking her out for some live music and dancing.  Not a ton of dancing opportunities in our neck of the woods, so I considered heading out to the Fort.  Billy Bobs is a classic, but also check out Rodeo Exchange in the Stockyards.  I can almost guarantee you’ll catch a mullet, a Texas Flag western shirt, and some lace-up boots…but there are some great two steppers that frequent this place and the live music is typically local country bands.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Easter 2011 Recap

This post is kinda delayed, but here’s a quick recap on our Easter festivities for 2011.

Originally we had planned to head up north to the Property to spend the weekend in the wilderness with the fam and my new baby nephew.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans for us.  Torrential rain and lovely April thunderstorms held us back from becoming one with nature.  Instead, we spent the afternoon at my parent’s house (Lady YaYa and Grandpa Steve is what they are calling themselves these days).  Mom and Dad made a delicious ham, salad, and potatoes…pretty traditional, and we celebrated my sister’s 29th birthday with a delicious Orange Cake (I’ll share that recipe another time).  My nephew Brady made the cutest Easter Bunny ever!  After dinner, we grabbed our wine/beer glasses and headed outside to the empty lot next to my parent’s house for a game of whiffleball.  The only rule was you had to play with a drink in your hand, which obviously made the game funnier and way more challenging!  Kevin even came into town from McMurray State (Abilene) so it made the night a real treat!  Unfortunately, the Easter Bunny did not visit me this year….maybe next year!

Here are a few pics: