Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas Card UpDATES: Prosciutto-Wrapped Stuffed Dates

I love "family update" Christmas cards. I really really do.



I want to be clear that while it may sound like it, this is not a sarcastic "love". I truly look forward to updates each year through photos and funny stories on anyone from families I am close to families I haven't seen in years and would not recognize them if they passed by on the sidewalk if it were not for their annual Christmas card updates. I suppose we will all always be curious about the people we know or even used to know and what they have been up to and what has become important to them over the years. I have consolidated my need to update anyone in my life by having a blog. I do also send out life updates to friends and family via email from time to time. However, this year, I have decided to put together my own version of a "family-update" Christmas card right here where it belongs.



Greetings friends and family! What's up with you? Feel free to send your responses via a family-update Christmas card to my home address (anytime of year). In case you were wondering about me at all over the past year, let me unsolicitedly update you.

Family: That's going pretty well. I now have three nieces as Rachel Marie was born October 19th. Zach and I adopted an addition into our little LA family, Stanley Weissmilian, back in the early spring. While it took him quite a while to adjust to his couch-potato lifestyle, he seems to have accepted that he will have to happily live out his days in his "retirement home".



Zach and I have been doing a pretty good job waddling through the responsibilities of adulthood, job, bills, Christmas card updates. This may actually be the first holiday season I can announce that we are both very happy with our jobs at the same time. While each of us have like past positions, we are finally both pretty satisfied this year. These jobs afford us the glamourous lifestyle of watching a lot of TV or Netflix instant (through our sweet Roku hookup) while eating gummy bears on the couch Stanley so generously shares with us. We also enjoy:
*going to the gym (increasingly less this year)
*complaining about the Ralph's grocery store down the street and how they never have anything I need, but it is just so close that I wouldn't consider going somewhere else
*getting to know our neighborhood chinese takeout workers
*traveling to far off places (see blog post about local travel)
*fighting about politics...not usually with each other but with people in/on the news (again with the TV)

Television shows we have liked this year include (in no particular order):
Mad Men (AMC)
Glee (Fox)
The Office (NBC)
Dexter (Showtime)
Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
Entourage (HBO)
Big Love (HBO)
Penn and Teller's Bull$h*t! (Showtime)
Breaking Bad (AMC)
Parenthood (NBC)
In Treatment (HBO)
Jersey Shore (MTV)
Damages (FX)

Movies we have liked his year (in no particular order):
The Kids are Alright
City Island
Black Swan
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Catfish
Cyrus
Star Trek
Inception
The Fighter
Hot Tub Time Machine
Please Give
Tillman Story
A Single Man
The Switch
Never Let Me Go
The Social Network

New Years resolutions:
None, they don't work.

I just changed my mind about not having a New Years resolution; I hear by commit to convincing my dear friends Case and Becky to move to Southern California. Starting now:




Dilemmas I foresee coming up in the next year:
*Should we keep or cancel the Costco membership when we only go about 3 times a year?
*Should we celebrate out 5 year anniversary jointly with Stanley's adoption anniversary? This will set a precedent for years to come.
*Will I finally spring for a proper umbrella before the next time it rains in LA, or will I stick with the mini-umbrella we struggled with during the great week of constant rain in early December of this year?
*Will I stop cooking things I have already made on this blog over and over again so I can have finally some new material to share?
*How long will it take my hair to grow out of this between stage it is in where it is not short enough and not long enough?

Lastly, I worry I may spend quite a deal of time in the coming year wishing I were a part of this random family I photographed on the beach in La Jolla because then I could submit some great pics to Awkward Family Photos. Yes they are wearing neon matching Disneyland t-shirts.



There you have it. Maybe while you are at it, you should have these too.



These little gems are great for a Christmas appetizer. I wish you all a Merry Merry Christmas and a Happy Happy New Year...Thanks for reading my blog!

Prosciutto-Wrapped Stuffed Dates

(recipe from Cooking Light Magazine)

3/4 cup (6 ounces) goat cheese
1 tablespoon minced shallots
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
24 whole pitted dates
6 thin slices prosciutto

Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine first 4 ingredients in a small bowl, stirring with a fork. Slice dates lengthwise, cutting to, but not through, other side. Open dates; place 1 rounded teaspoon cheese mixture into each date. Cut 1 prosciutto slice in half lengthwise and then crosswise to make 4 equal pieces. Repeat procedure with remaining prosciutto to form 24 pieces. Wrap each date with 1 prosciutto piece; place dates on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350° for 8 minutes or until filling is thoroughly heated. Serve immediately.

2 comments:

The Boston Lady said...

Merry Christmas Sammy! So good to catch up with your year and I still love that picture of Stan in the bed. So glad we got to visit with you a bit while you are here in FL. Ann

eggzachary said...

I want to add Jackass 3D to that list.

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