New Year Fondue Fun

Hey hey!  Happy 2010 everyone

I hope you enjoyed a very happy celebration surrounded by friends and family!  We had so much fun with our New Year’s fondue party.  I was a little concerned when I woke up on New Year’s Eve morning and saw this site outside:

Snow?!?

Fortunately, the snow melted away by later in the day.  Our friends arrived, and we kicked off the party:

The fondue party was pretty easy to prepare (because everyone cooks their own food!).  We had:

• Diced chicken breast
• Diced steak
• Shrimp
• Diced potatoes
• Brocolli
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Button mushrooms
• Squash
• Zucchini
• Cubed french bread

We filled one fondue pot with canola oil and one with chicken broth for cooking the meats.  Then we filled two pots with fondue cheese (HOLY YUM) for dipping the veggies and bread chunks.  We had tempurah batter and a variety of sauces for the cooked meats and vegs.  Everyone gathered around the kitchen island and cooked away!  Later in the evening (after the clock struck midnight), we filled another fondue pot with chocolate and had:

• Strawberries
• Marshmallows
• Pound cake
• Happiness

The party was a lot of fun – it was great to be surrounded by good friends as we toasted the new year!  Here are some party pics:

Handsome

 

Dean and Zoe

 

Glenn, Stela, Claudine, Todd

 

I took off my heels and put on Uggs at this point...I'm not really that much shorter than my friends!!

 

The boys

 

Happy New Year!!

It was a fun party, but T and I stayed up waaay too late!  Fortunately, we had New Year’s Day off to recover

In the South, tradition calls for eating black eyed peas on New Year’s Day for good luck.  So….of course I had to make some “Hoppin’ John!”  The traditional hoppin’ john recipe calls for ham hock and beans that you let simmer down until it’s nice and cooked together.  It’s very tasty, but not the world’s healthiest dish.  I also didn’t feel like waiting around for hours for the beans to cook.  So, we picked up some canned beans at the store, and I made a lightened up version of the traditional New Year’s dish!

Hoppin’ John

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 cans of black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup of brown rice, cooked according to package directions
• 2 cups of diced ham

Directions:

Sautee onion, green pepper, garlic, and celery in olive oil in a soup pot until softened:

Add diced ham:

And black eyed peas:

And add chicken stock to cover, salt, and pepper.  Simmer for about 30 minutes:

You want the stock to reduce down so that the bean mixture is thick like a stew.  Then add your cooked brown rice, stir, and season to taste:

Serve it up in a big bowl and ring in the new year with good luck!  (T and I like our hoppin’ john topped with hot sauce…yum!)

Enjoy!! 

My Holiday Haul

Hello, friends!

Thank you so much for all of your sweet comments and for welcoming me back with open arms after my long hiatus away from the bloggie world.  Seriously, you all are the best!!!

So, I know I’m a little late to the party, so to speak, but I just wanted to share some of the goodies that Santa Claus brought me this Xmas!  I must have been a good girl this year, cuz check out all this fun stuff!

Cute boots:

Silly stocking stuffers from T (I can always count on him to find me funny gifts!):

I love this concept – if I’m not going to eat a lot of meat, why not lube up my lips or freshen my breath with it instead??  I did actually try a bacon mint – and immediately had to spit it out.  Blech!! 

My dad sent us a gorgeous basket of some much tastier treats:

T got me tickets to see my fave in February!!!!!!!

And……got me a little something I’ve been lusting after for quite some time:

Tah-dah:

I love to read, and love the option that I’ll be able to scream through books at lightning speed without killing so many trees in the process!  The first book I downloaded to my new Kindle was Natalia Rose’s Detox for Women, which I’ve been wanting to read for a while, and which led me to purchase a holiday gift for myself a few days after Christmas:

Yay for my new juicer!  I’m starting Natalia’s detox plan this weekend, but just couldnt’ resist trying out the juicer this morning for breakfast.

I rounded up a big, beautiful bowl of produce:

And slurped down the finished product (I put it in a regular glass first, of course ):

It was light and fresh tasting…delicious! 

(In case you’re wondering why I’m interested in doing a detox program, it’s because lately I’ve been feeling like I’ve been training for an eating competition or something!  Blaaaah!  My belly is not happy with me…I just need to get “back to nature, ya know?)  Otherwise….I’ll continue to feel like this guy:

This show just happens to be on right now….anyone else ever seen it?  Unbelievable!

Well, gonna run so I can catch up on some of your lives.  Thanks again for stopping by to visit with me…T and I are throwing a little New Year’s party tomorrow night, so I’ll be sure to report back with lots of pics!  We’re throwing a fondue party…how retro, huh?! 

What are your plans for New Year’s Eve?  I  hope it’s a safe and happy night for you!  See ya in 2010, my dear friends!!

The Ultimate Fake-Out

 

First of all, let me just say that I realize that it’s been a long….

long….

looooooooong time since I’ve said hello from my little corner of the world!  There’s really no excuse for it…I’ve certainly had less free time on my hands, but I also just kind of needed a break.  I’ve been caught up in the whirlwind of the holidays, a new job, etc. etc.

I’ve really been wanting to hop on here and update you on all kinds of fun happenings, but truthfully, there haven’t really been any! 

That is…until Christmas day.  My dad called me from San Diego to wish me a Merry Christmas, and in conversation asked if I had, by chance, seen the other “Skinny Menny site.”

“What other Skinny Menny site??” I nervously asked.

