An Early Giving of Thanks

Just in case I don't post again before Thursday, I wanted to throw out a little holiday spirit into the blogosphere.  Thanksgiving has pretty much always been my favorite holiday of the (secular) year, initially because of my absurd pre-pubescent eating abilities, but as I've gotten older it's because I really appreciate the message of it.  Even if it's just taking a moment every year to ignore my "problems" and think about everything I do have.  Namely, this year I can't help but think about the recent death of someone I know from high school in a sort of family friend capacity.  Without going into details, it was a completely tragic, freak accident, and my mom summed it up well when she said that when something like that happens, nothing else matters.  And when it comes down to it, I may be unhappy in my job, in my dating life, in my current winter boot situation, etc., but I have my family, my friends, and my health, and, really, nothing else matters.  Most of you know that I don't really do sappy well, but I am very thankful to have you all in my life.

Ok, now that that's out there, back to food.

I think I'm going to have to do another lightning round of highlights from the last few weeks, starting with Colleen's wedding!  Yes, one of my peers got married.  I'm still not totally ok with this idea, but it was really fun to go to a friend's wedding.  I didn't take pictures of the food (Katie and I were trying really hard to make friends), but I did snag a picture of the cake!  It's beautiful and kind of matched her dress.

The bride... and my date!

Katie and I actually had a pretty wild night at the hotel bar dance club with Colleen's friends and family after the wedding, so we were BEAT the next day.  But not nearly as hungover as expected!  We had a lovely buffet brunch at the hotel, where I snagged a box of Wheaties and a Special K (in addition to the omelette, waffle, and fruit that I devoured...) and then hit the road, in our awesome rented Toyota Matrix.  This car does not even deserve a spot in my weekly car review.  Thanks for nothin', Hertz.

I had to go to Dallas that coming week (see previous post... sorry, so out of order!), so I went to yoga Sunday night and then prepared myself for travel.  The week was kind of a blur, and then of course my flight home on Thursday was delayed, so I think I was still recovering from exhaustion that next Friday.  I thought it called for a little girls' night action.  Something social but not requiring energy.  Friends to the rescue!  Alex and Amanda came over, and we made...

Supercharge Me cookies!  I found these on Eat, Live, Run and was SO excited to try them, despite vegan-anything totally not being my bag,  They were SO easy to make, and even though we were nervous that the batter resembled a mess of oatmeal and flour more than a cookie, the oven worked its magic and they came out totally cookie-like.  A little dangerously so.

Thank goodness I had Amanda there to model them for me!  Seriously, you're looking at the next Vanna White.  P.S. We had already eaten like half of them at this point.  I brought out a bottle from my wine of the month collection for the occasion.  It was a Grenache, but I can't remember much else other than that.  I gave it a 7 out of 10 for being totally enjoyable but lacking a certain je ne sais quoi.  You know, like, some pizazz. And, yes, I am taking diligent notes on the wines from my membership.  It's been really fun to have wine delivered to my door.  I will miss it once I drink my way through what's left.

I have more food fun to share, but it's coming in a separate post so as not to overwhelm your hungry eyes.  You're welcome.