These are the easiest recipe to make for a Christmas party! Which is just what I did of course. Our lab party was a couple of weekends ago now, but I can tell you they were a hit. I've been slowly making my way through some of those Pinterest recipes and I loved this one.
The crust came together quickly in the food processor and was baked before adding the pineapple topping.
Which I did alter by one ingredient. My secret ingredient in all things pineapple. An extra dash of pineapple flavoring (thank you King Arthur Flour).
The pineapple topping was baked (a little too long because I burnt it on the edge a bit) and then a delicious glaze made with coconut extract was drizzled on the top.
Check out my festive tea towel! I saw it at the gift shop at the hospital I work at and I couldn't pass it up. Doesn't it just make you feel warm and Christmas-y inside? It was a good thing this recipe was quick, easy and delicious (which are all good things) because it was what I needed. That weekend was our last weekend off before Christmas and we packed it full. On Saturday it was the Christmas party, which was a ton of fun.
We played Heads Up! and had a gift exchange and ate yummy food and passed Emily's baby around. It was enjoyable to let your fun side show and socialize without looking at the clock thinking about how you should be getting back to work. And as always, Akbar's house was beautiful.
Then on Sunday, Mom and I went up to my alma mater, Central Washington University, to see The Nutcracker. It was put on jointly by the local dance school, Central's Orchesis dance company and the Theatre Ensemble there at the college. Two dancers from Ballet Idaho were featured as the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Nutcracker Prince. It was fantastic! The students were really good and the costumes beautiful and it was fun to see a different group perform, rather than the same one we see almost every year in Yakima. I had also wanted to go to Leavenworth and see the Christmas lights up there and since we were in Ellensburg it was only an hour away. But I'd forgotten my camera at home. So I told Mom either we could just go up there without it, just eat in Ellensburg and go home and forget it, or go home and get the camera and go all they way back up. Yeah, we chose the last option because we are nuts.
But the pictures are so pretty! It was cold and foggy, but no real snow yet up there. They had a portion of the park covered with man-made snow that had turned to ice so the kids could sled. We ate dinner and checked out the shops, buying a few things, and then we stopped in to a bakery and picked up some treats along with hot apple cider. I was hoping to get some roasted chestnuts but the stands were all closed. :(
But we did spot Santa and Mrs. Claus wandering around for pictures! You win some, you lose some.
This was our favorite shop that was decorated! So pretty!
And Mom loved this tree. Those snowflakes were huge!
We actually only just got our Christmas tree decorated today. We had picked it up that weekend and it was just sitting in the living room being watered and sad that it wasn't decorated yet. We are getting ourselves together though to spend some time just enjoying our days off. Stollen bread is baked, cinnamon rolls too and I still need to wrap Mom's presents tomorrow (which has become a tradition for me). But soon it will be time to give up those things left undone and enjoy family and friends and celebrate how much we love each other! Merry Christmas!
No comments:
Post a Comment