“Well, I thought your brother would have told you about it by now,” he says.  “You, uh, may want to check it out some time.  I mean, it’s not, uh, that bad, but….you may just want to check it out.”

Oh jeez.  Instantly, my mind starts racing….”I should have bought the skinnymenny.com domain when I had a chance,” I thought to myself!  Do I have some enemy out there that’s set up some hateful site and is pretending it’s me?  Is there some kind of adult site set up under “skinnymenny.com??”  Oh nooooo!!!!!!

So, needless to say, as I’m talking to my Dad, I pull out my laptop and fire it up.  With a sick feeling in the pit of my belly, I type www.skinnymenny.com into the browser….and here’s what pops up:

Holy.  Frickin.  MOLY.

“Should I hit enter??  I’m scared!!!!!!”  I tell  my Dad.

“Yeah, go ahead, I guess,” he says reluctantly.  “It’s not terrible.  I guess go ahead and hit enter.”

So…I do…..

And I dare you to hit enter too

Go ahead, do it, do it!  Go to www.skinnymenny.com and hit enter to see one of the most creative holiday gifts ever!

My brother James bought the domain and set up the site for me, and my creative Dad the artiste designed the header and the look of the site.  And they both completely GOT ME.  100% faked me out into believing that some scumbag set up a skeevy “sexually explicit” site in the name of Skinny Menny!!!!!

 Pretty funny, huh??

So, if there’s anyone left out there that’s still stopping by….I will soon be coming to you from my new site, skinnymenny.com!  I just have to get my brother to help me transfer over everything from the WordPress site.  I’ll keep you posted and let you know when it’s up and running.

And thanks to my creative family - that was just the kick in the pants that I needed to start blogging again with some new inspiration!

And to anyone who’s still reading….hope you enjoyed a very happy holiday.  The new year is right around the corner, can you believe it?

Have you ever been faked out by your family or friends?  I’d love to hear your stories!! 

Our Holiday Decor!

Twas once a naked and sad-looking tree:

And now…tah dah!!!  It’s all merry and bright:

(notice the kitty cat under the tree.  That is her permanant residence while the tree is up, I suppose.  She occasionally gnaws on the branches and drinks the water out of the tree holder.  Is this dangerous?!?  )

Here’s a recap of the rest of this hizzie’s decor, as of right now:

Our den, with the stockings all hung by the chimney:

On the mantle, I filled some glass jars with tiny ornaments and candles, and placed them along with some small votives:

In the kitchen, I filled a glass bowl with various bronze and gold-toned ornaments, over top a brown runner embroidered with gold snowflakes:

….and surrounded that bowl with gold garland and holiday votives:

In the dining room, some pretty garland on our bombay chest:

And a pretty centerpiece for the table:

Over a piece of gold tulle, I placed some hurricane lamps with holiday candles, (fake) grapes, and a holiday wreath.  I love things that sparkle for the holidays!!

In the basement, little holiday vignettes in each window:

Some little holiday touches on the bar….

We even decorate the bottles ’round here!

Elf Nog

Mistle-Tonic

And here are some other little random pieces to our holiday decor….

Bells on every door:

Bodybuilder Santa:

Little red berries stuck into just about everything:

And most importantly……some strategically placed mistletoe!!!!

Goodnight, y’all

Typical!!

Hey chickie-dees!  Thank you for being so understanding about my disappearing act over the last week.  I didn’t realize what a change my new job would be for my day-to-day life!  Basically, my whole day now flies by at the blink of an eye, and I literally have no time to check emails, check blogs, or anything else!

I’m actually really happy that my days are so busy now…when I was hunting for a new job, I told you all that I wanted a job where I could be doing a lot of moving around, instead of being stuck behind a desk/in front of a computer all day, and I meant it!!    I know that I’ll eventually settle back into a routine, and then I’ll be back in business

As far as eats are concerned, things are pretty much the same!

Typical breakfasts:

Granola and bloobs

Typical lunches and snacks:

Brown rice, salad, and a granola bar

Typical dinners:

Seared tuna on a salad with balsamic drizzle

Typical workouts – yoga, P90X, and spin class!  Woot woot!  Although I haven’t accomplished a whole lot so far this week…oh well, tomorrow’s another day

And I know I mentioned our tree in my last post…it’s still nekkid!  We have decided to forego decorating the tree tonight in order to take care of more important priorities, like watching the season finale of Top Chef:

(I’m rooting for this guy!!!!)

Oh yeah, and catching up the latest sleaze-tastic episode of Nip Tuck:

(this show rivals my beloved Housewives as being the most scandalous show on television!)

I also got to open up a happy package courtesy of my little sister Carrie this evening!  She sent me a sweet birthday card:

awww

Plus some of the cutest b-day gifts:

The cutest little apron ever!!!!!  So adorable!

And some even cuter little kitchen-themed sticky notes:

Either of these items would make awesome holiday gifts, no?  Thanks, Carrie!!!!

Speaking of holiday gifts…who’s done with their shopping?  I’m most certainly not (big surprise).  I still have to get gifts for:

• My dad
• My Secret Santa person (also a guy)
• A couple of things for T

Any great gift ideas for the men in your lives?  I’d love to share some of my ideas, but unfortunately some of my friends and family read the blog and I don’t want to spoil any surprises for them

 Alright…well, I’ve gotta run….sorry for the quick / lame post, but I’m trying to get it together, folks!  Miss y’all!!!