White Hanukkah

We had a white Hanukkah! We had a MAJOR snowstorm - MAJOR. On December 19th we got like, over 20 inches of snow! Okay, it was after Hanukkah, but whatever. Close enough. The snow was beautiful - so light and fluffy and soft. I'd never seen snow like it before - it always gets so icy up here as soon as the snow falls. But this time it stayed soft and beautiful for days - and we had a lot of fun walking around our condo complex, up to our knees in snow. Photographic evidence:

Us out front when it was still snowing, and my cute little car, all covered with snow!

Knee-deep in snow in the parking lot in front of the condo:

The snow plow made this crazy wall of snow - it was so high!

The snow behind our house, and Gus standing in it:

Me, walking down to the creek behind our house, and my snowman!

I insisted on making a snow angel:

And me, walking in the snow:

We enjoyed it for a few days - it's good exercise, walking in knee-deep snow! But it rained on Christmas Day, and all of the snow melted. :( I guess it's better than having huge drifts of disgusting, dirty snow everywhere (which is what usually happens), but it was so pretty and soft.

In other news, no news. I went to Hopkins for my monthly blood test on December 22nd, and my "report card" (blood counts) was all normal and good! I got my H1N1 shot, and I even got to walk around the hospital without a mask for the first time! No more mask in the hospital, wooohoooo! Unless someone near me is coughing or sneezing or sick. In which case I'd probably punch them in the face (I'd put on a glove first, of course, and then use Purell) and then walk away before I'd actually put that damned mask back on. :)

I've also been cooking/baking, of course. I haven't posted in SO long - there have been a lot of yummy things around here. Some highlights:

Couscous and Feta Stuffed Bell Peppers





"Chocolate Decadence" - only 315 calories, people!





1 Jessica's Pizza





Parchment Baked Salmon with Lemon and Basil





Pumpkin Apple Pie





Portobello Lasagna Rollups





Linzer Cookies





Chrismukkah Cookies





And our beautiful turkey breast and holiday dinner spread - latkes, cranberry sauce, green beans, challah, and caramelized onion, apple, and sage stuffing:

And as a direct result of the holiday turkey - turkey club sandwiches (with turkey bacon, of course) and turkey stock! The funny photo of the stock in the pot in the sink - it's surrounded by snow -we needed a quick way to cool the stock down before putting it in the fridge, so Gus went outside and got buckets of snow. Worked like a charm.

Italian Wedding Soup







Gus's birthday cake! It's my favorite chocolate cake/frosting recipe, courtesy of Nigella Lawson.








It's not too beautiful here, but it tasted amazing - Pear Crisps with Vanilla Brown Butter







Herbed Baked Eggs (or if you want to be fancy, oeufs en cocotte)

And last - Chrismukkah photos. The first is of our pretty tree, the second is our fireplace and mantle, and the last is us video chatting with Bev, Bill, Emma, and David on Christmas Day - being 3,000 miles away really sucks, but we used the video chat to open presents with Bill and Bev in the morning, and then chat again in the evening, so it was kinda sorta not really but a little bit like being there with them. And hopefully next year, we will be there with them.

I think that's enough for one post - geeze.