Christmas 2012


A belated Merry Christmas to you all! I hope that everyone had a lovely Christmas. Ours was incredibly low-key and relaxed. Santa did indeed visit us (yay!) and we had lots of fun enjoying our presents.

My father lit our fireplace and with a roaring fire, remained in the living room, pretty much all day, reading. I too read my new "James Bond Archive" book, which is essentially a giant book of all things James Bond. In fact, it is so bit and heavy, that after a while, my legs went numb because the weight of the book on my legs cut off some circulation!
what a big book! I left the envelope there as comparison
table of contents
that is one big book

In my family, since we all tend to enjoy the same movies and TV shows, DVDs tend to be for "the family" rather than the individual. This year's collection included "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" and the new series of "Upstairs Downstairs." On a more individual note..."The Expendables 1 & 2" for me and dad, as well as "Good Morning, Vietnam" for me.

In my opinion, one of the greatest presents came from me. I have become somewhat obsessed with making iPhoto books recently. It's a really wonderful service provided by iPhoto where you can make nice photo albums, that are hardcover books. How great is that?! They provide you templates that you can choose from, and all you have to do it arrange your photographs and annotate them (if you want.) They can be a bit pricey, but its well worth it.

This past April, we visit Japan, but we had so many pictures, I had to create three separate books: cherry blossoms, tokyo, and our trip to the onsen. I completed the first two books, but didn't have the time to complete the onsen book...until now. A few weekends before christmas, I was home studying, and I took a break to finish the book. It has been sitting on the family laptop for months half completed, so I thought Christmas would be a great time to unveil it! I was right. My parents were over the moon. Now the "Japan Vacation" trilogy is complete!
onsen book
"Japan" trilogy

In addition to Japan, in August, we visited the United Kingdom. As you can imagine, I was eager to make the UK photo books. We visited both London and the Peak District, so like Japan, I decided to make separate books. This was also helpful because we had an overwhelming number of photographs! I succeeded in finishing London in time and am still currently trying to finish the Peak District. Wish me luck!
The culmination of Christmas Day was Christmas dinner. This was a family effort, but the main attraction was definitely the Beef Wellington. My father and I have been making this for about three years now, and I am always so impressed. Not only does it taste delicious, it looks gorgeous. Our dinner menu included: Beef Wellington, oven roasted brussels sprouts with canadian bacon & pecorino romano cheese, rice, and an endive/grapefruit salad. This was all accompanied with a bottle of delicious ENVY wine! Yum! For anyone who is interested, I have posted the recipe for the Wellington and brussels sprouts on my blog too! 
dinner!
(the bottom of the Wellington was a bit soggy and thus fell a part slightly...)

From my family to yours, 
"HAPPY HOLIDAYS! I WISH EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU A VERY HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR. THANK YOU AGAIN FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT AND INTEREST IN MY BLOG. IT REALLY MEANS A LOT TO ME. I HOPE THAT YOU WILL CONTINUE FOLLOWING ME IN 2013!" - loves to cook, m.d.  

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