A London Return

Good morning!

Can you believe Christmas is next week!? Yikes this holiday season is coming too quickly! My birthday is right before Christmas as well, so I got two holidays in one week. In all actuality, I dislike being a Christmas-time baby. You always get jipped! Combination gifts were pretty common growing up so I always tried to celebrate my birthday in July (but it never worked!)

This weekend Minnesota had a terrible snowstorm and we were SNOWED IN! After 20 inches (and the Metrodome collapsing), we emerged from our apartment with fudge, pumpkin cheesecake, beer bread and chili! I went on a cooking spree on Saturday while cooped up -- I had to do something! I cleaned the kitchen and bathroom and bakedbakedbaked! Helloboyfriend appreciated it becasue it meant delicious treats for him while he played video games *aw what a charmer*

delicious beer bread... perfect pair with...

CHILI! This was delicious and perfect for the cold winter weather! I use red pepper, a baby jalapeño and spicy Italian sausage to bring some heat to the dish.

In other news, hellosister came home from London! She's been studying abroad since August and finally made the trek across the pond.. back home! She was suppose to arrive Saturday, but with the snowstorm, she got stuck in Cincinnati, Ohio for the night. But Sunday, I finally got to see her and hear about her lovely travels! I also got a package of digestives (or biscuits) for tea and have been on a "normal" tea kick (breakfast or earl grey tea with milk and honey) and you dip the digestive in it! Yum!

To celebrate her return, we had traditional Chinese hotpot. Since it was last minute, my mom threw together just the basics but it was still delicious! Usually, we have hot pot when the first snow arrives but we've waited until hellosister came home--but she brought the snow with her! Next weekend, we're continuing our Asian feast with a Saturday brunch of dim sum!

Her two favorite pies are pumpkin and cheesecake, so I made a delicious pumpkin cheesecake for her:

Creamy and delicious--the perfect blend of pumpkin and cheesecake!

Here is the menu for the week!

Monday: grabbing something quick on my own

Tuesday: Penne pasta with spicy Italian sausage

Wednesday: Prosciutto Wrapped Stuffed Chicken w/ green beans & mashed potatoes

Thursday: Hash brown bake w/ broccoli

Friday: leftovers (yay!)

I love how I am integrating vegatables in meals... now only if helloboyfriend would eat them! He says he does, but I still have my doubts :) hehe

Have a good one! This week, Wiz (my kitten) and I are doing a photoshoot for our Christmas cards. And by photoshoot I mean I'm going to have my camera on self-timer and I'm going to try and capture one cute moment with her before she wants to explore.

Cheers,

Natalie