see ya, 2020.

new year's eve 2020 was really quiet and low-key, especially compared to the fun party we had with our friends last year.  what a difference a year makes.  

i made a target run the night before to pick up groceries and supplies for dinner, and threw in a few festive things for midnight.

dinner that night was a lot easier than the holiday meals we'd made for thanksgiving and christmas.  my trusty instant pots came through for our low-carb dinner of tuscan chicken with cauliflower mash, served with bacon-wrapped prosciutto and some keto-approved garlic cheese bread recipe i found online.

the guys disappeared into the back yard to smoke cigars and watch whatever netflix series they'd gotten hooked into, while the rest of us hung out inside where it was warm.  i dozed off somewhere between 11 and 11:57, when i realized it was time to get everyone together for the annual ball drop.  and as i passed out party hats i noticed that we had a couple of extras and subjected teddy to a quick photo shoot.  you can see how much he enjoyed it.

cocoa was even less amused, much like with the pajamas on christmas.

and stevie just chilled on the couch watching the shenanigans.

despite the moans and groans, i got everyone together for a quick group shot.

and a few other silly shots, right as we slid out of 2020 and into 2021.

the old lady wrangled her special friend and stevie for some family photos, which went over well.

and of course, the bean got in on it too.

teddy was just glad to have his part over with, and tried to melt into the couch so nobody would pick him up anymore.

it was a pretty subdued new year's eve, but just like the rest of the holidays it was spent with our little family.  everyone's healthy, safe and happy - and that's pretty much the perfect way to kick off a new year.  now let's hope that 2021 kicks 2020's ass.

gelato festival, the home version

did you know that there's such a thing as a gelato festival?  apparently it's an annual event in l.a. where chefs from all over the country compete for a chance to move up to a world masters event or something.  i don't know.  all i saw was "gelato festival" and that they were doing a virtual version of it and i was like "I'M IN!"  and it also happened to be the very last day they were accepting orders, so it was clearly meant to be.  heh.  

about a week later this box was delivered:

we opened it to find this:

the box was packed with dry ice to make sure there wasn't any meltage (which isn't a word, i know, but i just made it one) and then we put all of the little cups in the freezer until we were ready to do our official tasting.  that didn't happen until christmas night, when we finally decided to bust them all out and get down to business.

we laid them all out in order and checked out the list of flavors to see what we were getting ourselves into:

the first one ended up being my favorite. it was called vegan coffee cream, made with oat milk, raw sugar and espresso.  i've discovered that i really like oat milk in my latte, so i wasn't too surprised that i liked it.

the next flavor was a light, lovely citrus flavor topped with sliced almonds.  it made for a great palate cleanser.

then we had another vegan flavor, called the "magic twist."  this was chocolate gelato with edible glitter and gluten-free pretzels.  it was...okay.

number four was a panettone-infused gelato.  this, too, was just a'ight.

the old lady really enjoyed this italian rainbow cookie flavor.  the base was fior di latte gelato, which we later learned translates to "flower of milk" and is a super milky flavor. it had crushed homemade italian 7-layer cookies mixed in and topped with chocolate, raspberry syrup, fresh raspberries, chocolate shavings and sliced almonds.

"into the woods" was a dark chocolate gelato with miso chocolate ganache and a tamari black cherry topping.  i didn't expect to like this one because cherry is probably my least favorite flavor, but i didn't hate it.  the cherry wasn't very noticeable, and all i tasted was a deep, dark chocolate.

the next flavor was the one i was most intrigued by - "carbonara-ish" was described as a parmigiano gelato with bacon infused caramel.  and yes, it was a little weird - but in a great way.  i really liked it and counted it in my top three favorites.

the "mango lassi" was another flavor that i didn't anticipate liking very much - mangos blended with tart yogurt with a touch of cardamom.  but i was wrong, because it was very pinkberry-ish, lightly flavored and really refreshing.  i think this one was the bean's number one favorite.

"cloud nine" was dark chocolate sorbet with caramelized orange and cantucci, which we had to look up before trying (it's a crunchy cookie made with almonds or hazelnuts, pretty similar to biscotti).

torta caprese was gelato infused with dark chocolate almond cake with sorta pieces and housemade ganache.

this one was a big hit for all of us.  the peanut butter stracciatella was another fior di latte gelato based flavor with chunks of peanut butter, and it was really delicious.  you wouldn't think of peanut butter as being a delicate flavor, but in this case that's exactly what it was.  just delightful.

the final flavor was another one that i figured i wouldn't like - and i was totally right this time.  this vegan blueberry basil smelled really pretty, but the basil was really overpowering and i don't think any of us really liked it.  sorry, chef guerrero - who, as it turns out, was the american champion from 2019.  dang.

so for me, the winners were #1 - vegan coffee cream, #7 - carbonara-ish, and #11 - peanut butter stracciatella.  the old lady loved #1, #5 - italian rainbow cookie and #11.  the bean was our tiebreaker, but she opted for #8 - mango lassi and two of the chocolate based ones.

it was super fun, and hopefully by next year things will be somewhat normal again and we can actually attend the gelato festival in person.  and if not - well, we'd definitely be open to doing this at-home version again.  because duh...gelato.  yum.

