cooks in the kitchen

I guess this technically has to do with Christmas, so I guess my last post title was a lie.  Apologies.

But for Christmas, Rob gave me the wonderful gift of couples cooking classes!  He came up with the idea on his own.  He did well.

The week that we got back to Boston, we took our first cooking class- Couples Dinner Party.  Every couple was assigned a dish to make, and then we feasted at the end.  Rob and I got the chocolate molten lava cakes.  I guess we could've been a little cleaner around the edges of those ramekins, but nonetheless, they were divine.

And a couple days later, we went back to the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts for "All You Knead"... a bread making class.  I liked this class more because I felt like we learned more.  

Actually, one random thing I learned that could possibly be helpful to you:

When recipes call for salt, they are talking about table salt.  So if you are going to use Kosher salt, you have to add the amount advised + half of that amount.  I asked, "Even for cookies?" and she said "Yes".  Who would've known.

IE: Recipe calls for 1 tsp, you should add 1 1/2 tsp of Kosher.

Rob revealing his final product!  

Some of the breads our class made.  I made those sticky buns. 

I have never eaten so much bread in my life.  I honestly felt sick the next morning.  We also brought home a lot of the extra bread, and sadly it all went to waste- neither of us could bare the thought of eating another bite.

I wish I could go to culinary school.  Just for a few months or something.  I was trying to have Rob envision the meals I would create.  He seemed enthusiastic about the idea, but after he threw out a ballpark estimate of how much tuition would cost, I decided it might be a better choice to read a cookbook or something.  

the last christmas post...for another 345 days

Over break, Rob's parents celebrated their 29th wedding anniversary.  To celebrate, they took us all snowmobiling up in the Colorado mountains.  I had never been before, and it was a lot of fun.

I thought I was going to be freezing, but I rented a snow suit (thus wearing a total of 5 pairs of pants and 5 shirts) and the handle bars and feet area were heated so it wasn't bad at all. 

Katie's birthday is New Years Eve, so something fun all the girls decided to do was go paint pottery.  (Alisa, remember that time that me, you, and Lily painted pottery in Provo and we were there for hours? haha)  We stayed for like 3 1/2 hours and I think we all could've stayed longer.  We all painted a household item for Katie for her apartment, and then Amy and I also squeezed in enough time to paint something for ourselves.  

For Katie's birthday, Amy made a beautifullll cake.  It was so lovely!

And that night, we ate it.  Happy Birthday Cute Katie. 

And that concludes our Colorado trip.

catching up...Christmas Eve!

On Christmas Eve, everyone, including the dogs, went sledding.  Rob's parents live up in the mountains, so we just made a sledding hill on the side of the house.

Rob's sisters, Katie and Amy, with Amy's dog Lady.  Rob nicknamed Lady, "Rat Dog" which was a little funny.  Only a little.  :) But Lady is seriously the sweetest little dog.  

I'm the biggest wimp.  I would only go down the hill with Rob, and I think I screamed every time.

In my defense of being a wimp, that tree was at the direct bottom of our hill.  You had to either make a sharp turn, or bail off the sled. We were constantly trying to improve our route and add padding/snow around certain parts. 

Rob's dad, me, Rob, Katie.  

Also, I am fully aware that I look weird with all my hair stuffed back in my hat.  I was attempting to preserve my hair... which actually didn't work out too well.  But it was a good effort.

And when it was all said and done, we broke every single sled.  A true sign of an accomplished sledding day.

Also, remember the sweater that Aunt Amy made for Chalmers?  Well, this is Amy, and this is another sweater that she made!! Isn't that amazing!

And lets not forget Katie, who also made something cool... a veggie Christmas tree.

And this just because I think it's funny.  Rob had to cut onions, so he wore the onion goggles.  Funny invention, huh?

Fish Tales.

Rob and I spent Christmas in Colorado with his entire family- his parents, 2 sisters, 1 brother, 2 sibling-spouses (not including myself), and 1 baby  We kept busy with them and had lots of fun!

One of our days was spent at the Denver Aquarium.  It was a really nice aquarium and there were so many cool things to see.  Although I don't like seeing animals locked up, especially mammals, (have you seen the documentary The Cove?), I do enjoy the opportunity of seeing these creatures up close.  So many of them were so beautiful that I could've just sit in front of them for hours and admired them.

