Matt and I ate a late lunch yesterday. Actually I ate lunch about 4 different times yesterday at our office department party at Sips and Strokes Toco Hills.
Sips and Strokes was a FUN place to have our party. We played our Christmas music while we were instructed on how to paint. Here are a few pictures.
Although it is an adult painting studio where you can take your wine and a few friends and enjoy chatting while you paint your masterpiece, I do think that my boys would enjoy it! I may look into taking them over the holiday break.
Anyway, because we ate and ate and ate yesterday, Matt and I didn't want much for dinner, so I ran up to the Fresh Market and bought some wine, beer, bacon and produce. I LOVE brussel sprouts. I think they are delicious which is funny to me because when I was young, there was nothing you could make me eat that I detested more than brussel sprouts. I especially love roasting them lately. Last night, I wanted to jazz them up, so I looked online and found a few different recipes and melded them into one and it resulted in a lovely and tasty dish!
First, I bought a "tree" of brussel sprouts - that was fun in and of itself! It was $6.00 for one "tree." I used about half of it last night in my dish. We all thought it was really neat to see them on the stalk like this.
First, I plucked the sprouts from the stalk. Then I cut off the bottoms and the first layer or two of leaves. I then cut them in half, or into quarters if they were huge.
I bought Fresh Market's apple wood smoked bacon, and oh, let me tell you, it is SO good - it's extremely well priced and more delicious than any other bacon you can buy! I diced about 6-8 ounces of the bacon and cooked it.
Just before the bacon was finished, I added three big heaping tablespoons of capers.
I removed the bacon/caper mixture from the pan to a paper towel lined plate. I got rid of most of the grease and then added the brussel sprouts. After about 15 minutes, I added balsamic vinegar and a drizzle of olive oil to the sprouts. I continued to cook them for another 5 minutes.
Then I put them on a cookie sheet into a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes, turning them once.
I took them out of the oven and put them into a small dish and tossed them with the bacon/caper mixture and drizzled a touch more of balsamic vinegar on it - and a dash of salt and pepper (not too much salt as the capers are really salty in and of themselves).
Ohhh.... I felt like I was eating a dish that could be served in a fine restaurant. They were DELICIOUS! I can't get my kids to touch them with a ten foot pole, but Matt really liked it. I would definitely do this as an adult side when entertaining. It was beautiful and so tasty!
So, I've covered candy canes, brussell sprouts, so let's talk about ice skating!
We saw Santa today and Brooke would still be sitting on that comfy lap of his if we hadn't picked her up when they were done. She did great! We thought she would cry her eyes out - she's proving to be tougher than her big brothers :). Here is a picture of the kids right after we saw Santa.
Please notice how Champ is already unwrapping his candy cane. It was 100% in his belly before we made it to the car. He inherited mommy's sweet tooth.
