Blogging Before Bed!

I am still amazed at how quickly the week of Christmas flew by and can't really believe that tomorrow is New Year's Eve! For the "big night" (I think New Year's is overrated.) I am going over to Grace and Charlie's apartment, which I am excited about. I have not seen the two of them in awhile, and to me it is the perfect way for me to spend NYE.

I am going to write about some of my favorite parts of break:

Of course there are always the presents (given and received). I was lucky and received a good number of credit card gift cards from parents at work, in addition to a Whole Foods, a Macy's and a Starbucks gift card, chocolates, a "stress free" bath set from Bath & Body Works, a pretty bracelet and Victoria's Secret perfume + a week's paid vacation from my boss. Most of my family members give me money, but with (a lot of) help from me (I made my Mom a list.), I was very happy with my Christmas presents from my parents. I got a juicer, a mixer, a cutting board and a nice garlic press for the kitchen. (Can you tell just how much cooking has become a part of my life?!) The juicer is Amazing! The other morning I made my sister and myself mango surprise: mango, kiwi and carrot juice, and this morning I made a carrot, ginger, apple juice. My GARMIN (GPS for my car) tied for favorite gift. Not only does it get me from one place to another, I can search for restaurants, shopping, public trans, etc. nearby. I also got a lot of socks (typical), a one hour massage gift certificate and some makeup. I think that's everything. Sarah got me a new cookbook: The Complete Idiot's Guide: Vegan Cooking, and Monica picked up a few new shirts for me post-Christmas. :)

I got a lot of people in my family "Between Me and You" journals. I thought they were such a cool idea; I just hope that I get them all back! (http://www.journalsunlimited.com/). From the same store, Flourish Studios (http://www.icanflourish.com/), I bought a lot of my friends rings that support the Putton Project (aka Buttons for Peace Project) in which proceeds go to Dr. Jane Goodall's Roots and Shoots Program. I know I do not have a lot of extra money to donate right now, but I thought it was a nice way to give gifts while being charitable. Picture frames are always popular as are my homemade, organic lavender bath salts. (I just love making things!)

On Christmas Eve I spent six straight hours in the kitchen. For our appetizer Christmas Eve that night, I brought some homemade hummus, stuffed mushrooms and spinach artichoke dip. For Christmas dinner I made a "sweet polenta pie," scalloped corn, an eggnog cheesecake (with a homemade graham cracker crust) and a chocolate bourbon pecan pie. In How It All Vegan, the authors describe this pie as "better than sex pie," and I must say that it was definitely my favorite new recipe! :)


My sister came back to Chicago with me on Saturday. After many days of sub zero temperatures, the drive included dense fog and a lot of pouring rain on a nearly sixty degree day.
We grabbed a late lunch at Pho's Thai Cuisine, which is very close to my place, and then we headed downtown. Isn't it funny how you can never find anything for yourself when you actually have the intention to go shopping? The first part of our trip in Forever 21 was very thorough for me, but as time passed, I was too overwhelmed and could not do it it anymore. After awhile we just relaxed with some tea from Teavanna and awaited for hunger to strike: we were downtown, so we figured we should go somewhere good. In the end, we decided on late dinner at Reza's, which offers Persian, Middle-Eastern,and Mediterranean cuisine. We split an appetizer of Vegetarian Shami (Savory patties of minced green vegetables, coated with chickpeas delicately sautéed, served with delicious sweet and sour pomegranate sauce with finely crushed walnuts). It was very good, especially the sauce, which we both used for our table pita bread. She ordered sea scallops for dinner, and I chose a vegetarian sampler which included Couscous,Tabbouli, Falafel, Hummus, Baba Ghannouj, and Dolmeh. I ended up taking a lot of it home with me.

Alright... my eyes are hurting. More to come later!