KerryAndGabe.com

I still haven’t posted my favorites from 2011 (that post is coming), but I think I have found my favorite thing of 2012. That’s right, a mere 20 days into 2012, I’ve discovered The Coca Cola Freestyle machine. I was coerced to give Moe’s a try. I’ve declared that I hate Moe’s which is quite the unpopular opinion! I think I’m just not a fan of their burritos, but the steak quesadilla was fine. So, perhaps I won’t refuse to go there next time…but what may tip the scales is the Coca Cola Freestyle machine.

I was thrilled to find that they had Caffeine Free Diet Coke, a rarity in restaurants. Little did I know what choices I was about to encounter! It has one dispenser and a big touchscreen.

And that’s just the start! After you pick your base soda, you can have it plain…or add delightful flavors.

My first thoughts were, “um, can I buy one of these for my house??” I chose the Raspberry Caffeine Free Diet Coke. YUM! I hear that all of our Firehouse Subs now have these as well. Awesome!

So, when I win the lottery (that I don’t play), then I think my first call will be to the Coca Cola headquarters to see about installing one of these in my house.

I’m woefully behind on the blog, due to an awesome 5-year anniversary photobook that I made for Gabe for Christmas. I included photos from our wedding day to our 5th anniversary. I think it turned out great, but it took a lot of work (including two vacation days to get it done in time). I didn’t have time to sort through any photos since then between that and then the cruise and then Christmas. Whew!

So, I wasn’t able to give Coquette Brasserie a proper review, considering it has now been two months since our meal. I’ll see what I can remember.

We made reservations at the last minute since our original plans fell through. A friend had recommended it, and French cuisine always sounds like a fancy place worthy of an anniversary dinner. Our criteria for anniversary dinners is that it has to be fairly fancy (somewhere that we wouldn’t want to take the kids is best) and somewhere neither of us have been (preferably, though in later years we may change our minds).

When making the reservations, I just happened to mention that it was our anniversary. I remembered that when we ate at Second Empire, they made us a custom menu, and other places have recognized our anniversary.

We arrived a little early, and they were not very busy and seated us right away. We were a little disappointed as many of the tables are quite close together. It’s not a great place if you want a private meal. We were seated right next some other people who finished up not long after we arrived. We had two small tables on either side of us. The hostess tried to seat other people next to us, but everyone requested a different table, fortunately. I wish we had thought to do that! We were happy that nobody wanted to sit close to us.

I’m glad we mentioned our anniversary, because they brought us complimentary champagne to celebrate soon after we were seated.

I wanted a glass of wine, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted. The waiter brought me 3 different samples (at least a third of a glass each) to try before I ordered a full glass. One of the wines I hated, but I ended up liking the one I ordered, especially with my entree. I wish I had written it down so I could remember what it was! We were impressed with the service and their attention to our special day.

We had a cheese plate, and I think we’ve both decided that while we love cheese, we’re not sure we love ALL cheeses (especially most blue cheese type cheeses). At least one of the cheeses was yummy. I had the Onion Soup Gratinee and Beef Bourguignon. Gabe had a special soup (we can’t remember exactly what it was, but it wasn’t a regular menu item) and one of the fish dishes (probably salmon). I think everything was good, but nothing has compared to our experience at Mo’s Diner. I’m pretty sure we had dessert, too. It was a nice experience, and I would recommend it for a special occasion.

Better late than never, right? We spent Thanksgiving in Davidson with my parents. My sister and Chad joined us for the day.

We were excited to Skpye with my grandma for the first time. We have been telling her about it for a while, so it was neat that she had the opportunity to try it.

We had a “feast,” as the kids called it. We had all the traditional, southern options. We put a little bit of everything on their plate.

Of course, they refused to eat more than half of it.

We put napkin rings on our eyes. Or maybe that was just me while everyone else laughed at me. I love Cullen’s expression. I think he’s already embarrassed by his mother, and he’s not even 2.

He was also amused.

He wanted to try it for himself.

We enjoyed some family time. Between us, we had 5 iPhones, an iPad, and a few MacBooks. We played a lot of Words With Friends against each other.

Cullen played an iPhone, too, in his new Apptivity case. That case is great for letting toddlers play the apps. I think my favorite feature is that it blocks the home key.

We had a great day with family. After the kids went to bed, we played Wits & Wagers and laughed a lot, as usual.

Happy Thanksgiving to us!

Something I’m thinking: I need to see an allergist again. I’m back to being congested every morning, which is how things were before I was pregnant with Maddie. I had this issue at the beginning of the pregnancy with Maddie, but then I was fine for the majority of the rest of it, through both pregnancies and nursing. Now the issues are back. Boo.

Something happening around the house: Gabe’s mom, grandma, sister, and nephew are visiting for a few days. We have a full house!

