Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Happy 2012!


Today was my weekly date with TJ. I found some exciting 99-cent items there, so I bought something for Tim and something for me. Want to guess whose is whose?


Tim was brave and tasted my Wasabi Roasted Seaweed. His response? “It tastes like sushi, but without all the fun.” I tried his eggnog cookies…which were actually really delicious, and I don’t even like eggnog (#1 – mostly because of the raw egg in it, and #2 - partially due to the weird texture…which reminds me of egg whites… which is an ingredient…which puts me back to reason #1)

My last post began with, “Where has the week gone? And 10 days til Christmas?” Now, I cannot believe it’s over already! The Christmas season for us came and went very quickly. We left on Friday, December 23 and flew to Chicago where we spent a very Polish Christmas eve with Tim’s family! For lunch, Tim’s dad took us to a Polish restaurant, where I went out on a limb and ordered “Borscht” (beet soup), with mushroom ravioli. It was actually pretty tasty! 


We spent the afternoon with Tim’s family preparing the evening meal. We had a variety of dishes, including: kolacz (Polish bread); sauerkraut, vegetable, and cheese pierogis (stuffed dumplings); and kolaczki (buttery cookies with fruit filling). Right before dinner, we “break oplatki” where we go around to each person with a little wafer and break off pieces as we wish them well for the holiday season and the upcoming year. The night “wrapped” up with some “unwrapping” of gifts. :)

After all the gifts were opened and dessert eaten, Tim and I left Chicago and drove to Bloomington, where we crashed that night and woke up early Christmas morning to meet up with my family at my aunt’s house. We had a wonderful Mexican meal complete with our Chicago Bulls groom’s cake that my mom brought from Kansas. It also happened to be the first Bulls game, much to the delight of my die-hard-Bulls-fan husband.  They won on a last-second shot. Must have been the cake.


Monday morning, we drove to Peoria to see my mom’s brother and his family, then Tim drove back to Chicago to fly back to DC (he had to work on Tuesday), and I drove back to Kansas with my parents. I was so thankful for the opportunity to spend a few extra days with my family! Most of the week was spent helping my mom get ready for the back-to-back Christmases that were hosted at their house. Here is a glance at the little concert held in the family room during my mom's-side-of-the-family Christmas.  :)



Though I love living in Virginia, being back in Kansas was a nice change of pace from the hustle-bustle of the city…and I forget how much SPACE there is in the Midwest! This is a sunset out of the bay window one evening.

My flight left at 6:30am on Saturday morning, and my parents were gracious enough to wake up early (we left at 3:30am, which my dad loves to do, just in case of traffic/flat tire/hitting a deer/construction/etc./etc./etc.…) and take me to Kansas City. And that’s another thing about being back in Kansas…I’m not 10 minutes from the airport like I am here in Virginia! It all worked out though, and I arrived safely (and sleepy!) back home.

Wasn’t 2011 a great year? Mine looked something like this:
Began 2nd semester of the Kanakuk Institute -> Graduated Kanakuk Institiute -> Got engaged -> Attended several summer weddings -> Did lots of my own wedding planning -> Visited Virginia and found a town house -> GOT MARRIED! -> Became a wife! -> Honeymooned in Barbados -> Moved to Virginia -> Visited family for Christmas -> Welcomed in 2012 with excitement about what God will do and where He will take us this year!

Tim and I spent NYE at First Night Alexandria, where we welcomed in the new year watching a laser light show. Tim thought it would be a good idea to start the year off right with a 1 mile run at 12:30am. I’m sure we got some strange looks as all the cars drive past us, but it sure was fun! The rest of the long weekend was spent relaxing, reorganizing, and cleaning our house.


My post cannot be completed without a few recipes. For our 2 Christmases in Kansas, I made the Pueblo Corn Pie and Mexican Stuffed Lentil Shells. I made a few changes to the shells by adding black beans and corn for a little more flavor and texture.

Tonight, I was protesting the 32* weather and slight snow flurries, so I opted for a summer-ish dinner, which consisted of my mom's tangy cole slaw recipe (it came from some magazine, I think), and Sloppy Josephines.

Happy New Year! Here’s to a fabulous 2012!

Until next time...

2 comments:

  1. So excited to hear all about your fantastic life, and to get some new recipes to try!

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  2. Aww, can't wait to come visit you sometime! BTW it's supposed to be 60+ degrees here tomorrow:)! LYM

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