My weekend of bbq's went very well, thank you! On Saturday a bunch of friends came by to help celebrate my birthday and all had a good time, as far as I can tell. :) We had mojitos and wine and beers and coolers and maybe some other drinks, besides! Anyway, it was fun. :)

On Sunday family came by and the weather just barely held long enough for us to enjoy the evening out on the patio. Lucky, that, since I don't have a large enough dining room to hold everybody!

Today the clouds finally opened up and it's been drizzling steadily since 2pm or so. The garden loves it. I don't mind it. It's a nice break from the dreadfully boring sunshine. *rolls eyes* But the rain honestly is nice.

Now I'm a bit tired and tomorrow is a big day. I can't believe it's Wednesday already?!

I did have a very healthy lunch today, you see! I cooked up a shrimp stir fry with a friend and it was lovely! I made two batches of pumpkin muffins, one with raisins and walnuts, one with carob chips and walnuts, but I already gave away 6 mini muffins and 7 regular sized muffins to family and friends. Elli's Family & Friends Program is in full effect! :) So after a low-key dinner of tuna buns and roasted red pepper soup, I think Elli deserves a bit of ice cream. Maybe with some Marzipan RitterSport crumbled on top. Maybe. We shall see what the dessert gods provide.

Happy noms!


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That went well! We just had my man's folks over for dinner and gosh it was good! I made proscuitto wrapped chicken thighs in mushroom sauce with mild mushrooms. It went over well. Afterwards he made us a heavenly dessert with chocolate bar, chocolate cherry frozen yogurt, bananas, and hershey chocolate syrup. Yum! I've noticed a major hit is my vegetable bath, which is what I use instead of butter for cooked veggies. It's good with anything savory like green beans, broccoli, or carrots.

Here's my recipe:

Vegetable Bath

Prep Time: 2 minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes

Ingredients
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar (or other flavoured vinegar like red wine, champagne, etc)
“Italian seasonings” dried herb mix
small pinch sugar
1 dash lemon juice

Instructions

1. In small bowl, jiggle bowl to mix the vinegar and oil, then add the rest of ingredients.
2. Pour over cooked and drained vegetables. Shake pot to coat. Serve!

 Optional:

If don’t have Italian seasonings mix, can use bit of dried oregano, thyme, and rosemary. Use dried, not ground!

Ok, I've been home for a week now. There's no excuse to not be caught up.

I never really noticed how dark Vancouver gets during the winter. Sure, it's grey and rainy, but even on clear days, the amount of sunlight we get is pretty pathetic. No wonder people get Seasonal Affective Disorder here. Hmm.. maybe I can get a scrip for that. "Please excuse Elli from work. I have instructed her to take two weeks in Mexico twice a year to cure S.A.D." I'm guessing that wouldn't really fly, though. To see a current snapshot of Vancouver, check out katkam.ca. It's a webcam that's been running for ten years now, and is my link to home whenever I'm away.

I'm not feeling very Christmasy this year. We haven't got the tree up. It's a fake one, and it's been sitting in a box in our hallway for three days now, but we keep putting off erecting it. At least our house has Christmas lights on the outside now, so we don't look totally like Grinches. My family's Christmas dinner was on Friday (it's always halfway through the month for some reason) and it wasn't nearly as pleasant as previous dinners have been. I really have nothing to say to my sis at the moment, and my dad seems to have a hate on for my boyfriend, so it was a bit tense. Ugh, drama. I really only went to see my grandmother and my mother. I think I need to talk to them both more often. Grandma lives alone now and I think she might get lonely at times, even though she has quite an active social life. Come to think of it, my mother is in the same boat. She lives alone and her dog just died a few months ago, so it's just her and the cat now. My mom, the cat lady. I should have invited her over for turkey on the 23rd instead of my man's sister and her boyfriend. Dangit.

See how much stress the holidays cause? Sheesh!

It's 11pm and I'm safe at home after my weekend adventures. I travelled across the Beeg Vater to Victoria on Vancouver Island to visit my grandmama for lunch on Saturday. Then we drove up Island a bit to visit friends of the family for the evening. It was great! On Sunday we hung out on the farm, then walked around Goldstream Park, which has a salmon spawning stream and a great waterfall. Unfortunately the salmon weren't running yet, but the fall colours were breathtaking. Stay tuned for pictures! We drove up to Nanaimo and made it on to the 8:15pm ferry, in order to touch solid ground again at 10:20pm. After a quick stop at Safeway for milk and cereal, we pulled into our driveway a mere 41 hours after leaving it!

All in all I had a wonderful vacation from my computer and really enjoyed visiting my family. *sigh of relief* Now I'm ready to head back to work! :)

I wish we got more done, but I think we needed a lazy day or two to unwind. On Saturday we had friends come over for dinner. I made spaghetti and meatballs, which we enjoyed with fresh foccacia bread from the bakery dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Yum! The meatballs were my first attempt and they turned out quite alright! After that we played Wii for a few hours and I got my butt kicked! (I blame the pina coladas.)

Yesterday we had dinner at my man's family's place. Yum! It was good to see them again. Going there reminds me of how little I see my own family. We've never been close, though. It's just awkward trying to force it, I think. My grandma called me yesterday though and asked what we were doing for my birthday. I had totally forgotten about planning a family-only birthday party for me! Last year dad planned it but he said this year it's up to me. He's been cranky lately and I'm not sure why. But it looks like everything is in my hands now. And I can't disappoint grand-mama!

Now I get to call Continental Airlines and ask why I was charged an extra two $800 charges for a ticket that I had already purchased but simply changed the date on. Wish me luck!

I just saw the absolute cutest thing. I was walking my life away on the treadmill at the local gym. My view was the soccer field/baseball diamond/grass expanse between the gym and the main road. A few people were walking their dogs through the field periodically. Then I saw a middle-aged man throw two purple bouncy balls onto the grass. A child about five years old chased one excitedly. Then a golden retriever came onto the field, bouncing after a tennis ball. And then Tigger made an appearance! Chasing the second bouncy ball was a diminutive Tigger, which is to say about a four year old child in a bright orange Tigger costume. It kicked the ball ahead about ten feet, then chased it, or kicked it to the father, who then gently kicked it back to Tigger. Between hitting tennis balls with a tennis racket for the dog and fielding passes from the two upcoming soccer stars, dad had his hands and feet full!

But watching Tigger play pass with dad in the middle of a field made my day.

This has been Elli's best Christmas ever! There was no family drama, no undue stress, my shopping got done on time, everything got wrapped, everyone was happy or appeared to be happy with their gifts from me, and I made two turkey dinners with much success!

My best present that I got is something I've wanted ever since I first moved out of my mom's house: a nice set of pots and pans! It's one of those things that I've never been able to justify putting a priority on, but something I always wanted. Well I finally got them! Yay!

They're a Lagostina "Windsor" set and I'm soooo happy with them! Amazing tools for Elli's kitchen. :)


So what did you all get?

They have definitely been happy here! I am MORE than ecstatic with my gifts, and the ones I gave were extremely well received. Now I just have a few more phone calls to make and I can start working on dinner...

I hope Santa was lovely to everyone! Give your loved ones hugs and kisses, remember!

Well today is going well so far! I slept in, cleaned the house, now my boyfriend and best friend are wrapping my gifts while I hide in the office and avert my eyes. Tonight mom is coming over for a nice dinner, and after that we should have a  mellow Christmas Eve evening.

Ok gotta run!! Have a great one everyone!! MWAH!