Christmas/New Year's Recap
I kept it simple on the baking front, and came up with a cookie tray that serviced Chrsitmas/NYE/New Year's Day very well. From left to right:
- Oreo balls, standard recipe as told to me by a coworker long ago: process one package of oreos and one block of cream cheese in a food processor and then dip in chocolate.
- Averie Cooks soft & chewy M&M bars
- Christmas Crack
- Eggnog cookies (my notes about making them here). A lot of the family is very pro chocolate, so I was expecting a lot of leftovers. But they turned out to be quite the sleeper hit of the party.
After Christmas we had a decent amount of goodies left, which we were nibbling our way through when we got a surprise invitation to a New Year's Eve party, and our hosts said they were short on desserts so I made another round of everything. And then we had our family New Year's Day dinner, and I had to make another batch of M&M bars to get through that. When all is said and done we have a few but not too many treats leftover.
Workouts
Remember how last year I did a 100 mile hiking challenge which kicked off a love of hiking that I didn't know I had? I had started to repeat some of the hiking routes but was not going to join this year's challenge since I had been there and done that.
Well, out of nowhere I got a massive case of FOMO and signed up again. Although it is the same trails, this year's routes are different and from the first hike I already understand a bit more about how the trail system connects. So it was worth my time and the sign up fee to go for a second round.
Watching
Still Seinfeld and not much else. We just started season four.
Reading
I picked up the next book in the Alphabet series to tide me over until my next library hold comes in: I is for Innocent.
What's Next
Work has been very tough for the past few weeks, and it's been all that I can do to keep sane. I want to do a 2024 recap and chat about goals, and hopefully I'll have the bandwidth to do that soon. In the meantime I'll be catching up with blogs and snuggling with Doggo.
Peace Out! Happy New Year Friends!
It took me awhile to get past the Oreo balls! Those and the Christmas Crack are my kind of baking! I hope your work eases up. Happy new year!!
ReplyDeleteHa ha Michelle you figured out my secret - oreo balls and Christmas crack are very easy to make. The M&M bars are also very quick. The eggnog cookies were the "I tried" item on the tray.
DeleteThose oreo balls do look and sound amazing, I agree. I'm so glad that you joined the hiking challenge again! It sounds so wonderful. I hope work calms down for you soon. This is a very busy time for us, and I would feel guilty about having the last week off already and not going back until the 6th, but they have all had time off at various times and I manned the fort, so I guess it's my turn.
ReplyDeleteYes it was your turn to have time off! I'm planning to feel zero guilt next year when I have all of the time off.
DeleteHiking is good year round, but I can't say enough how amazing it is in winter.
So sorry about your work sitch. I hope things get much less stressful AND SOON.
ReplyDeleteI love hiking! It's one of my very favourite things. My husband and I have been snowshoeing, which is hiking really but snowier, and it gives me such a happy boost to be in the trees and mountains.
What episode of Seinfeld did you just watch? I think I told you we are watching Barry but I'm losing interest. It's good the episodes and seasons are short.
I've never been snowshoeing but that sounds like something that Hubs would know about so it could be a fun winter date.
DeleteWe saw The Cheever Letters (the one where they find Susan's dad's old love letters after the cabin fire) and The Opera (crazy Joe in the clown suit) last night. To tell you that I had to look up the episodes and I see that we are just one episode away from The Contest!!!!!! Squeeee!!!!!
OMG THE OPERA AND CRAZY JOE DEVOLA! I love that episode so much. I quote it all the time "Oh, no thank you. I'm a day person." We laugh so much about the "he's so well adjusted" cut to Crazy Joe bench pressing and crying while listening to opera. I LOVE IT! "Is that Binaca?" I heard that Larry David named a lot of characters after NBC executives and Joe Devola was one of them!
DeleteWE SAW THE CONTEST LAST NIGHT!!!!! My life is now complete.
DeleteFun fact, that was George's mom first episode.
"Glamour magazine?"
DeleteI'M OUT!
DeleteDoggo's face!!! I want to kiss her and snuggle her and tell her it's going to be OKAY. Why do shepherds always look so so serious?!
ReplyDeleteThat girl is serious about her presents! She recently tore up the Santa toy that we got her last summer, so she may have been concerned about what Santa was going to give her.
DeleteThose oreo balls- I want to make them. The problem is, we're still working out way through a birthday cake (sigh.) And there are some Christmas cookies left in the freezer! We'll see.
ReplyDeleteGlad you signed up for the hiking challenge again! Let's call it a "quest." Quests are always fun.
Looking forward to 2024 recaps and goals. Hang in there.
YES!!! I am going to start calling the hiking challenge a quest. Challenge isn't the right way to describe it at all.
DeleteI hope you can dig out of the whole at work soon! We are kind of in a bit of a lull at work because advisors are still on vacation but I know what's coming... but while it's quiet on the client front, we are getting into the thick of quarter end season so I am trying to get as much done before I'm off for my surgery. Happy New Year! That dessert plate is awesome!!
ReplyDeleteI want a lull at work! Other than the one that I am giving myself right now by hiding on the couch. With any luck I will at least get some more interesting/less deadline intensive projects soon. And oh yes - assuming that I stick to my guns and follow through on quitting in May, then I will have a lull every day.
