Holiday Recap

The last few days have been filled to the brim with food, family, and fun. We’ve had several family parties to attend and have enjoyed the abundant snow.
Squirrel was initially a bit reticent about going outside when we bundled her all up (she didn’t quite know what to make of all that clothing) . . .
but she very quickly warmed up to the situation when she got to be pulled around on a sled!
I love the holidays for many reasons. One of the reasons is that people pull out all of the stops when it comes to food and there seems to be an uninterrupted supply of yumminess to nibble on. It may not be so good for your waistline, but hey, it’s not like I’ve got one of those right now anyway, right? (More on that coming up….)

We’ve been eating the usual yummy ham and pork roasts, mashed potatoes, etc. My MIL made some yummy fatigman and spritz to sweeten up the mix.
There’s also been stollen and fruit cake that I brought along to share, as well as several more batches of Fuji Nana’s Deadly Chocolate Almond Toffee that I made–one batch made with salted roasted cashews…mmmm….
Now about that waistline…a couple of nights ago Mr. Fuji and I went out for dinner while my in-laws babysat Squirrel (thanks you guys!). When we arrived at the restaurant Mr. Fuji put our names down on the waiting list and about 15 minutes later they were ready for us. A hostess showed us to our table and I immediately saw that there was going to be a problem. As the hostess walked away I assessed the situation. Our table was actually a booth, but a small one with a table specifically designed for two people and neither the table nor the benches could be moved. Can you see where this is going? Yep, when I attempted to sit down I could barely squeeze myself into the booth–my belly was literally being squashed by the edge of the table.
This was not going to work. So Mr. Fuji called the hostess back and explained the situation. We ended up having to go back out and wait for another 10 minutes for another table to open up. When one finally did it was one of those bar tables that is about 2 feet taller than a normal table and Mr. Fuji had to give me a boost up so that I could get onto my chair. It’s a good thing the food was good and we were able to get some comic relief out of the evening! It’s also good that my waistline will only be expanding for (approximately) another 4 weeks and 4 days because at the current rate I could run into some very interesting situations!

As a result of all this month’s activities and travel I just could not squeeze in the Daring Baker’s challenge, which I’m really bummed about because it is SUCH a good challenge. This month’s challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux. They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand. You should go and check out what my fellow Daring Bakers have created though, because the results are impressive!

I’ll be getting back to a more normal posting schedule once we return to California this weekend, but for now, I’m just taking advantage of being with family. Happy Holidays!