Something I’m reading: A Feast for Crows. I like the series, but I don’t think I love it as much as the fanatics out there. I think I’ll have to read some quick and easy things in between A Feast For Crows and A Dance with Dragons.

Something Gabe is reading: The Well of Ascension.

Something I’m watching: New episodes of Beavis and Butthead. Ha!

Something I’m playing: We played King of Tokyo, Telestrations, and Trivial Pursuit: Bet You Know It with Gabe’s family.

Something tasty: Gabe’s family requested rainbow cake. It turned out pretty and tasty! I also made cookies from a new recipe, Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. They were pretty yummy, too. I finally posted Gabe’s Chicken Pot Pie recipe. He made it for his family last night, too.

Something about both kiddos: Despite a cold, rainy Halloween evening, we ventured out to maybe a dozen houses for trick or treating! I hope the weather is better next year as both kids demanded to be carried in the drizzle.

Something Maddie is doing (44 months old): She had the Halloween parade at school, but she looked like she was having a miserable time! She does NOT like it when it’s cold. When we tried to take photos before school, she was a surly little Minnie Mouse! When I asked her if the parade was fun, she said that it was. She sure didn’t act like it! She had her first ballet class in a set of 3 that is being offered at my work. She refused to participate for the majority of the class. She was slightly more interested when the props were introduced. I broke down and finally went out and bought her a leotard, ballet skirt, tights, and shoes to try and entice her to participate. I think I convinced her that the reason she didn’t want to participate is that she didn’t have a ballet outfit. On Halloween, Maddie chose to select 10 pieces of candy to keep for herself and gave the rest to the Halloween witch (who brought small stuffed animals Nala and Minnie Mouse). It was fun to see how she selected the candy. She kept every lollipop that she had. When she came across a new piece of candy that she wanted, it was fun to see how she decided which previously selected piece of candy that she wanted to put in the bucket for the witch. With 10 pieces, she still has enough candy to last a while. It took her 3 days to eat a tootsie pop! She has shown more interest again with Annabelle and Henry and “baby sister.” This causes a lot of grief for her brother.

Something Cullen is doing (21 months old): Cullen is speaking in sentences more and more often. He’s often saying things like, “Daddy has ABCs on his shirt” or “I want a muffin in my bowl.” He has started shaking his head “no” when he wants to say something is not true. Like when Maddie had a snack and Cullen didn’t, he said, “I have a snack” while shaking his head. He had fun trick or treating, though we didn’t let him have much candy at all. He doesn’t really know the difference this year. We were glad he finally agreed to wear his costume since he was so against it for weeks. He was also excited to be Pooh for school that morning! He made an adorable Pooh! The Halloween witch also brought him a Nala and Minnie Mouse. If you ask Cullen what Santa is going to bring him, he says, “my Annabelle.” I don’t know if we’re going to be able to get away with giving his new “Annabelle” a different name, or we’re going to have “Maddie’s Annabelle” and “Cullen’s Annabelle.” He is still very into Annabelle and throws a ton of tantrums when Maddie won’t let him play with her. Christmas can’t get here fast enough! He has started asking for my iPhone more often to play Peek-a-Boo Barn. He’s learning his way around that thing. He’s not getting an iPhone for Christmas!!

Something I’m looking forward to: A shopping trip to the outlet mall, lunch with a friend, Maddie’s ballet sampler class, dinner and games with friends, and games night!

Something captured: The kids checking out their Halloween loot.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

I got together with three other girl friends last weekend for a food tour in Downtown Raleigh through Taste Carolina. When I first heard of the tour, I thought it sounded like a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

This photo was taken afterward at my house (we all rode together to the tour).

My first impression of Taste Carolina started out on the wrong foot. The tour guide received a call from our first stop, and the restaurant was not ready for a group of 14. We had a larger group than they had anticipated. Since we already knew of a friend who couldn’t make it at the last minute, I thought that this was poor planning for the tour company. They had another similar tour starting at 2pm, but I still thought it was odd. Perhaps they usually have more no shows? Or maybe most restaurants that they frequent can accommodate 14? Whatever the reason, it was not off to a good start. Fortunately, their bad impressions didn’t last and I ended up enjoying the tour quite a bit. I’d love to do some of their other tours in nearby towns.

Our first stop was Mecca (13 E. Martin Street), the oldest restaurant in Raleigh (and possibly the oldest surviving restaurant in the state). The family owned Mecca has been a Raleigh staple since 1930! It was an interesting little place, and they gave us a respectable sample of a ham slider, chicken wing, and a rinky dink. I wish I had included a fork or a quarter or something in the photo of my plate below. The ham slider was teeny. It was definitely the cutest biscuit I had ever seen. I’d say it was about the size of a silver dollar. I thought the portions were perfect for the tour, and I enjoyed all 3 of the selections well enough. The rinky dink was some type of sausage thing on a small, thin slice of rye bread. The food was good, but it wasn’t terribly exciting. I do like the history of the place, and I think that I might have to give it a try just based on its longevity. If I had to decide whether to go based on the tour selection, it wouldn’t grab me.

