Dinner Out.

One of my favorite things in the world is sitting outside and having a nice dinner with family and friends. The weather was beautiful that night and the fire from the grill smelled wonderful. It was perfect! Here are a few pictures from our dinner with my family, Mrs. O, and B at our home. Our menu: spinach and feta on filo dough (for "appetizers"), grilled chicken and pork, corn, salad, rice (sort of out of place), and pita bread. I can still remember the smell of the smoke and the taste of the scrumptious, delicious food. *Sigh*

Christmas with the O's.

Two years ago, I was blessed to meet a family who was gracious enough to include me in their dinners and holiday celebrations. The O's have been so wonderful as to let me experience and enjoy holidays and special occasions with them. I have learned so much and have enjoyed celebrating my "traditional American" Thanksgiving and Christmas. I especially love the turkey on Thanksgiving and baking cookies before Christmas!!! The following are just some pictures from my Christmas with the O's.

Some of my favorites of Mrs. O's decorations.

Making Apple Crisp with B and Mrs. O sometime before Christmas.

YUMMY!!!

The dogs having a blast while we cooked.

The "informal" place settings.

Clockwise L-R: caper berries, and our sides of mushrooms, sweet potato casserole, and broccoli casserole.

And of course, rolls and ham!

For dessert, Mrs. O and I made a pear pie. It was so delicious!

Christmas Cookie Craziness.

I never made Christmas cookies before last year (or 2 years ago). Now I'm obsessed. And this year, Mrs. O and I went crazy with the Christmas cookies. In the midst of doing my last take home final, we baked... and baked... and baked. B and Mrs. O made the first batch of Christmas cookies, which are a twist on the classic Hershey peanut butter blossoms. Instead of putting Hershey kisses on top, B sprinkled the cookies with crushed toasted pecans, and drizzled them (and dipped some) in chocolate. YUM!

B took these pictures!!!  :)

Then Mrs. O and I made ginger cookies, vanilla-almond cookies, magic cookie bars, and linzer tortes!!!

We got recipes from different sources, including The Pioneer Woman (ginger cookies) and Ina Garten (linzer cookies). We tweaked some of the recipes a little and added little things here and there.