Polar Vortex

Ohio is suffering from a polar vortex this week! It's too cold to go on a proper walk, and it has Felix feelin' bummed.



He sure looks cute in that sweater, though.

Happy birthday, Mom!

Tonight we gathered at Mer's to celebrate Mom's birthday! I made a giant salad, and Mer cooked up some delicious curry.



I made some raita to go with!



Mom requested an ice cream cake for her birthday treat. Can't go wrong with that! Happy 70th, Mom!



Hooray!



Wish time.



Mmm.

Cooking Club: Layers

The theme for the January cooking club was layers! Summer hosted, and Emily and Yumi helped cook. Emily started us off with two types of palmiers: jalapeno cheddar, and sundried tomato feta. Look at those flaky layers! She made her own puff pastry!!!



Nancy made two loaves of layered breads. One was an arugula pesto, and the other had herbs and cream cheese.



Here they are before they were baked.





We played around layering different types of liqueurs.



Layers!



Fun!



Nancy also made individual layered salads.



Mmm, look at those layers!



Summer made a butternut squash lasagna. She made the pasta, and it was so delicate and light! So many layers!!



Here are the pasta layers drying in her pantry earlier that day:



Mmmmmmm.



This past summer, at our pontoon cooking club, Summer had made some layered apricot and buttermilk popsicles. That day on the hot boat, the popsicles had softened a bit too much so that the popsicle sticks were slipping out, leaving the dessert in the mold! We decided to save them for later. They've been in her freezer ever since, and tonight she busted them out for layers cooking club! Look at those layers! They were delicious. So summery!



Emily made layered panna cottas with mango and blackberry gelees. MMM!



It was a delicious night!