Next on the tour was Sitti (137 S. Wilmington Street), a restaurant that I already knew that I liked from last year’s Christmas date with Audrey. I was amused by the sign outside of the restaurant (we saw a good number of protestors at a distance).

I loved Sitti the first time I visited the restaurant, and my tour experience solidified my love for the place. I felt like they went above and beyond with their offerings. They initially brought out fresh (and I mean FRESH, the puff of steam when I tore into one about burned my hand) pitas with dipping oil and some kind of passion fruit tea concoction. Then they just kept bringing out dishes for us to try. We each sampled vegetarian stuffed grape leaves, beef shawarma, hommos (going with their spellings here), makanek, and sfiha flatbread pizza (ground lamb with onions, pine nuts, tomatoes, pomegranate molasses and spices). The only thing I wasn’t crazy about was the makanek (Lebanese sausage sauteed with olive oil and lemon). I thought everything else was fantastic. I couldn’t believe how much food they brought us. And I could have eaten several more pitas, but I wanted to pace myself for the rest of the tour. I thought that Sitti was a fabulous experience (we practically had a full meal’s worth of food), except for maybe the part where Marie informed me that I had some stubborn herbs in my teeth. Nothing like picking your teeth at the table during a gourmet food tour. That’s how sophisticated I am!

Next on our list was Crema on Fayetteville (121 Fayetteville Street). We guessed that this might be some type of pastry place, and we weren’t far off. It turns out to be a coffee/ice cream place (though I see from reviews online that they have regular food, too). Our mission here was ice cream. I was a little overwhelmed at first that we would have to make choices (ice cream flavor and toppings). Our tour guide explained that we pick the ice cream flavor (or frozen yogurt) and toppings and they run it through “the ice cream shredder.” Marie ordered the raspberry truffle right before me, and I thought that sounded like a great idea. I had the same. The raspberry truffle had raspberries, fudge, and chocolate chips. I would definitely grab an ice cream from here if I were downtown already for another reason. I don’t tend to go downtown too often, so I can’t see coming out of my way just for the ice cream. It was definitely tasty. And I thought it was fun to have a mid-tour dessert.

We boarded the R-line and headed to Glenwood where we got off the bus at a very unattractive stop. I’m just glad that we had a tour guide helping us get to each stop on the tour! Our next stop was Draft Carolina Burgers and Beers (510 Glenwood Avenue).

I knew from the name that we were going to have to sample some beer, and I knew that I wasn’t going to like it when they brought it out. The beer was in a tiny glass, as you can see from the photo below of Melissa with the beer. The beer was Mash House Hoppy Hour IPA. I knew I wasn’t likely to enjoy a beer that advertised it’s hoppiness. I’m just not a beer person. I drank my teeny beer, but I wouldn’t order it again. Most of their beers are from NC, 32 out of 40. They also talked of their special sodas, and I asked if Marie could sample one since she wasn’t drinking. They served her the Black Cherry Cola, and it was yummy! I would definitely drink that again!

Draft prides itself in using local ingredients whenever possible. They boast over 90% North Carolina products, and they informed us that the burger meat is freshly ground in house. They served us each about a quarter of their Southern Lovin’ burger (ground beef with fried green tomatoes, goat cheese, bacon, and balsamic) and a few chips. When they brought it to the table, I did not find the idea of eating a burger appetizing in the least. I was already fairly full from earlier in the tour, and I wasn’t sure that I was in the mood for a burger. Plus, I thought that this is one of the last burgers that I might have ordered from the menu.

This was one of the best burgers that I have had in a long time. I was very impressed. YUM! I definitely plan to take Gabe to draft where I’m sure he’ll love both the burgers and the beer. Based on my limited experience, I highly recommend the place. I like their local philosophies, and the flavors were outstanding.

Our next stop was Solas (419 Glenwood Avenue), the fanciest place on our tour. Melissa and Heather had both been to Solas, and they both seemed to feel out of place at the restaurant. It’s super trendy with a rooftop bar, a glass floor dance floor, “cabanas” (super tall booth tables) that you can rent for $500/night, and I’m assuming super expensive, fancy drinks.

