Eatin’ & eatin’ (& pickin’?)

January 1, 2009February 6, 2015Leave a comment

This afternoon, I worked on prepping a few more items for the party:

More of these:

fruit for fruit salad ...

Fruit is so pretty:

I think I took about 25 pictures of this fruit, but I won’t make you look at them all.

And then people arrived for the 19th annual Pickin’ & Eatin’ Party. I know, I know. You’re saying, “Pickin’? I thought this was just going to be a food party because that’s all this girl ever talks about. What’s this about pickin’?”

And back to the eatin’:

I put my food on a little plate so it would look like more. But then I refilled it four times with things like pineappled ham, sweet potato custard, fruit salad, green salad (with sunflower seeds, feta, kalamata olives, mixed raisins, dried cherries, walnuts, balsamic vinegar, olive oil), baked rice pudding, Swedish meatballs, baked chicken, kielbasa, apple dumplings, apple bread, chickpea spread, and probably tons of other things I can’t remember. And then I picked at the desserts too much (significantly more than pictured):

And now I’m heading back down to rejoin the party and very likely do some more pickin’ … at the food!

Eleven inches!

January 1, 2009February 6, 2015Leave a comment

I woke up this morning to this view from my window:

Children’s swing set, for perspective:

It’s about 20 degrees out now, up from the 8 this morning. Brrrrrrrrrr.

I started us off with some cozy bowls of custard oatmeal with apples and bananas. Fruit, mid-chop:

Final product, topped with cinnamon and peanut butter:

Mine's the baby bowl in the middle!

Closer:

There is never a more perfect breakfast than oatmeal, but I think it is even more perfect on a snowy day!

Snowed in (with packaged food!)

January 1, 2009February 6, 20153 Comments

The snow barreling down last night (dad has not yet taken the yardstick out for an accurate reading of inches, but weather.com says it is 8 degrees/feels like -10) was the perfect excuse to spend New Year’s Eve inside in front of the fire with movies, New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, and Chinese food! Too bad that I had my heart set on steamed shrimp/veggies and the woman at the Chinese restaurant said they were too busy to steam anything. Rararararr. So I made my own version.

Steaming green beans, carrots, and mushrooms:

Sauteeing thawed frozen shrimp in olive oil:

Over whole wheat pasta and topped with pesto from a jar (I know, I’m a slacker) and pre-shredded parm (slacker again):

Closerrrrrr:

And dessert:

The bathroom was the only place with good lighting, so that’s where I took my ice cream cone:

with dad peeking in the mirror

Dad and Rae Ann did not eat the pint of white rice that came with their Chinese since they also ordered pork fried rice. I couldn’t help myself and did this: