New Year's Eve

My Christmas gift to Carl was a "Texas Style BBQ Pit". He had been eyeing one at Lowe's for quite some time, and I was fortunate enough to scoop up the last one on Christmas Eve. He's seen here assembling the smoker box that you attach to the side. Matt's brother Jason visited for the holidays, and his assistance with the assembly was much appreciated.

We were finally able to utilize the pit on New Year's Eve. We had a great time grilling ribs, enjoying our own version of a fireworks show, and playing poker.
While the boys were outside fooling with the pit, I played in the kitchen (for what felt like hours) making homemade lilikoi juice for some mimosas. Lilikoi (passion fruit) is an extremely popular treat in Hawaii, and you can pretty much find anything flavored with lilikoi, from butter to chocolate. The seed extraction process, however, can be extremely time consuming. The steps for making juice are:

(1) cut lilikoi in half and scoop center into a bowl

(2) pour contents from bowl into blender

(3) pulse mixture for about 30 seconds to separate seeds from fluid

(4) strain liquid and toss out seeds

*note* the liquid is very viscous and the straining process can take quite a while. You will probably have to repeat steps 2-4 several times to maximize the amount of juice.

(5) pour juice into pitcher and fill to top with sparkling water

(6) add agave nectar or sugar to taste

It can be quite messy, but if you're willing to put in the work the payout is awesome! The juice was fabulous, and it made for some very tasty mimosas.

An Aloha Christmas

This Christmas my friend Abby and I undertook a task far greater than we had ever anticipated. We set out to make all of our favorite Christmas cookies, and what we had hoped would take one day took three. But it was so much fun! And boy did they taste good...
We made gingerbread men, snickerdoodles, chocolate crinkles, sugar cookies, fudge, and candy cane cookies. I had never heard of candy cane cookies before, but I was enthralled by them. Abby grew up in Maine and used to make them every year with her mom. They consist of half plain sugar cookie dough and half sugar cookie dough that's dyed red and has peppermint extract added to it. Then you twist and shape them into a candy cane, and they not only look like one, they taste like one too. They were super yummy. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures though.

On Christmas morning Carl had to work, so I went out on the boat with him. It was such a beautiful day.

We tried to catch an ono, but no such luck.

Carl was also scheduled to work Christmas evening, but due to inclement weather conditions (high surf) the trip was cancelled. I was sooooo happy! We went out that evening and had an incredible sushi dinner, and then we went home, picked up River, and took her to the beach.

We're not sure how this has happened, but we've managed to keep one of River's toys for about 4 years now. Its a ball that glows in the dark, and it comes in super handy on our night time beach excursions.