Exhibit 1: Sea otters.  They were sooo cute, and this one behind me kept doing backflips against the glass.  She put on quite the show for us.

Katie, Laura, and Rob

Exhibit 8: Underwater Sea Adventure.  I think this was meant to entertain children, but we were able to shove some tykes out of the way and take a turn in the underwater bubble.  ;) 

Exhibit 19: Seahorses.  I am in love with them.  I used to collect them, along with other fossils, when I was little.  Like dried up ones.  Weird, huh?  I don't think I realized they could also be found live in the wild (or aquariums).  They're much better when they're live and swimming around. 

Us.

Exhibit 30: Mermaids.  No biggie.  

Once again, I think this show was intended for children, but I was captivated as well. 

Highlight: Meet and greet with the mermaids.  

Amy, mermaid, Kat, mermaid, Katie, mermaid, Emily & Cecilia.

Oddly enough, after the aquarium, we all went out for seafood at Bubba Gump's.  

'tis the season

To kick off the holiday season, I left Robert in Boston and traveled long and far to the great state of Michigan.  Poor Rob, I know.  But he had to work and this was the only way I'd be able to see all of my family for a long time.  So he brought me to the airport and kindly sent me on my way.

Michigan: 

My dad makes these cookies every year.  His mom made them when he was young.  And this year I learned the art of making Santa cookies. 

It's kind of intense.

... I am responsible for Santa #1 with the out-of-place raisin eyes.  It took me a few tries to learn their proper placement.

After a few days in Michigan, we traveled to Georgia to see Jacqueline, and meet up with the rest of the family (except Andrew, who is in Chile)!  

One day we hiked to the top of Stone Mountain, which was a fun challenge (physically, and because it started raining on our way down, making the granite "mountain" very slippery.

We also took a tour of the CNN headquarters building which was really cool and interesting.  

That white thing going into the globe is the longest free standing escalator in the world (like there's no beams holding it up... its only support is at he top and the bottom).

And then lil' Lily flew into town and we all had lots and lots of fun hanging out. 

The Lovell fun ended the Thursday before Christmas (so one week ago today), and from there I have met up with Rob for a Buhler Christmas.  More to come on that...

Hope you all had a wonderful and merry Christmas!

xoxo

our thanksgiving

We had a lovely Thanksgiving this year.  Rob's parents and younger sister, Katie, came in town, and we got to spend the week with them.

Thanksgiving morn, me, Katie, and Laura made some cute table settings.  Katie had seen them on pinterest, so we thought it'd be fun to make them.

This is what they were supposed to look like.

This is what ours turned out like. hah.  Seriously ugly.  Our biggest downfall was that we forgot to buy milk dud heads... but lets be real... I don't think we ever had a chance.  Nonetheless, it was fun and we had some good laughs.

Dinner was delish.  And mom, we used the crystal glasses.  ;) 

And after dinner, we went to burn some calories by taking a walk at Lake Waban.  It was so beautiful there.  

Last time I was there to take the dog on a walk, the car keys fell out of my pocket.  :o  I didn't realize it until we completed the walk and I was back at my car and ready to go home and eat some lunch.  I had to literally drag Chalmers around the Lake again and kept my head down the entire time, trying to locate the keys.  No luck.  My knight in shining armor had to leave work to come give me spare keys.  It stunk.  But my point is, whenever I go back there, I can't help but look for the keys.  No luck on Thanksgiving.  I have a glimmer of hope, but in reality, I'm sure they're under a pile of dead leaves, never to be found again.

During the rest of the week, we also visited the Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island.  It was cool because the mansion was decorated for Christmas and made me feel a little Christmas-ey.  

So I got a new camera bag, which is handy in life, but after getting it in the mail, we decided it looks like a diaper bag.  Dang.  

After touring the mansion, we hung around Newport and did a bit of shopping.

We also went to into Boston one day and just spent the day going through all different parts of the city.  

Back at Beacon Hill. 

And lastly, we were able to see Katie fulfill one of her life long dreams... performing in a street show.  :)  She was chosen out of the audience and then a couple of people jumped/did flips over the line of audience members.  It was pretty impressive.  They were good jumpers.  

birthday pup

Chalmers turned 6 years old this weekend.  

His weekend celebration consisted of

chewing on a new bone,

watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade,

and dressing up in his new, stylish sweater...

...that has flashing Christmas lights around the neck.  (A handmade gift from his Aunt Amy)