They served us a tasting of wine, 2008 J. Lohr Carol’s Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc (yes, I took notes). I liked the wine pretty well, but I’m not really a connoisseur. I mean there are wines that I cannot drink, and this was not one of them, but otherwise I can’t tell a good wine from a bad wine. I’m working on my wine palette. They also served us a small salad with pancetta, sea salt, cracked black pepper, red onion, and buttermilk dressing on mixed greens. The salad was definitely good, but I was waiting to sample the “real” stuff from the restaurant.

After our salad, one of the sous chefs gave us a tour of the restaurant. He showed us the herb garden where they harvest a variety of fresh herbs. He showed us the patio area which I think he mentioned has heaters and can be used year round. We saw the fancy “cabanas” and the glass floor. We were assured that the people dining below cannot look up your skirt, but I don’t think I’d take that chance. Of course, I’m pretty sure that Solas isn’t my scene.

And then the Solas experience was over. I couldn’t believe that the fanciest restaurant on the tour gave us a tiny salad and a wine sample. I would have preferred something more substantial to at least given me an idea of what they serve at the restaurant (salads and alcohol it would seem). They didn’t even present us with a menu! There’s a chance that I would visit any of the other restaurants on the tour, but I had a better chance of visiting Solas before the tour experience. I was very disappointed. I guess they are so hoity toity and high on themselves that they feel we should be honored to just have a tour of the place and a glimpse into their fancy pants establishment. I should say that the guy who talked to us was great and obviously passionate about food and the restaurant. I was just disappointed that they didn’t offer something representative of what I could expect to eat if I were to visit in the future. My impression of Solas from the tour was that it was more of a club than a restaurant. They didn’t convince me to come back another time.

Next on the tour was The Raleigh Wine Shop where we obviously had a wine tasting. I had expected we might taste more than one wine, especially since shortly before our visit they wrapped up an afternoon of free wine tastings. We just had one tasting, though they did offer refills. I didn’t see the bottle close enough, but I think what we had was Gran Sarao Cava Rose. It was a sparkling wine from Spain, and I liked it. They also had an interesting array of sodas, and I sampled some of Marie’s Boylan Creamy Red Birch Beer. I thought for sure that I would hate it since I’m not a big fan of creamy beverages or root beer. I thought it was surprisingly tasty! I am glad that I promised myself to taste everything on the tour as several times I enjoyed things I didn’t think that I would.

Our final stop on the tour was The Cupcake Shoppe (104 Glenwood Avenue). We were all excited about this one. I had been wanting to try one of our many fancy cupcake shops for a while. We could pick any of the cupcakes that we wanted, so I selected the special cupcake of the week, the Pumpkin Maple. Marie had Coco for Coco and Heather had Plain Jane. Melissa also went with the Pumpkin Maple. My cupcake was good, but I think that I have built up these specialty cupcakes too much. I’m not sure that any single cupcake could live up to that hype. It wasn’t a bad cupcake, but it just wasn’t the BEST THING EVER. And I think I had been expecting cupcakes from a cupcake shop to be the BEST THING EVER.

I had a little complaint about the tour here. Originally, we were going to have a private tour, so they arranged to have our tips for the tour guide included. I liked that idea since we didn’t want to remember to bring cash or have that awkward “here’s some money tour guide friend” at the end of the tour. I’m thankful that we had done it this way because we were apparently the only ones who didn’t get their cupcake to go. We were just settling into our seats to eat our cupcakes, and the rest of the group left us to go catch the bus. It wasn’t a huge deal, but it would have been nice if we had known that in advance. We probably would have gotten ours to go, too. Melissa and I each grabbed a cupcake to go for our husbands.

After the cupcake shop, we had to figure out the R-line. We had missed the bus with our tour group as well as the next one, which had just left. The next bus wasn’t going to arrive for another 15 minutes, and we noticed that the route did not take us directly to where we wanted to go. We decided to walk, and it wasn’t too far after all.

We had a great time eating our way through downtown Raleigh. I was surprised at how many other restaurants that existed that I never knew about (the guide pointed out restaurants we did not visit as well). I hope to get to try another one of their tours in the spring!

Something I’m thinking: I’m thinking about when we will have our next games night. I love that we’ve been able to have one almost once a month. We should be able to fit in one more before our New Year’s Eve party.

Something I’m hoping: I hope that I’ll be happy with the image quality of the new point and shoot camera that I ordered. My goal is to leave the SLR at home for our cruise as it would be a pain to lug around. It would likely be left in the cabin the majority of the time that we’re on the ship, too.

Something happening around the house: Gabe has been busy! Last week, he nearly finished the deck, and this week he painted the utility room (with awesome colors from the bonus room) and installed an organization system for the alcove. It’s the best thing ever! We’ve been wanting to do that for a while, but we hadn’t gotten a chance. We have two shelves at the top for items we barely use, a place to hang coats on hangers, and two drawers for hats, gloves, and scarves. We also have a place to hang our keys and two sets of hooks on the opposite wall – one set for our every day jackets and the other for the kids’ every day jackets. The kids were excited to hang their own jackets on their level. I love it!

