Happy birthday, Mom!

Tonight we celebrated my Mom's birthday! Her actual birthday was Tuesday, but she and Dad had just returned from the NAMM show in Los Angeles, and they were exhausted. So we saved the fun for Friday night! We gathered at my house for some green chicken chili with all the toppings. Mer brought a delicious salad!



Mmmm.



Happy birthday, Mom!



Ben entertained us with old school video games!



So here's a secret not everyone knows about. You might want to sit down. Whitt's Frozen Custard will make custom ice cream cakes. Whitt's Frozen Custard will make custom ice cream cakes!!!!! My family has been pretty much devastated since Larry's Dawg House quit selling ice cream cakes a few years ago. I mean, Dairy Queen ice cream cakes are fine. They're even delicious, I guess! But Larry's were SO MUCH BETTER. They were the BEST! And we loved getting them for birthdays! And then, they stopped. And we were sad. But then we discovered that Whitt's also makes special ice cream cakes. You get to choose two flavors (chocolate, vanilla, and/or flavor of the day), PLUS whatever fillings you want for the center! Anything on the menu, but usually at least one syrupy thing to hold it together (peanut butter, caramel, fudge, etc.). Our cake was a layer of vanilla, and a layer of the flavor of the week -- chocolate sea salt caramel! For the inside we went traditional -- fudge and oreo cookies.



Make a wish!



This ice cream cake was A M A Z I N G. We were trying to remember if Larry's was this good? It probably was. But it's been so long we would really need a side by side taste test comparison to know for sure. But the bottom line is that Whitt's is at least as good as Larry's!!! We're pretty stoked to have an amazing ice cream cake back in our lives!



Happy birthday, Mom!

Hygge Cooking Club

Hygge is a Danish and Norwegian word for a mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment. After comparing our recipes at the end of the night, we realized another definition for Hygge could be “heavy cream.” Mmm. Emily set the mood with a fire and lots of candles!



She also made a vat of mulled wine. Cheers!



Em also made Smørrebrød, a traditional Scandinavian open-faced sandwich that usually consists of a piece of buttered rye bread, topped with cold cuts, pieces of meat or fish, cheese or spreads, and garnishes. Hers featured smoked salmon!



Chloe helped Yumi prepare her dish by making sure she cleaned up any scraps that were dropped during the process.



Yumi made pork meatballs and fish fritters! With accompanying gravy and yogurt sauces. Mmm!



I made a Finnish Salmon Soup called Lohikeitto.



I also made Swedish red cabbage as a side. Everything paired delightfully!



Emily brought out a new board game called Dixit. The minute I saw the playing pieces, I was all in. They're little bunnies!!!



Dixit is similar to Apples to Apples (LOVE), but with images and illustrations instead of words. I wanted to play again the second we were done!



Hygge! Wine!



Charlotte and I were partners, and we had to step away to conspire.



Emily made a super cozy rice pudding for dessert. Thus ending our delicious evening of Hygge. Hygge is truly a fabulous concept that I can totally get behind. Hygge!!!

Felix Pizza

So I got this pizza blanket. It's amazing. It's 71" diameter and it looks like a real pizza!!! I thought the only thing that could possibly be more beautiful would be my handsome dog posing atop the pizza blanket. And thus a photo shoot was born. I dare you to find a combination more attractive in this world.

Pasta Making with Chef Rae Vonne

Yumi, Valerie and I signed up for one of the Pork & Pickles cooking classes, Pasta Making with Chef Rae Vonne!



I have never made pasta before! But I sure do love eating it!



Chef Rae looks like she's either concocting a magic spell or conducting a symphony. I suppose pasta making is a little bit of both!



Look at that beautiful sheet of pasta!



We were pretty excited to find out the videographer was our good buddy Susan. Hi, Susan!



Jenn and Hollie rolling out some pasta sheets.



Pasta making is fun and hilarious!



It was a great class.



Bow ties!



Practically professional.






We also learned how to make some sauces! We made fettuccine, bow ties, and ravioli.



Mmm! I learned so much!

Family Portrait

This week was the five-year anniversary of adopting our sweet boy, Felix! He sure has completed our little family. I love him so much! We took some family photos to commemorate the occasion.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!! Mom and Dad had us over for good luck pork. We also had appetizers! Pete brought an assortment of smoked fish that his brother sent him for Christmas. Lucky us!



Gobble gobble.



I brought the rest of my spanakopita. We finished it all!



Good luck pork and sauerkraut! YUM!!



We looked through piles of old photos. I would love to know what plot Emily and I are working on here with our Breyer horses.



Dad!



Mer brought blueberry crumble for dessert. Yum!



Teaching Dad how Pokemon Go works.



Happy 2020, all!