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Friday, December 31, 2010

Best of 2010: Happy New Year!

This was a damn good year ...

January found me eating the best damn carne asada tacos in Ensenada, Mexico.  I still cannot believe that I was in Mexico.

February was about these amazing peanut butter, oatmeal, cinnamon chip cookies.  They are so good that I'm seriously considering going upstairs and firing up the oven to make a batch.  And that says a lot since my goal today is to see how long I can stay in my pajamas and do nothing but type and drink coffee.

March tested my theory whether or not Giada de Laurentiis was placed on this earth to get people hooked on garlic and cheese.  Me thinks that is her purpose in life.

June was all about fresh asparagus and this incredible dish from Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbooks site.  This will be one of the first things that I make when asparagus is in season again.

In July, my mother-in-law briefly became a Facebook sensation when I started talking about her Pink Champage Cupcakes.  The irony is that she isn't even on Facebook.  The lasting result is that my co-workers request these cupcakes whenever we have any kind of celebration to mark at work.  Love, love, love these!


One of my favorite August posts was in homage to an incredible sangria that I had in July ... I cannot wait for better weather to make this again.


And wow - I just realized that I didn't post anything in September.  Not entirely sure how that happened, so we'll go back and throw in an honorable mention from July ... Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp.  I'm drooling as we speak ... and wondering if I should go to the grocery store in my jammies to get shrimp and make this for breakfast.

2010 was the year of the weekend roadtrips.  I'm not entirely sure how many miles Ryan and I clocked on our respective vehicles, but we made the most of gorgeous weather and our kind friends and family who let us crash at their places.  In October, we logged about 550 miles to see Here Come the Mummies in Rock Island, IL (and Ryan's grandma, his folks and our 10-year college reunion on the way). Best.  Weekend.  Ever.


I also got to meet Ina Garten in October.  I'm still mentally "squee-ing" over how wonderfully gracious she was.



November was a good month all around - my mom got to play impromptu therapist one Thursday night when I called her cursing about these apple pie bars - a nostalgic delight from my childhood, which she never bitched about making when I was younger.  I love you mom ... bless you for being such an awesome baker and never letting on that some of our favorite dishes from childhood were a total pain to make.

And after four nephews, I finally was blessed with a niece in November.  Kaylee (still affectionately known as "Sweet Pea" to her uncle and I) was born on Nov. 21 and has been known to be entranced by Ina Garten when she's on Food Network.  That's my girl!


In December, I wrote about Gwendolyn's Snack Mix.  I'm still in love with this snack mix ...

So there you go - 2010 in review.  All of us here from ShelleyBakes (that's me, the hubby and our Cat) wish you a wonderful new year.

1 comment:

Deb said...

Your snack mix showed up at our family Christmas - along with your whiskey pretzels. :)
I'll have to dig through your recipies today to see if I can find something yummy to bring to a 10:00 am potluck on Tuesday....somewhat healthy and something toddlers will eat. It somewhat limits my choices. :)