Something I’m reading: I finished Rebel Angels, and I started on both Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and The Sweet Far Thing (the last book in the Gemma Doyle trilogy). Miss Peregrine is quite interesting and different so far. I look forward to the book club discussion in a couple weeks. I better get moving on it, if I’m going to finish in time.

Something Gabe is reading: Mistborn. Still.

Something I’m watching: We’re getting ready to watch Amazing Race in a few minutes.

Something I’m playing: King of Tokyo (several times), Die Burgen von Burgund, Quarriors, Palazzo Paletti (first time in a long time!), Die Mauer, Trivial Pursuit 6, and Medici.

Something tasty: Homemade banana bread! Gabe has been buying more bananas than he thought we would need the past several times he’s been to the store. He has been secretly hoping that we wouldn’t be able to eat them fast enough, and that I would make banana bread. It worked out for him this time!

Something both kiddos are doing: Both kids are helping me in the kitchen quite a bit these days! They love sitting on the counter, pouring in ingredients, and stirring.

Something Maddie is doing (43 months old): Maddie had a dental appointment and did great! She’s a wonderful little dental patient. She’s so wiggly. The child cannot sit still! She falls out of her chair at dinner at least once a week. We have started to make her stand when she can’t sit properly in her chair. That seems to help a little. She’s excited about going to the fair. Maddie gobbled up pureed butternut squash like it was pudding tonight. She also loved the butternut squash muffins that Cullen, Maddie, and I made together. When she helps me in the kitchen, she says, “we have our own bakery, right?”

Something Cullen is doing (20 months old): Cullen is more attached to Annabelle than ever. Twice this week, he cried all the way to school because he couldn’t hold Annabelle. Maddie lets him play with her a lot, but it’s her doll. We don’t force her to share the doll. The last four nights in a row, he has insisted on having Annabelle in the crib with him. He’s very sweet with the doll. I think Santa is going to have to bring him his own Bitty Twin. He tattled on Maddie twice this week. Both times it involved Maddie hitting him, once in the car with a stuffed animal and once at home with a broomstick. Both times were accidental. Cullen exclaimed, “Mommy! Maddie hit me!” His ability to communicate is incredible. He’s using more adjectives, prepositions, and articles. He often says things like, “close the door” instead of “close door.”

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I signed up our Team for 2012′s Walk MS event. I guess that’s step one when it comes to the fundraising.

Something I learned: I installed the OS upgrades for both my MacBook Pro and the iPhone. I’m still getting used to the new gestures on the MacBook. I also learned that when you put “7pm Event Name” on my Google calendar, it picks up the time (I already knew if you put @ place name, it would update that part). I’m not sure how I missed this previously, since it gives an example of it under the prompt. I have been finding it annoying that I would have to edit the whole calendar entry in order to enter a time, so this will save me a lot of hassle.

Something I’m looking forward to: I’m looking forward to getting my new camera, hopefully in time for the fair with Maddie, a food tour in downtown Raleigh with my girlfriends, and our anniversary dinner!

Something random: Is there a fruit or a vegetable that cannot be made into a tasty baked good?

Something captured: The kiddos in their coordinating Halloween jammies (they also glow in the dark!). Cute!

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

After seeing this recipe on Feeding Four, I knew right away that I was going to have to try it. I love muffins. I love banana bread. I love chocolate chips. This sounds like the perfect match.

I made these during Mother’s Day weekend. I’ve added the recipe to my collection on the site. I will definitely be making them again.

Be sure to visit Feeding Four for the original recipe and much better photos (well, that post is lacking in photos of cute kiddos, but some of her other posts fit that bill as well).

I gathered my ingredients. I didn’t want to get halfway through the recipe and realize that I was missing an egg! I am missing the butter in this photo as it was melted in a bowl in the microwave. So much for completeness.

I made a well, as she suggested, and I thought it looked pretty like a flower.

Maddie loves helping me in the kitchen. She especially loves stirring, dumping in ingredients, and putting paper cups in the muffin tin.

Ready to go into the oven!

Mmmm….time to eat!

Cullen approved!

Maddie approved!

We all loved them! My family loved them so much that they ate all but one of the leftovers on Mother’s Day morning while I was sleeping in. I was all ready to eat chocolate chip banana muffins, but little did I know that the rest of the household had the same idea! I am looking forward to making them again!

It’s time once again for my “best of” list for the previous year (inspired by Cindy in 2008). I looked back at 2008 and 2009 for the categories. I also stole some ideas from Cindy’s 2010 post.

