2015

Happy New Year!

EB and Jackie, showing off the fabulous spread at Ash and Johnny’s NYE Party!

I hope this blog post (#51!) finds you well and rested and ready to bring on a new year! The fact that I’ve been MIA on this space isn’t lost on me. I kept thinking I would write over the past few weeks, but then….I would watch another episode of Homeland season three with my Dad or go shopping with my Mom. I guess you could say I took a break from computers. And you know what? It felt GOOD. No work, no blogging, barely any screen time at all. (Computer screen time, that is…I watched plenty of TV:)).

But alas, with my first day of work in almost two weeks looming tomorrow, I figured it was time to get back on the proverbial horse. And what better way then with a blog post? So here’s a recap of what’s been going on the past few weeks!

Home for the Holidays
I arrived at my parent’s house late afternoon on Christmas Eve and stayed til mid-afternoon New Year’s Eve, along with my brother who was in from NYC. Despite spending an entire week together doing very little, it still felt like we didn’t have enough time. As previously mentioned, we did spend a lot of time watching TV – specifically the entire third season of Homeland (only 13? episodes) – SO GOOD. And enjoying my mom’s superb cooking, of course. Of which I share the highlights below – drooling, commence!

Christmas Eve traditional dinner (Christmas for the Jews!): Chili, salad, and crusty ciabatta bread.

Christmas morning: Migas (a mexican egg dish with fried tortilla strips!), Israeli salad, bacon, toast, fruit salad.

Picturesque Christmas Day at my Aunt and Uncle’s home in the country (not Jewish!). My aunt is a superb “classic” cook, and I look forward to this meal days in advance! It did not disappoint.
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Just an average Friday night at the Chait household: swordfish, kale citrus salad, rice, roasted garlic cauliflower, and random leftover corn casserole from Christmas dinner.

And last, but not least – jambalaya! Served with salad and crusty bread (notice a theme?)

Aside from all the amazing food and TV watching, there was also a decent amount of exercise, shopping, and chilling by the fire. Notably, I beat my brother in scrabble for what I believe is only the second (maybe third, but definitely not fourth) time in history:
Hey – a win is a win! Especially against my brother.

New Year’s Eve
Confession: I don’t like New Year’s Eve very much. I tend to think it’s an average night with the expectation of a Fabulous one, and thus, leaves me (and most people) disappointed. Dinner reservations are hard to come by, the bars are crowded, and it’s next to impossible to get a cab home. This, compounded by the fact that more often than not, I don’t have someone to kiss at midnight, makes me a bit of a Grinch when it comes to NYE. So when Ashley and Johnny decided to host a party this year, I was all in! For once, a NYE without all the drama. I still didn’t have anyone to kiss at midnight (Wyatt was visiting friends in Arizona), but with no expectations other than to have a fun night, I succeeded in doing so. Thanks for a great night, A&J!

This NYE was also extra special because our dear friend Pam recently got engaged to her now fiance Reinhardt! Right before the Holidays, Pam surprised me by asking me to be her maid-of-honor – quite the honor, indeed! To celebrate, we had Kittie’s Cupcakes (the BEST – A&J had them at their wedding) and I gave a “cupcake toast” an hour or so before the real champagne toast at midnight. It wasn’t much, but it was a fun little way of celebrating the happy couple. 2015 is going to be a fun and crazy year!
And last, but definitely not least…