little white flakes

Errr, no.  Not my hair, guys.

So the weatherman was right for once, I guess, because we had a gazillion truckloads of snow dumped on us yesterday.  Hoooo boy.  I don’t think we’ve had this much snow in this area since 2003.  Yup—it was so awesome that I even remember the year!  We had a week off from school, and it rocked~ :D  I’m kind of hoping that the snow will stay until Christmas, so I’ll finally be able to have a white Christmas?!  I’ve never had a true white Christmas—either the snow melts during the day or I travel north and getting my dose of little white flakes there.  Stay, snow, stay.   

 
Warring flakes!

The perfect snack for a day in the blistering cold of the house should be cookies with hot chocolate.  Well, turns out, I was about two marks away from having the perfect snack.  First of all, I don’t exactly want to melt a bunch of Lindt truffles or a goji chocolate bar to drink, and second, I don’t have any candy canes to stir with.  Does anyone else drink hot chocolate with a candy cane and/or peppermint extract?  I think it gives a very refreshing touch to a drink that would otherwise be too rich and cloying. 

Oh, and the lack of cookies?  I solved it… with an EGG!  :D  Which, of course, I would have otherwise never paired with hot chocolate.  o__o  Instead, I had it alongside some hot water.  Mmmm.  I think drinking hot water is an Asian thing?  Waiters/waitresses always look at me or my mom weirdly when we ask for it at restaurants.  I mean, who wants to pay for a teabag?!  :P

 
Mmmm.  That was some microwaved goodness right there.  Gooey cranberry chèvre with furikake (mostly bonito flakes) and black sesame seeds is an impeccable combination—tangy, sweet, savory, and roasty.  It’s the easiest favorite snack ever (now tied with toast!).

 
Let me explicate on cookies… I didn’t exactly bake them yesterday.  OK, well, I used my oven, but I ended up under-roasting chestnuts and majorly over-roasting  pecans.  :(  I guess I should think about using the oven timer, hm?  Or just microwaving the pecans like my dad does… Hey, it works!  :]  I would totally say that I am going to really make cookies today, but I don’t know if I have enough buttah.  :/ Cookies just don’t taste like heaven with vegetable oil.

Holy cow, five more days till Christmas!  Cue snow preserver dance, now!!!

To be honest, our tree looks a little lame.  It’s fat and short and stubby—short as in even I can touch the top.  o_o  But you know, I love it all the same!  I mean, there was a period of time where I thought I was a fat stub as well and ruthlessly berated myself for it.  But then… I acquired the magic power of perspective and vanquished the demeaning thoughts from my brain. 

Maybe we’ll just move the tree to a room with lower ceilings so it looks absolutely resplendent.  ;)

 

Q1: What’re your “perfect foods” for a cold, snow-machine day?  Or just a snow day :P
Q2: What does your Christmas tree look like this year?  Actually, until this year, we used the same plastic Christmas tree year after year!
Q3: Do you ask for hot water at restaurants?  Or water with no ice?

GAG: Shall I jam to music while I shovel snow?

Off to… shovel snow!  :oD with “Our Lips are Sealed” stuck in my head.  And to all the wonderful ladies in recovery: I hope you, too, will regain the power of perspective.  :]

 

all i want for christmas is . . .

KITCHEN APPLIANCES. Excuse the grammar.

No joke.  My (wealthy…) aunt told me that if I didn’t tell her what I wanted for Christmas, she was just going to buy me whatever—as in, the chance of me wanting what she gives is about the same as if a gunshot fired into the hood of a car would start the engine.  I got that straight from my bio textbook, by the way (they’re not crazy, they’re just talking about mutations).

So I looked on my “things to tell people to get if they want to” list.  Lo and behold, the first thing I saw was “blender“.  Why do I want a blender?  Well, my current blender is pretty old (10+ years), so I kind of wanted a more modern one.  I gawk at all the wonderful creations various lucky bloggers have concocted using their legendary Vita-Mixes—but of course, that’s something that I’m not willing to invest in.  ~$400 for a blender?  Eh.  That’s almost the same price as the camera I wanted!  i.e. No thanks!  The cheapo in me would cry if I imposed that purchase on myself or anyone else.  (Of course, it would be a whole ‘nother story if I got it for free.  Santa.  I’m looking at you.)