Best Restaurant: We didn’t visit too many notable restaurants this year. Most of the restaurants that we frequent these days have high chairs, grilled cheese, and a lot of background noise. Two restaurants were in the running this year: Acme Food and Beverage Company and Sitti. I didn’t have a problem picking Acme, which is where we dined on our 4th anniversary. My appetizer, in particular, was divine. I never know that tomatoes (the teeny heirloom kind) could be so tasty, and I made sure that our anniversary fell during a dairy trial so I could have the fresh mozzarella/tomato salad. YUM!

Best Book: I had a hard time finishing books this year, but I still managed to finish most of our book club reads. I still read enough to make it difficult to choose one best book. Considering how quickly I read the first two books of The Hunger Games, I’m going to have to choose that as my book of the year. I still need to read Mockingjay. I’m looking forward to discussing the series with book club next month (so I guess I better finish that 3rd book). I would have finished it quickly as well, but it hadn’t been released yet when I finished the first two. I always have trouble finishing up a series when I have to wait for a book.

Best Vacation: Our day at Magic Kingdom made that trip the best of the year! I’m so glad that we decided to go at the last minute. The day was wonderful and made us excited about returning in a couple of years. We will fly next time. No way I’m making that long drive to Orlando again, if I can help it!

Best Movie: Despite the fact that we don’t make it to movies very often, I’m finding it difficult to pick just one in this category! We are very selective of the movies that we go out to see. Oh, how I miss the days when we could say to each other over dinner, “hey, let’s go to a movie!” and then we could just go to the movie. Or what about the days when I was able to stay awake through a 9 o’clock movie (and even the midnight showings!). Those days seem to be in the distant past now! This year, we had a couple babysitters and we managed to sneak off during the day while the kids were in daycare. I went to some movies with girlfriends, too. So, out of the movies that I saw in 2010, I liked many of them. The movies in the running for “best” movie of the year would have to be Toy Story 3, Inception, and The Social Network. Despicable Me would have been in that list if we hadn’t seen Toy Story 3. It’s hard to choose between the three in the running because they are so different! I can’t help it, though. I have to pick Toy Story 3. Pixar continues to be a sentimental favorite for me. It’s hard to beat. Which brings me to the next category…

Best Non-Pixar Movie: That’s right, I’m cheating and adding another movie category. It’s just not even fair for other movies to compete. The best non-Pixar movie that we saw was Inception. The Social Network was certainly good and had interesting content, but Inception was the type of movie that I wanted to own and see again.

Best Reunion: I stole this category from Cindy, and every year I almost choose not to use it. I do have a good answer, though. I think the best “reunion” this year is the start of the new Mothers & More chapter. The old chapter had been looking like it would fall apart for a while (and I thought that it had), so it was awesome to have a new chapter open up with many of the great women from the old chapter plus some new wonderful friends. The meeting locations are more convenient for me, too, so that’s a bonus. I look forward to seeing this chapter develop this year.

Best Album: I don’t acquire many new albums these days. Gabe ends up getting more albums than me. The two main albums that I got this year was Barenaked Ladies’ and Jack Johnson’s new albums. Between the two, I’d have to pick To the Sea by Jack Johnson. I enjoyed both albums (and both concerts).

Best Board Game: We actually managed to play quite a few new games since we attended That Board Gaming Thing this year. Almost every game that we played was new to us. I’m going to exclude party games from this category (see the next category). Our favorite non-party game of the year goes to Macao.

Best Party Game: The best party game that I have discovered in a while is Telestrations. We played it quite a bit since That Board Gaming Thing, and it has been a recent favorite at games nights. We’ve had some hilarious moments with it.

Best TV Show: Our TV watching declined rapidly this year. We aren’t too interested in any of our shows these days. I think that the award this year has to go to glee. We caught up on the first season (first half of the first season? when it came out on DVD and have been keeping up with it since then.

Best Toy (for Maddie): Even though the Bitty Twins are currently a big hit, they were a late arrival for 2010. I’m entitled to pick them, but I think the toy that got the most play and use in 2010 had to be Baby, the baby doll she had before Henry and Annabelle. She took that doll everywhere. It helped her develop imaginative play, and she cared for that doll and practiced things like changing diapers and feeding the doll that she saw us do with Cullen. So while Baby was not acquired in 2010, she wins for Best Toy (for Maddie).

Best Toy (for Cullen): My pick for Cullen was a toss up between the Fridge Farm and the Little People Barn. Both were hand-me-down toys from Maddie, and Maddie still gets play out of them, too. As with Maddie, I think I will have to go with the toy that got the most play out of the year. That award goes to the Fridge Farm. He started playing with the Fridge Farm around 6 months old and still plays with it almost daily. It’s great for keeping him entertained and distracted while cooking dinner, too.