2020 didn't ruin everything

ah, christmas.  just as it does every year, it came and went in a big blur despite our best efforts to make the season last as long as possible.  and even in this time of covid, we made the most of it and had a pretty wonderful time together.  we've been spending christmas eve and day as our own little family of five for a few years now, so it really wasn't that different for us this year than in previous ones.

this year's christmas eve dinner was super casual - everyone's favorite flavor of wings delivered from wingstop.

and afterwards, we indulged the bean in her request to open one present.

the old lady and i decided that we needed to try a cookie recipe from chrissy teigen for some chocolate chex cookies, and while they looked a little weird they were super delicious.

we gathered in the living room all dressed in our matching reindeer onesie pajamas for the annual viewing of "home alone" and "elf."

teddy was not particularly impressed with either movie.

by the time the credits rolled for "elf" the bean was passed out on the couch, so we woke her up and sent her to bed while we scurried around moving the mounds of wrapped presents from the guest room out to their rightful place underneath the tree.  and as we do every year, we shook our heads at the sheer volume of gifts we'd collected over the last month or so.

somehow, everyone managed to sleep in until at least 8:00 the next morning.  the cookies and milk left out for santa had been snacked on, and i found the bean perched happily on the couch as she gazed at the plethora of christmas riches before her.

the kids worked together to put the dogs' matching pajamas on them, and while teddy and stevie were perfectly happy to trot around in their finery, cocoa was visibly upset and wouldn't make eye contact with anyone.  poor baby.

and so we didn't torture her for very long.  once we secured the annual group photo, she was let off that hook and got right out of those pajamas.

as a reward, we broke out their stockings (yes, each dog gets their own) and showed them all of the new toys and treats we'd picked up for them.

as is our tradition, we started by digging into our stockings followed by making the bean handle gift distribution, beginning with gifts from santa.

the old lady was super stoked to open a record player and a couple of nostalgic vinyls to get her started.

the hub feigned surprise every time he opened another box of converse shoes - his list had included a request for twelve pairs of identical black and white chucks, so he could have a fresh pair every month.

he and cocoa spent lots of quality time together that morning.

the bean was happily opening box after bag after package of all kinds of goodies, including lots of pairs of new wide-legged pants (her absolute favorite) and plenty of official BTS and blackpink merchandise.

i'd ordered fun stuff from man crates for the guys, and had added endless duct tape wrapping for the special friend's package.  there was lots of giggling as he pulled off the wrapping paper and realized what he had to do to get to the present - which was a nice personalized bar set.

the hub's was not nearly as complicated, but also required the use of the little crowbar that came with the crate to open it.  his contained a couple of personalized pint glasses and a bottle opener made from a bullet.

as for me, i was happily opening all sorts of fun stuff including cosmetics and fun socks and new adidas and a super soft barefoot dreams mickey hoodie that santa had brought me.  plus i had teddy perched right above my shoulder, watching everything we were doing with great interest.

but i also knew there was something very large waiting for me in the garage.  the hub and the old lady had spent some time the day before, running around in the rain, making sure i couldn't see what was going on, not allowing me in certain parts of the house.  and once everyone had opened all of their presents we headed out there so i could unwrap the biggest box ever:

i finally got my treadmill!  i was beyond stoked, and really didn't know what i was getting.  the hub didn't believe me that i hadn't figured it out - of course, i'd hoped for it, but i'd also had the thought that the old lady could be exacting some gift revenge on me.  you know - like how we would wrap a gift we knew she really wanted in a bunch of different boxes in varying sizes and shapes.  so really, this could have been anything.  all i knew was that whatever it was, i was gonna love it.  and i was right.

back in the house, we got started on the daunting task of picking up all of the wads of wrapping paper and gift boxes and bags and tissue and all that fun stuff.

and we took this to send to MIL, who'd sent a package to us a few weeks before containing envelopes and a family gift.

i'd managed to get the traditional breakfast tater tot casserole and cinnamon rolls into the oven before we started presents, and as i made my way into the kitchen to pull it out, the bean stealthily unwrapped her giant ferrero rocher and took a couple of bites.

and check out my fabulous new pan!  yes, i realize it makes me super old to be this excited to receive a pan on christmas, but i'd been eyeing this thing for months as it popped up in my facebook and instagram feeds on the regular.  it's the perfect size and depth, totally nonstick, and comes with a wooden utensil that hooks onto the handle with the lid on or off.  and it's pink!  so awesome.

teddy went outside to lounge on his bed with some new toys.

and the old lady and i enjoyed our mimosas in the new insulated cups i'd bought for us.

after breakfast, she tested out the new record player and played songs from those n*sync and spice girls records.

the hub and the special friend worked together to unbox the treadmill and bring it into the gym, where the old lady joined them to assemble it.

meanwhile, i got started on the prime rib.  we're all about tradition on christmas day.

a few hours later, we sat down to enjoy christmas dinner.  prime rib, homemade mac & cheese, brussels sprouts, creamed corn.  it was all so good.

from sunrise to sunset, it had been the most wonderful day.  2020 or not - we were happy, healthy and together.  we'd checked in with our families via facetime and zoom, and everyone had received the gifts we'd sent.

'twas a merry christmas indeed.