But anyway.  I asked for a “good” blender, whatever that means.  I just want to be able to successfully blend nut butter, hummus, pie crusts, etc., which my current blender fails at.  No clumps allowed!

I know that normal girls my age would ask for money, or gift cards, or CDs, as most of my friends do, but I think it’s already been established that I’m just a bit out of the norm.  I mean, I like going clothes shopping, but I don’t want my aunt to buy me clothes anymore.  Okay, it worked when I was like, 5, but last year she bought me this bright blue bathrobe with red hearts on it… and I shall say no more.  ._.

Anyway… here’s the EXCITING part of Friday’s grocery haul.  I snagged a packet of Justin’s honey almond butter.  I was going for the maple, but they didn’t have it in stock :(

Hopefully, this will live up to all the hype this brand has gotten!

Some whole wheat pastry flour and grain-sweetened chocolate chips for holiday baking :]

And finally, the bar stash :D

* spooky s’mores Zbar (x3)
* cashew acai protect thinkFruit
* apricot goji PranaBar (almond butter is ingredient #2!  yesss!)
* chocolate orange Jocalat
* lemon, vanilla & cashew Clif Nectar (my FAVORITE—so sad that it was discontinued!)

I took a risk with the thinkFruit. I tried a chunky peanut butter thinkThin bar before, and it was straight up nasty. Disgusting protein flavor, blech.  Hopefully, the thinkFruit bar will be palatable without the weird protein ingredients…

Lunch on Saturday was once again at the Eiffel Tower Café.  :]  I have pictures this time!

Isn’t it adorable?  Notice the little plate in the corner of the first pic—they have those hanging all around.  They also have all sorts of Christmas decorations and cute ornaments up.  It’s a really, really, really small place—very cozy.  :]

Today, I got the l’omelette du jour, which was, I presume, a 3-egg bundle of yellow joy with smoked salmon, shiitake mushrooms, and gruyère cheese.  It came with a perfectly dressed side salad of mixed greens, carrot ribbons, and onions.  The oil-vinegar dressing they used was awesome.  It made the veggies taste mysteriously delicious—maybe the olive oil?

But anyway.  Omelet talk: YUM.  Usually, the omelets at other restaurants are huge and stuffed to the brim with meat and veggies and oozing with cheese (the last one isn’t so bad, hehe), but I definitely prefer the French-style omelet.  It’s perfectly buttery, fluffy, and not stuffed to the brim.  I love how the eggs are the star of the dish and not just a canvas for the other mishmash of things the omelet is stuffed with.  Fluffy eggy goodness—what could be better?  :]  My palate deviates towards two textures: mushy and fluffy.  Mmmmm.

Ah, the fancy name of the dessert escapes me.  :/  In more barbaric terms, this was anise-spiced cream (?) sandwiched between two slices of walnut-studded cake, the top layer dusted with powdered sugar.  It was delicious—fluffy cake + crunchy walnuts and light, delicious cream :]  It was almost like a strangely-shaped sponge cake roll!  Unfortunately, I was the only one who liked it.  My dad can’t stand spices, and I don’t know what’s wrong with him.  ;)  Oh well—more for me!

Oh, and thank you guys for the photography compliments… but just looking at the pictures from the restaurant make me sad.  :(  They just fail.

AND OMG.  ELEVEN DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS!!!  Whoooo-hooo!  :D  Our Christmas “tradition” was always to open presents from family on Christmas Eve, and wait till Christmas morning to open the gifts from Santa.  ;)  I think it is/was a lot more fun this way!  Opening presents at night = candles, fire, and bright Christmas tree lights = so much more warming, cozy, etc. than opening them in the daytime!  What are your holiday traditions?

I’ll see you all after this dreaded.week of horror. x__x  Good-bye my loves!