KLow's Beach House

My pet peeve this month was hearing “the holidays are going to look a little different this year”. A little different? Try a whole hell of a lot different. No Christmas parties, no potlucks at work, no cookie exchanges, no fam jam, and no New Year’s Day brunch. Terrible. I tried to keep the Christmas spirit alive though, and here’s what I was up to:

  • For our team holiday party at work, we got e-gift cards for Loblaws so we could buy gingerbread house kits. Obviously I made Kyle Lowry’s Gingerbread Beach House in Florida since the Raptors are playing in Tampa this season.
  • It was Lydia’s birthday this month, so I did a porch drop off of her favourite Champagne & Cookies treat: Campfire Squares! She was excited to have some to share with the rest of her house, as she told me normally she takes a couple home from the party and has to hide them so no one else eats them!
  • Jen flew home from Zurich for the holidays, and while we couldn’t continue the tradition we started last year of going to The Keg Mansion, we did have a Christmas dinner while she was quarantining. Krishna, Jen and I all ordered Swiss Chalet and met up on FaceTime to eat and chat. Fun fact: I’ve never had a Festive Special. Just give me the classic: quarter chicken dinner, white meat with fries!
  • Danielle was also missing her Champagne & Cupcakes party she throws in December, so we also met up on FaceTime to have a glass of bubbles and a few treats (I ate Hello Dollies).
  • My friend Francis and I had our annual Christmas cookie decorating date, although it was virtual this year. I made him a cookie decorating kit with gingerbread cookies (this recipe), some little icing tubes and sprinkles, and his mom got everything set up for him and we decorated together over FaceTime while his little baby brother watched.
  • I forgot I entered a custom celebration cake into a staff auction at work last year (pre-pandemic) and my co-worker who won it finally came to collect! We had a cake consultation to decide what she wanted, and decided on a Twix Cake: three layers of My Favourite Chocolate Cake, Salted Caramel Buttercream, and shortbread crumbles and more salted caramel between the layers. She loved it!
  • For Christmas this year, it was just me and my Mom and Dad, but I still cooked us up a feast of Beef Bourguignon, Mashed Potatoes, garlic green beans and a cookie platter for dessert.
  • Speaking of cookies, I made a few cookie boxes to drop off to friends and family. I guess this is what I would have been doing over the years if I wasn’t having Champagne & Cookies. Here’s what I included:
Another Cookie Box
  • And now the regular recap of what I was cooking this month, broken down into three categories:
  • Stuff I made from the archives: I forgot about these Buffalo Chicken Nachos and made them for Tayshia’s Bachelorette finale, this Bolognese is so incredibly good, another batch of Broccoli Cheddar Soup
  • Some of my favourite go-to dishes: Honey Garlic Shrimp with snap peas and rice (I really need to document this as it’s the quickest and easiest dinner), Turkey Tacos and Tahini Ranch Salad (plus Pickled Red Onions on everything!), Sweetgreen Kale Caesar, Brown Sugar & Chili Rubbed Salmon Sheet Pan Dinner from Oven to Table is becoming almost a weekly occurrence around here.
  • New things that I tried and liked: nothing notable
  • Take-out: a Thai feast from Spoon and Fork that made me really miss Lydia because this is what we always order to eat together when we watch The Bachelor in the Winter!

Other non-foodie things I was obsessed with this month, YEAR END EDITION:

  • Normally this is where I list out my favourite movies, books and TV of the year. First, a few comments:
    • Movies: Obviously movies are a bust. Oh what I would give to be sitting in a dark movie theatre with a gigantic bucket of popcorn again! I can’t wait for those days to return.
    • Books: My reading output was cut in half this year because of working at home (I normally read on my commute). I also found I didn’t really have the attention span to read too much at home, but I’m going to try to work on this in 2021. My favourites of what I did read were: Rodham, The Vanishing Half, Open Book, She Said and Permanent Record
    • TV: Should I be embarrassed about the sheer quantity of TV I consumed this year? I mean there was nothing else going on. Here are my quarantine TV All-Stars: Younger, Schitt’s Creek, The Last Dance, Parenthood, Never Have I Ever, The Baby-Sitters Club, and Season 5 of Better Caul Saul.
  • My other non-pop culture obsessions of the year: Virtual Zumba classes with Matt, fresh flowers from Bloom Scout, the Go Clean Co Instagram Account which has changed my life, Sohla El-Waylly just as a role model and general badass, and finally the resurgence of my cross-stitching hobby

Flashback!