Some of our good friends, Rick and Stephanie Cohan, hosted a Holiday Party on December 12th for friends and Deloitte coworkers of Rick and Shannon's. There was a good turn out and we had exceptional food, mostly Mexican style appetizers since everyone seems to enjoy that kind of food; plus, we don't get it around Belgium very often. Stephanie made guacamole, quesadillas, chili con queso, pico de gallo (with tortilla chips), and had a few other hors d'oeuvres like shrimp cocktail, stuffed tortellini with a red pepper sauce, baguettes, cheese, grapes, salami, plus a few other things I'm sure I'm forgetting! I was in charge of making the Christmas Cookies because most people know I have a sweet tooth! I made pecan bars, cherry mash bars (my favorite, I had to import cherry chips from the US), peanut butter blossom cookies with peanut butter cups in the centers (once again the reese's peanut butter cups were imported from the US!) and finally frosted sugar cookies which my neighbor, Kleodaj, helped me decorate. It was fun baking up a storm that week; it really put me in the Christmas mood and made me remember the times back home I used to get together with friends and family to bake Christmas goodies. I also miss the cookie exchange that my previous employer, Nelnet, always organized.
Since I forgot to blog on our New Year's Eve outing, I thought I'd add it to this existing blog in December. Shannon and I were invited over to Rosie and Thijs's new home for a little New Year's Eve gathering. Besides all the dancing, singing and champagne (for those who could partake!), we enjoyed a gourmet meal prepared by Rosie and Thijs consisting of shepherd's pie, broccoli, carrots and some kind of orange dessert soaked in alcohol (mine was a 'virgin' dessert)...everything was delicious! In all it was a fun night and we met some really nice people. We actually already knew some of the guests like Vicky and Mathias, so it was good to see them again as well. I feel lucky to have met such good friends here in Belgium and thank Christina, my former French classmate, for introducing us! (I wish she was still around, but she moved back to Norway. We still keep in touch).
Since I forgot to blog on our New Year's Eve outing, I thought I'd add it to this existing blog in December. Shannon and I were invited over to Rosie and Thijs's new home for a little New Year's Eve gathering. Besides all the dancing, singing and champagne (for those who could partake!), we enjoyed a gourmet meal prepared by Rosie and Thijs consisting of shepherd's pie, broccoli, carrots and some kind of orange dessert soaked in alcohol (mine was a 'virgin' dessert)...everything was delicious! In all it was a fun night and we met some really nice people. We actually already knew some of the guests like Vicky and Mathias, so it was good to see them again as well. I feel lucky to have met such good friends here in Belgium and thank Christina, my former French classmate, for introducing us! (I wish she was still around, but she moved back to Norway. We still keep in touch).
Me, Kleodaj and Stephanie in front of their cute little tree! (we didn't even have a tree this year!)
Elitza, Stephanie (Clark) and Rick enjoying some Belgium Beers (by the way, Rick is a Beer Nerd; he knows everything about Belgium beer and more with a little guidance from the book by Tim Webb, "Good Beer Guide Belgium"!)
Leah, Ryan, Peter, Nathan and Lou all sporting their 'special' beer glasses (Rick and Stephanie have quite an assortment of Belgium beer glasses while Shannon and I are just beginning our collection)
Devin, Lucas, Peter, Lindsey and Brittany chilling out (if you look close enough, you can see the Christmas Cookies I made on the 3 tiered serving tray)
Maisie and me
Before we headed over to Rosie and Thijs new home for their New Year's Eve gathering
Rosie and Thijs prepared a wonderful feast for our New Year's Eve dinner.
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