Best Children’s Book: We did a ton of reading to Maddie (and some to Cullen, too). Even though we haven’t read it as much lately, I think this award goes to Pinkalicious. She received it for her birthday, and it has been a favorite since then. In 2010, Maddie got more into longer stories and can sit through multiple books of decent length. It’s been fun reading with her.

Best Maddie Moment: This one was an easy pick for me. The absolute best moment with Maddie was when she met Winnie the Pooh at Magic Kingdom. I wasn’t sure how she would do with the characters, but she was so excited to meet Winnie the Pooh. She waited patiently in line (until the last few minutes when we were almost there), and she stood by herself with the characters for pictures. She then gave Winnie the Pooh the longest, biggest hug. It was just about the sweetest thing ever.

Best Cullen Moment: This one is harder. I could just go the easy route and say the moment he was born! I’m going to instead pick a moment that isn’t quite as specific as Maddie’s moment. I have loved the few times that I have seen Cullen interact with the music teacher at school. Little dude LOVES music and LOVES that teacher. It’s so cute!

Audrey and I once again went on our annual Christmas date. I love this tradition! We start looking for interesting things to do in about July, and often we’ll even buy tickets around this time. In addition to attending new events each year (with a few repeats and possibly more repeats eventually), we try out new restaurants, too. Last year we had brunch at Poole’s diner and saw Cirque Dreams: Holidaze. The year before that (2008), we tried fancy barbeque at The Pit and saw Mannheim Steamroller (brings back childhood memories for me!). In 2007, we saw Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol by Tom Mula which was a retelling of the classic tale from Marley’s point of view (in a tiny theater!). My memory before that is fuzzy, but I know we saw the Nutcracker a couple times. We’ve eaten at The Irregardless Cafe and a little Italian place where we ordered TWO desserts. Each. Because they were THAT good. (Oops, I’m not sure I was supposed to admit that in print).

This year, we ate at Sitti which is an “authentic Lebanese” restaurant and then saw the stage adaptation of A Christmas Story at A.J. Fletcher Theater.

Sitti: authentic Lebanese

I suggested Sitti because I was hoping to go out somewhere that I could order items right off the menu without worrying about their dairy content or needing to gauge whether I can trust them when they say something is dairy free. I asked my vegan friends for recommendations. Sitti has several special designations on their menu including gluten free and vegan. I figured that a place that is sensitive to food preferences and allergies would be one that I could trust. Plus, it was a bonus that I could just choose any vegan item and be sure that it was dairy free!

I called earlier in the day, as I had some questions about some menu items that contained meat (so obviously they weren’t vegan). They were very helpful at identifying which ones had butter or yogurt (commonly used in these Lebanese dishes, like as a marinade for the chicken). The waitstaff at the restaurant was not as knowledgeable as I had hoped (I’m not stating this as a negative), but they were excellent at making sure that my selections were dairy free and double checking with the kitchen when they were unsure. This is something that I respect when inquiring about the dairy content of menu items. I have encountered waitstaff at other restaurants who are obviously guessing. It’s always nice when someone who is uncertain goes and checks rather than guesses. To me, that is just as good as one who knows right off the bat (though not as convenient). The waitress was also very good at making sure that we could make it to our show in time as we had a somewhat limited time frame.

I ordered Falafel as my appetizer. Falafel is described on their menu as crushed chick pea patties, seasoned and fried, served with tahini sauce. I don’t think that I have had falafel before, but what a fun word to say! It was YUMMY. I had the Filet Kabob for my entree. It was also very tasty. I loved the garlic whip. I had to ask the guy who brought it to be sure that it didn’t contain dairy – THAT’S how tasty it was. I would definitely go to Sitti again.

I enjoyed the decor, the waitstaff was friendly and helpful, and the location was good for going to the theater. The only complaint that I would have is that several areas in downtown Raleigh seem a bit sketchy. It’s not somewhere that I would feel comfortable walking around by myself, at night or maybe even during the day. You can make fun of me for that, but I like to err on the side of caution when it comes to my safety. I was glad that we decided to park near Sitti and then relocate to the theater. The distance was walkable, but it would have been a long walk at night in the frigid temperatures!

A Christmas Story at A.J. Fletcher Theater

When I saw that A Christmas Story would be acted out on stage in Raleigh, I knew that I had found this year’s Christmas date. I was very excited about this one!!! I have seen the movie a zillion times, so I am very familiar with that version. I was curious to see how this would translate to the stage. I had been expecting a musical for some reason, so the show was a bit different than what I thought it would be.

I thought that it was great and another wonderful Christmas date! I enjoyed reliving the classic moments from the movie: Ralphie’s obsession with the BB gun, the bunny pajamas, Flick getting his tongue stuck, the F— moment and the subsequent soap in the mouth, the bullies, the mall Santa, you’ll shoot your eye out, the “major award,” and more. I couldn’t think of too many scenes that weren’t represented.

