O Christmas Tree

O Christmas tree! O Christmas tree!

Much pleasure thou can'st give me;

O Christmas tree! O Christmas tree!

Much pleasure thou can'st give me;

How often has the Christmas tree

Afforded me the greatest glee!

O Christmas tree! O Christmas tree!

Much pleasure thou can'st give me.

A present and a cheesecake.

This year for my birthday, Micah gave me a food processor, something that I've been wanting for a while. I had talked about buying one for over a year, but had always found a reason not too. Good thing I have someone that is willing to indulge me. And, really, sometimes the best presents are presents that you've written off buying for yourself.

Of course with any new kitchen gadget or electronic, it had to be christened with a great recipe. I chose this Spicy Pumpkin Cheesecake. Boy, am I glad I did. It was decadent to say the least. I pretty much followed the recipe to a "t," so I'm not going to repost it here. But, I will be honest and tell you that this cheesecake almost came to a fatal end.

I made a ridiculously tragic mistake when I read the directions and pressed the yummy crust into my springform pan. Because instead of pressing the buttery, nutty, gingery crust into the pan itself, I somehow read that the whole pan needed to be covered in foil (Let's not go into the details of what had to be going on for me to have come to this decision).

Suffice it to say, I didn't read the directions carefully or thoughtfully enough

and I baked that beautiful crust in a foil lined pan.

And, oh the drama that commenced when I realized this fatal mistake of mine. This poor, innocent cheesecake filling almost got poured down the drain because I was up in arms that I had ruined the whole thing. Good thing I had Micah to talk me away from the edge and convince me to just re-make and re-bake a new crust. And you know what, it all worked out.

(Here I am fake smiling for the camera.)

After letting it cool in the refrigerator for 8 hours,

it was ready to be decked out with maple caramel sauce and topped with toasted pecans.

This really was great cheesecake. Very flavorful. Incredibly rich. And super creamy.

I'm not sure whether or not Micah would say it was worth all the trouble,

but it definitely was a worthy recipe to christen my new food processor.

It's a Woodstock Thanksgiving, Part II.

Seriously, where does the time go? I swear I just got back from thanksgiving break, and yet the plethora of christmas parties would dictate that the holiday season is in full swing. Sometimes the days just blur together and then all of a sudden two weeks have passed and it's hard to believe.

Well, since I already left you (two readers out there) hanging in suspense over the end of my thanksgiving, I suppose I'll finish that up before moving on to anything more recent.

Thanksgiving day started with a 5k run/walk. The whole family participated. It was cold, as evidenced by our facial expressions in the picture below. Micah and I finished in somewhere around 35 minutes, not too shabby for not training beforehand.

We were all pretty hungry when we got back, so it was a good thing that we didn't have to wait long for the snacking to commence. (If you want a full account of our menu for the day, see the post my sister wrote on it).

Our appetizers:

This year was my first vegan thanksgiving and it was darn good. We even veganized my grandmother's sweet potato casserole, which is an all-time holiday favorite of mine.

We also made this pretty and amazing cocktail: The Floating Star

After dinner, came the desserts.

And after desserts, there was thanksgiving dance offs via the kinect. Unfortunately, there is no photographic proof, but trust me when I say there's is nothing more wonderful than watching family members battle it out through mimicking some killer dance moves.

Lastly, I just want to give a shout out to these cupcakes fully decked out in their houndstooth finest for this year's Iron Bowl. We stayed in Woodstock for most of Saturday so we could all watch the game together. It was definitely worth it given that Alabama won and that these cupcakes were fantastic!

It's a Woodstock Thanksgiving, Part I

This year was the first year for my family to celebrate a holiday at a "kid's house." My sister and brother-in-law hosted in Illinois and we dubbed the occasion "It's a Woodstock Thanksgiving" (sounds like a great title for the next big blockbuster holiday movie).

We started out the festivities with a day in Chicago. We went to lunch at Karyn's on Green. My sister and I split a couple dishes, the BLT sandwich and the sausage and broccoli pizza. In my opinion, the pizza was better than the sandwich, but both were tasty. I also got the Southside cocktail, which was great, sour, but great. I would definitely recommend the restaurant to all those vegan and not.

From Karyn's on Green we headed over to the Willis Tower (formerly Sear's Tower). My sister had 4 free tickets that she had been trying to use for the last 3 years, and we decided to see if they still worked (Spoiler Alert: they did). Thankfully, we didn't have to wait in too much of a line. And, we got this winner of a photo from the lovely employees at the tower.

It was clear skies at the top, which made for great views.

Chicago is a really pretty city, with the lake right there and the river running through it. Whoever was the genius behind, "this looks like a good place to build a city," deserves some major props.

I love how this red building pops.

There are some seriously great views from the top.

We also took the opportunity to take a few family pics.

On the skydeck there are three glass skyboxes that overlook Chicago and if you have a fear of heights they will terrify you to even get close to them.

Micah was the most brave, stepping all the way out for longer than 30 seconds.

You can't tell, but this is Micah.

My sister and I, on the other hand, could only muster up enough courage to step out long enough for a picture to be taken.

As we were leaving, the sun was dropping and light was streaming in.

It was a great visit into Chicago and to the Willis Tower skydeck!
Stay tuned for Part II!