Congratulations, Tracey!

Our friend Tracey just graduated from veterinary school, and is going to be a vet here in Athens!!! Woo hoo! Summer threw a party to celebrate. I made cookies shaped like animals that a vet would care for.



Lots of animals in need! Tracey better get ready!



Summer had all the supplies for a round of Irish Car Bombs, so we decided to make some. However, she had less irish whiskey than she realized, so we had to make the last car bomb using SCOTCH! Everyone had mixed emotions about this situation. Dan was the man in charge of doing the scotch bomb. He said it was delicious!



Friday and Ash chilling on the kitchen floor.



Summer had a bottle of maraschino cherries soaked in moonshine. When the cherries were all gone, the question was what to do with the leftover juice!? Clearly the answer was to make it into a fancy cocktail!



Alex was just the man for the job.



Cheers!



He did have some assistants to help finish the drink.



Pinkies out! Fancy!



Alex discovered that Summer's winter coat looked really awesome turned inside out!



Aw, sibs!



A questionable dog toy.



Delicious pomegranate rum punch.



Summer commissioned a portrait of Tracey, and everyone signed the frame.



Congratulations, Tracey!

Tapas Cooking Club

The theme for this month's cooking club was Spanish tapas. Emily hosted. Nancy ended up having to cancel, because she got sick. I feel like of all the hardships one could experience in the world, having to miss cooking club is one of the worst. We all missed her!

I made sangria! Cheers!



Emily had some Spanish olives out for us to enjoy.



And some delicious manchego cheese with quince paste. Emily and Marc had this at their wedding and I LOVED it! I was excited to have it again!



Valerie made spiced chickpeas. It was way to easy to keep popping these in our mouths! MMM! A healthy snack.



Summer made a fresh gazpacho salsa topped with shrimp. This was so bright and zesty!



Emily made chorizo in red wine flame fried with brandy. This dish was especially awesome because of the FIRE!!!



Yumi made the cutest little stuffed squids in a tomato sauce.



Summer made tomato jelly, which she served with goat cheese on a baguette.



She also made beer and balsamic braised short rib on top of parsnip puree. So cute! And delish!



Emily's chorizo was hot and spicy.



Hmm, would I like a little sangria with my fruit? CHEERS!



Valerie made potato and kale cakes with a rouille. These little guys were awesome!



Emily made some scrumptious baked mussels.



I made these little manchego and cauliflower hand pies. Inside there was toasted hazelnuts with garlic, rosemary, and manchego cheese. The crust was a manchego cheese crust. And LOOK AT HOW CUTE THEY ARE!!! I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I totally nailed this recipe!!!! Toot toot tooty toot! I'm really new to the whole pie world, so it was a new frontier for me and I just couldn't have been happier with how they turned out. The recipe came from Martha Stewart. Here is the link: Roasted Cauliflower and Manchego Cheese Hand Pies.



Oh, hi!



Yumi made little baked apples, stuffed with all sorts of nutty deliciousness.



What an excellent cooking club!! It was great to have SO many delicious things to taste!

Euchre Night With Tom

Tom is in town, and whenever Tom is in town, we try to get together for a Euchre night! This visit was no exception. Summer and J hosted a euchre night at their house. Complete with a beer tasting! This black IPA was good.



I've had the Rogue Chocolate Stout before, and it was DELICIOUS as usual!!!! I would happily taste only this beer all night long!



This American Pale Ale was GROSS.



Luckily, Hornsby's hard crisp cider worked effectively to clear the taste from our mouths.



Summer whipped up a bunch of orange snacks! Guess which bowl got finished last?



Time to play!



It was a total coincidence that my nail polish perfectly matched the moonshine maraschino cherries!



Tom and Nancy were euchre partners.



GAME FACE!



Look at Yumi's freaking hand!!!!!!!!



This is like a once in a lifetime euchre deal!!! Lucky!!!!!!! Obviously she called a loner.