Christmas time is here!

I LOVE IT! Christmas is everywhere! I no longer feel like I have to keep it "semi" bottled up! Yes, I have been listening to Christmas music since July and drinking egg nog (AE egg nog is by far the best-We've sampled many!) since October-but I love every bit of the wonderful season. This year is a bit different. No decorations of my own (except our stockings, I had to hang those). No lights on our cozy house. No hosting our annual Christmas party. No work Christmas Party. It's a different "season" for the Ekarts. When I think of all that isn't happening I tend to get really sad and lonely. So, none of that! All I have to do is look at my boy, Hadley. Nothing else in this whole world matters! He has been my companion and constant (in addition to my hubs) in this journey since we left everything that was comfortable. We took Christmas photos last week. I will post them soon, I promise. Until then, here is what brightens my day.

Girls weekend

My dearest husband suggested that I go on a trip with some girlfriends. I instantly jumped on the opportunity! My friend Diane from Denver, my friend Jessica from high school and one of Jessica's friends joined me. We had so much fun eating and shopping and walking and eating and shopping and walking!!

Some of the highlights included-

Eating at Frontera Grill. He is a world renown Mexican chef and the food was absolutely wonderful! We had to wait in line before they were even open. This place is extremely hard to get in to. It is well worth it though!

We also went to the Signature Lounge at the top of the John Hancock Building. I had a delicious Pumpkin Cheesecake Martini rimmed with graham cracker crumbs-yum!!! It is a beautiful view of the city, especially at night!

Garrett's Popcorn! It is simply the delectable. The Chicago mix is the best-cheese and caramel popcorn mixed!

Farewell to my good friend, Regis!

Ha...so I feel a little pathetic. I LOVE Regis! I am so sad that he will no longer be on in the morning while Hadley and I are starting our day. I suppose when you are 80 years old, you should retire. I do love Kelly too, I think she will do great without him. They were just such a wonderful team. His last episode was such a wonderful tribute to him. If you didn't get a chance to watch it, please do! I may have cried a few times;) I now am adding Regis's book to my Christmas list. He is an entertainment icon that has ran with the "big dogs" as far as entertainment goes. In my book he is a fabulous legend! Farewell, my morning coffee friend!

halloween.

We had a fun Halloween weekend. We usually go to our friends' Halloween party in Denver, sad to say that we missed it this year! Boo... We did have fun though. We decided to go out downtown. I was amazed by all the people dressed up. If you weren't, I would think you would feel a bit out of place. I also realized I am getting old?! It was a bit crazy for me. We are far passed the "going out" days. We are more the type to go to a low key place and have a drink with friends. But, nonetheless it was a particularly interesting people watching night. Here are some photos. Lor and Greg(friend from Denver who came to visit) were tribal people. Don't worry, it only took them six hours to paint their bodies. Ridiculous. Loren always has to out do himself. I chose something a little more classy, Audrey Hepburn. We had a fun night with some fun people.

The next morning we went to Waveland Cafe for breakfast. Not bad. We have decided that Des Moines is in desperate need of a really good breakfast place! Maybe we should open one?!
And yes, my lovely husband has a mustache again. "Movember". Not really sure why he had to start growing it in October???

On Trick-or-Treat night we were at my mom and dad's house. All the cousins were together. My parents had a few friends over for dinner and pumpkin bars...yum! Hadley loved being a little monkey! We did a little photo shoot with him.

And every little man has to have a pair of gold supras!

pumpkins!

I had fun painting pumpkins this weekend! Chilly day today...Brrr! It's definitely fall!
Happy Monday!

Cooking and baking

I guess I am going to start blogging about food. After all, it is something Loren and I thoroughly enjoy. I love to cook/bake it, I love to smell it and I love to consume it. This last weekend we attended the International Food Festival in the East Village. There were tons of vendors with a wide variety of food. We ended up with Mesopotamian and Ecuadorian. They were delicious! My recipes will not be quite as ethnic.

It has been oddly warm here lately. I bought ingredients to make soup last week, but I could not bring myself to make it last week when it was near 90 degrees! Today it was a bit cooler and it seemed perfect. My sister and I also had a 'baking cookies day'. Perhaps it will become a ritual as long as we live close. We made delightful pumpkin cookies. I hope you enjoy both recipes as much as we did!


Turkey and White Bean Chili
3 TBS vegetable oil
1 large white onion, chopped
3 garlic gloves, minced or crushed
2 serrano chilies, seeded and minced
4 tsp chopped fresh rosemary leaves
2 tsp chili powder
course salt
1 1/2 pound ground turkey
6 cups chicken stock
1 can (15.5 oz) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15 oz) great northern beans
3 TBS cornmeal
sour cream
shredded colby jack cheese
chopped green onion

In a large pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add onion; cook until tender, 8 minutes. Add garlic, chilies, rosemary, and chili powder and cook for 2 minutes; season with salt. Add turkey and cook until cooked through, 5 minutes. Add broth and beans; bring to a boil over high. Partially cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 25 minutes. Stir in cornmeal and cook for an additional 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt. Serve with sour cream, cheese and green onion.

Source: Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Magazine(with adjustments)


Pumpkin Cookies

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Stir in the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture by hand until just combined. Drop on prepared baking sheets by heaping tablespoonfuls; Butter the bottom of a drinking glass and then dip the bottom of the glass in a bowl of sugar. Flatten the dough balls with the bottom of the glass until they are about ¾ inch thick, dipping the glass in sugar as necessary to prevent sticking.

Bake in preheated oven for 13 to 15 minutes. Cool cookies on wire rack. Once cookies have cooled completely, frost or drizzle with cream cheese frosting.

While the cookies are cooling make frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and pumpkin pie spice and beat until smooth and creamy.

Source: Sweet Pea's Kitchen

Hadley

This is what Loren does when I am gone for the day...