Office baby shower

Today my co-workers threw me the sweetest baby show in the office. There was so much good food, adorable gifts, helpful advice and laughter. It really does make a difference when you work with people who are your friends.

Super Bowl party food - kimchi queso

Every year I feel I need to outdo the Super Bowl party snack I made the previous year. Luckily, my friend Liz sent me this recipe for Kimchi Queso, and double lucky... Aaron and I just made a big batch of kimchi. (I am always torn as to whether I should type kimchee or kimchi. I need to commit to one or the other)

It turned out pretty well, but I think if I made it again I would use some Velveeta. *gasp* Yeah - nothing melts as well as Velveeta. The cheddar straight up has a tendency to separate and not stay dippable very long. Here are 14 cheesy facts about Velveeta.

Halloween at the office

We enjoy a good holiday celebration (aka food) in my office so instead of just one day, we had two days of Halloween treats. This was part of the spread on Day One.

And this was a fresh spread for Day Two. Seriously we love to eat at work and sometimes I wonder what would happen if we had a situation like this... "Cake Left Out In Break Room With No Instructions" Hah hah - that article cracks me up.

"At press time, the sight of the company’s IT technician walking down the hallway with a slice of cake had reportedly triggered a mass scramble toward the kitchen."

Anyhoo - on Day One I brought in my old standby party food - artichoke dip (recipe). I added a twist though... Skelly here was crawling out of the dip.

On Day Two I didn't have time to make something because there was also a jack-o-lantern carving contest at work. I combined my snack food with my entry into this presentation - guacamole puking pumpkin!

There were some great pumpkins around the office!

2014 Halloween Dinner Party

Aaron and I threw our somewhat-annual Halloween dinner party this evening. I say "somewhat" because we missed it last year.

Instead of the usual mingle-roni style party, this is a sit-down dinner party. I really like setting up a long table with place settings and creating a mood with only lit candles for light.

We don't have a huge crowd... just enough so we can all visit and catch up with one another over a meal.

I made these little ghost napkin rings/favors out of mini-gourds for the place settings.

I also made a spooky tablescape to help set the mood.

Pretty gross right?

My mom helped me make kimbap for appetizers and store-bought pot stickers went with them nicely.

Aaron grilled up the bulgogi that had been marinating for 24 hours.

Look at this dessert table! All our guests brought a fabulous dessert.

I was thrilled they all came in costume.

Aaron and I went as Day of the Dead characters. I couldn't bear the idea of wearing all that face paint at the last minute and got us masks instead. It was a great spooktacular evening.

Party Food

I totally dropped the ball taking pictures of the refreshments at our Pumpkin Carving Party. This WAS a vat full of apple cider. The sticks of cinnamon made it extra tasty.

This USED to be a crock pot full of barbeque kielbasa.

I did get a pic of some leftover hot corn dip.

and couple caprese salad bites.

I made two pies for the party.

And there was just a smidge of one pie left.

Everyone left the party with a treat bag full of votive candles for their jack-o-lantern.

So there wasn't much food left but that's the sign of a good party.

Pumpkin Picking Party

Today we had our Pumpkin Carving Party. We started off by getting our pumpkins at Wickham Farm. Tina was engrossed with finding Snack Jack pumpkins.

Everyone seemed determined to get the pumpkins that were at the bottom of the bins.

Aaron was looing for the biggest pumpkin he could find. By digging through every bin.

Some just found a pumpkin on the ground and demanded it get in their pumpkin wagon.

Success.

I found a pretty hefty pumpkin too.

Then back to the house to carve.

A lot of pumpkins were gutted today.

Look at these! The twins pumpkins couldn't be better or more different from one another.

Aaron's pumpkin is always great.

B'not Mitzvah

This weekend we were fortunate enough to see our friend's twins be B'not Mitzvahed. Did you know one girl is a Bat Mitzvah but more than one is B'not? They are whip smart, thoughtful and funny. Of course when you see the decorations their parents handmade for the party, it's not hard to see where they get it from!

Birthday Shootout

Aaron's birthday is on Tuesday but today I threw him a Birthday Shootout party. We got together at the gun club and did some target shooting.

Turns out the girls are pretty good shots!

The best part was when we got out the pumpkins.

Sorry pumpkin.

Then I had an expansive charucterie and cheese board spread.

Here it is from another angle. I was rather pleased with my presentation.

Aaron's Graduation Party

I was so excited about Aaron's graduation, I couldn't wait to throw him a party! It had to have a theme of course and that was CHALKBOARDS!

Really this was my chance to do all the sorts of things I always wanted to do for a summer party... like food trucks! I had the Le Petit Poutine truck cater the party!

Mmmm delicious poutine!

And there had to be ice cream! I had the Eat Me Ice Cream sandwich cart come by!

Everyone could choose from vanilla, chocolate or peanut butter ice cream sandwiches.

Aaron was pretty excited about his ice cream sandwich.

There were also veggie trays and charcuterie from Wegmans.

It was great to have our friends and family with us to celebrate. It was so good to catch up with everyone.

It was pretty much all Aaron's favorite things!