Hope your Monday and final week before Christmas is off to a great start! While I am being a bit of a scrooge about getting in the holiday shopping spirit (yep, still haven’t started), I am enjoying the opportunity to spend time with friends and family. Last night we had friends over for dinner and tonight we are meeting friends for dinner that are in town from San Diego. So happy! Lots of other fun wine dates and reunions in the works for the next week or two. 😀
Backtracking a bit…I spent Sunday yoga-ing, relaxing around the house and cooking. It was so nice.
I spent the morning teaching the 9:15 hot class at Y2 and was really excited when Jordan introduced herself after class.
Jordan is from Charlotte but in school at Johns Hopkins and said that she and her friends are faithful blog readers. She was so sweet to come to my class while home on break! Thank you, Jordan!
I grabbed coffee with a friend after teaching and then came home and made brunch. Egg sandwiches on bagels. Mine had avocado, a scrambled egg, spinach, tomato and cheese. Apple slices and an unpictured ginger cookie on the side.
I was able to squeeze in my own 90 minute personal practice on Sunday afternoon between preparing the house for our dinner guests and getting food prepped. I went to Suzanne’s hot class at Charlotte Yoga and it was perfect, as always. Her classes always leave me feeling “reset.”
It was so nice to have our friends Matt and Lelia over for a Sunday night dinner. We were supposed to meet out somewhere but at the last minute I thought it would be cozier to have dinner at our place and I had a menu in mind (which never happens…I am so indecisive!).
I put together a quick cheese plate. I think cheese plates will forever remain one of my favorite appetizers.
We started with a salad (same one I did for our dinner Saturday night since I had everything on hand). Mixed greens, pears, almonds, blue cheese and dried cranberries with honey dijon balsamic.
Dinner was Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic-Cranberry Sauce, roasted brussels sprouts and mashed sweet potatoes. And please take note that I served the meal on our china…why oh why do I keep it locked away all the time? Does anyone else do this? It’s so festive and fun to use for random dinners.
I have had this recipe for Chocolate Whiskey Bundt Cake saved for over a year and decided that yesterday was the day to finally make it. I’m so glad that I did because it was delicious. Definitely a “grown up” spin on chocolate cake.
I served the cake with a small scoop of ice cream. It was the perfect end to our meal.
And with that I am off to finally start on some Christmas shopping before I have to teach again tonight.
I’m pretty sure I would eat the whole brie cheese plate on my own!
i know…i have no self-control with brie (or cheese in general). baked brie is my fave!
I do the same thing. We have been married for nearly 5 years and have never, not once, used our China. Still in boxes in our guest closet.
sad! use it! 🙂
That sandwich looks delicious!
Everything looks YUMMY! I treated myself on Sunday to my “go-to” bagel dish. Everything Whole Wheat bagel, lox, light veggie cream cheese, red onion, lettuce, and tomato. Oh man it was so darn good! Hope your yoga challenge is still going well…Hoping to do some hot vinyasa tomorrow afternoon. 🙂
i LOVE bagels and lox. yoga challenge is going okay…a few practices behind!
So I’m not the only one who hasn’t really felt the Christmas spirit this year? I imagine the lack of snow is a big part of it, but something about this year, I just don’t feel the Christmas joy. Maybe because Christmas started soooo early this year and I’m burnt out already. Haha.
That chocolate cake looks amazing!
you are so not alone! we never get snow around christmas so i don’t know what that’s like! 😉
I went to Hopkins! Love that girls from my school read your blog! These recipes you’ve been making look amazing, too. I love entertaining during the holidays, it’s my favorite part about the season.
i’ve had so much fun cooking lately! nice to spend some time in the kitchen.
entertaining and spending time with friends is way better than all the craziness of shopping and gifts.
That cake looks SO delicious and professional! I’m impressed with your culinary prowess per usual.
thanks – i try! love spending time in the kitchen! and little tip…anytime a baked good needs a little “oomph” – sprinkle with powdered sugar! 😉
I feel the same way about my pretty serving platters. I’ll sometimes just serve stuff in tupperware, which is ridiculous because I have some beautiful serving ware!
As always, your food looks delish!
i know! we need to get over this and embrace our pretty stuff! 😉
Cheese plates are my favorite appetizer of all time. I know it’s going to be a good party if there’s a cheese plate 🙂
me too! i really love the cheese/fruit combo. i have to have apples/preserves/grapes on my cheese plate.