DeleteI always have a bag of cookies in the freezer on hand to send with a kid when they get invited somewhere. I have done less baking the last few months than . . . I don't know when, but I was pleasantly surprised to find I had a decent amount stored there that I forget about. When Tank headed to Milwaukee yesterday afternoon, I was able to send him with a big plate. Phew. Your cookie tray looks delicious. I've never made the Oreo balls, and my people would love it if I learned. This recipe seems so doable. I might give that a try.
ReplyDeleteI love the last minute NYE invite, sometimes those last minute plans are the best. Being fairly new here, I didn't realize your hiking situation was fairly new. I do enjoy a good hike, but would not usually consider it unless I found myself in a national park. I'm encouraged to look around for trails near home.
Hope work calms down. That sounds stressful. We started watching A Man on the Inside with Ted Danson and we are enjoying it.
It is smart to have cookies on hand! I've been known to freeze cookie dough so that I can produce fresh baked cookies with 10 minutes notice. Though I'm no where near that organized these days.
DeleteHiking is an off shoot of my local tourism quest. A lot of places shut down in winter, and travel is iffy, so the hiking challenge near home is perfect for winter. I spent most of my outside recreation time biking over the summer, and then got back into hiking this fall when the leaves started changing.
Doggo!!! What a sweet picture.
ReplyDeleteI know you have big plans for the year ahead, but it sounds like it's a slog to the finish :(
I know I've just had a month of delicious baked goods, but I'm still craving them.
Yes, the march to the end is turning out to be brutal. At least I won't be conflicted when it comes time to leave.
DeleteYay for a second hiking quest/challenge! I didn't realize that it was something you signed up for, I thought it was just your personal 100 mile thing.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that work has been tough. It’s especially challenging when FIRE is so close you can almost taste it. Just yesterday, we were chatting with a couple who are in the same boat—completely swamped with work but on the verge of FIRE. They’re counting down the days until they can finally pull the plug!
Yes, the hiking challenge is kind of like a race. There is a signup, set routes, and it runs from January to June. Reporting is on the honor system. I like following the Facebook group so that I can see what other folks think of the routes and hearing their experiences.
DeleteI'm rooting for your friends in their final days! I picked mid year as my FIRE date because I'm turning 50 and it's when stepson #2 will be done with high school, but between you and me I wonder if I can make it that long. I get to max out my 401k and get company stock if I do...but I'm having a hard time convincing myself that it's worth it.
Seinfeld for the win!!!!! That show is so iconic; I laugh even more at the reruns than I did when I saw the episodes for the first time. I make a mean Christmas Crack, too. I’m curious what is in your version ;-). I’m actually still nibbling on the few remains of it as I type…
ReplyDeleteNom on the Christmas Crack snack! We finally finished all of ours and I miss it already. I feel like all of the recipes are identical - two sticks of butter & one cup of brown sugar boiled for 3 minutes, pour on top of saltines, bake for 5 minutes, top with chocolate chips and let them sit for a minute to melt before leveling them down.
DeleteEasy holiday cookies are the best, right? As is having the right amount of leftover cookies after back to back holiday weeks! Yay for hiking in 2025 (I hope to get back to it by spring) and sigh for busy work periods. Here’s hoping that passes quickly!
ReplyDeleteYes, easy cookies rule! As do leftover cookies. I hope you can get back to hiking soon!
DeleteDaaaang, those Oreo balls and Christmas crack look soooo good. Maybe I’ll be a rebel and make them in January for some plans I have this month. I’ll just call it winter crack. ;)
ReplyDeleteI’m sorry work has been stressful. :( I only worked 2 weeks in December and it feels good to be back in the swing of things.
Oreo balls and winter crack are good year round! Do it!
DeleteI'm planning to work zero weeks starting this summer so I can feel good about that.
YAY for the hiking challenge! I am glad you signed up again. I think that even if you have done them before you will become more familiar with them. And I know from your forays last year that you were more willing to look for hiking in other places after that, so this will just cement your love of hiking and will make it so you are more comfortable doing it anywhere!
ReplyDeleteThe neat thing about this year's challenge is that the hikes are configured a little differently so I'm getting a better sense of how the trails connect. Beyond that it's great to have something local to do during the iffy travel season of winter.
DeleteThat desert platter looks divine! And good for you for considering a new take on the hiking challenge. And you know (as I often remind myself), just because it's a challenge doesn't mean you have to do it. If for some reason it stops working for you, you can quit and try something new.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading your recap and goals whenever you find bandwidth to share!
The thing about the hiking challenge is that it can be very hard to be outdoors this time of year. It's cold, there isn't much to do, and driving can get tricky. So it's really great to have an outdoor activity that I can do as long as it doesn't get too cold.
DeleteI hope work will get less sucky soon!
ReplyDeleteThat dessert platter looks so good! I need to try those oreo balls some time! A friend made them for me vegan years ago and I loved them.
That's awesome you are doing the hiking challenge again!
If nothing else it will get less sucky in a few months...when I quit!
DeleteOreo balls are great. They're easy, everyone likes them, but no one thinks to make them - at least no one else that I know. And like every other food on the planet, you can sub plant based ingredients to make an identical if not better vegan version!