This theater wasn’t as small as the one we visited in 2007, but it was still a little theater. We had front row seats – right in the center section! Needless to say, we were quite close to the action. There is something exciting about being on the front row.

I felt like the casting was great. The kids especially looked very much like the ones from the movie, and it was obvious to me that the entire cast had studied the movie intensely, mimicking the behaviors of their big screen counterparts. The kids did a great job. I’m always impressed with how well these kids handle themselves on stage. I’m quite certain I wasn’t capable of such things when I was their age! I believe that we saw the show on opening night. I noticed a few line flubs here and there, but overall I think that everyone played their roles wonderfully! The stage version has a narrator that is standing in front of the set and watching each scene while remembering the moments fondly as he relays their significance and story to the audience.

The set itself was neat. Much of it took place in the house, but they had a fence that rolled in front of the house to do schoolyard scenes and scenes that outside (like on the Christmas tree lot). A little schoolroom appeared to the side when needed. They rolled in a “car” for the F— scene. I had wondered how some of the scenes were going to work. I love seeing how sets come together on stage.

I loved it. I’m so glad that we picked this show for this year’s event! I’m already looking forward to next year’s Christmas date.

Last year, I remember I made individual bundles of cookies for each of the teachers, including some of the assistants that we have come to know well over the last few years. It ended up being a lot more work than I thought it might be as I had quite a few bundles which translated to quite a few cookies (plus a cookie exchange). I swore I wasn’t going to do that again! And this year, I didn’t do exactly that…but I think I ended up doing way more. Granted, I wasn’t 8 months pregnant. It turns out that makes a huge difference!!! This year, I had a pint-sized “helper” who was very excited to assist in the kitchen.

I started with the Oreo truffles. This year, I made regular, mint, and peanut butter ones. The mint ones were a big hit. The peanut butter ones were a little weird (but did not have cream cheese). The texture wasn’t as creamy and a tad on the crunchy side.

I also used candy melts to make them red and green (and used both the chocolate and candy melts for decoration).

I boxed them up and gave them as gifts to Maddie and Cullen’s teachers. I was very happy with how they turned out!

The following weekend, I was inspired by one of Cullen’s teachers to give cupcake bites a try. The cupcake bites weren’t too difficult to make, and they were super cute!

The bottom is a bit of chocolate in a peanut butter candy mold. Now that I have such candy molds, it makes me want to try to make peanut butter cups sometime…

Did I mention that the cupcake bites were CUTE??

Maddie and I also made my mom’s recipe for ginger snaps. I found a new recipe for ginger snaps that we made on Christmas Eve Eve. Maddie did a great job rolling each ball of dough into the sugar.

These cookies are YUMMY. The other recipe turned out pretty well, too. Most people liked both cookies the same or preferred the old recipe a little bit. I’ll probably make a little of both each year!

Most of the time, Maddie watched instead of participated in the baking. I wasn’t sure what to think of the peanut butter truffles, but I thought they looked nice with the nut topping.

I made a lot of treats that weekend, and again they made nice little gifts for the teachers. The teachers received a lot of goodies this year, especially since I wasn’t able to eat many of the goodies (most are NOT dairy free!).

After my cupcake bites experience, I thought that I could handle making Bakerella’s Christmas themed cake pops. They were a lot more work than I had thought they would be (what was I thinking??). I really don’t think i would want to try to make them again, but they did turn out really cute.

My favorite baking project out of all of our many projects this season was the sugar cookies. I have very fond memories of cookie making and decorating as a child, and I am thrilled to be able to share this with my children (well, just Maddie this year). She LOVED it, and I’m glad we were able to do it with Nana this year.

I think Maddie was proud of our cookies as well!

Maddie was quite liberal with the sprinkles. I had to shake off the excess each time as we put them on the plates. I think they turned out pretty well, and they were TASTY! I made Mandy’s Holy Grail Sugar Cookies, though I did substitute vegan butter. I still think that they were fabulous, even without real butter. I can also appreciate a dough that I feel comfortable eating raw (I used to have no issues eating raw dough with egg, but I can’t bring myself to do it anymore!). I think that next time I’ll make the icing a little thinner. I felt like the cookies were a tad too sweet for me (though that doesn’t stop me from eating one just about every time I pass the table).

I also made a tree out of 6 different sized stars. A friend of mine had posted photos of hers on Facebook, and I thought that looked fun! I love it!

Our tasty creations have made nice centerpieces for our holiday dinners.

Oh and Christmas morning, I made red and green pancakes! Fun and yummy!

I love the holidays!!!