Dinner with Friends

Nothing makes me happier than be surrounded by family, friends and delicious food. Over the weekend, my dear friends came over for a Mexican fiesta. These friends are the best kind to have as they are terrific people AND they know their way around the kitchen. Last time we got together we had tapas which were amazeballs.

This time around we decided that Mexican food would be on the menu. I made a fruit platter, pico de gallo, and guacamole. Whit made quesadillas filled with delicious sautéed vegetables and spicy chipolte crema. Liz knocked it out of the park with a tray of cheese enchiladas and a tray of chicken enchiladas. As you can see, I did a much better job of taking pictures of the food than I did the people. Doh!

(Sorry about the messy bowl, I hate that! )

Next month we will be preparing Italian food. I will keep you posted and take more pictures next time.

Heaven on Earth

Also known as, Cancun, Mexico, was the destination last month. We stayed at the Me by Melia resort which has recently converted to an all-inclusive model. We'd been reading the reviews regularly prior to our trip and were a little bit nervous about some of the things being mentioned in the reviews. But, I am thrilled to report that our stay was fantastic! I cannot wait to go back there again. I'm pretty sure that I've found my happy place.

This was the scene that out my window as I drew back the curtain on the first morning.

Good morning to you too!

I have never seen water so incredibly blue before in my life!

I had ceviche for lunch or dinner every day while I was in Mexico and plan to perfect several versions of it this summer at home. Let me know if you'd like to be a recipe tester.

The uber chic Rose Bar where we enjoyed pre-dinner cocktails each evening (sorry the photo is a little crooked, I may have imbibed in said cocktails prior to taking the photo).

Cool breeze at the Rose Bar.

My Bali bed. I wish I had taken a picture of my friend Oliver. He was so sweet and he'd bring me cucumber cocktails and ceviche all day long.

Here was the view from my Bali bed. Yes, I am serious, I took this with my iPhone while laying in the Bali bed. It looks like a frickin' postcard!

In fact, I learned yesterday that Nelly's new music video was recorded at the resort and MY Bali bed is in the video. How awesome is that?
We only left the resort once. I mean, seriously, why would we leave the resort? It was incredible but the excursion to Isla Mujeres was pretty terrific too. We took a catamaran to Isla Mujeres to go snorkeling (amazing!), have lunch on the beach (scenic but the food was not so good), and cruise around the little town (quaint).

Needless to say, we had a wonderfully relaxing time and are looking forward to going back later this year or early next year.

Roller Derby Recap: Wasatch Roller Derby

The Big Girls

The Little Girls (Half-time demo by the Junior Roller Derby team)

The MVP

and

My write up for SLUG magazine can be found here.

Sundance 2011

For the past few years I've written a small recap of each of the Sundance movies that I've seen. I'm not sure that any of you really care about that but it is a great reminder for me to keep track of what I've seen. Seeing ten movies in ten days always leaves me a bit blurry by the end of the festival.

I'm not sure when I turned into such a lazy blogger but I'm five movies into this year's festival and I haven't written a thing. Sigh. The best I might muster this year is just listing them out. Maybe 'fessing up will inspire, we'll see....

Abraxas This movie was okay. It's the story of a Buddhist monk longing for his punk rock days. It didn't really resonate with me but Ban really enjoyed it.

Shorts Program - We saw six shorts. Two were awesome including Right to Fight: Revisited and Worst Enemy. The rest weren't worth writing about.

Pariah I LOVED this movie. The characters and story were so compelling. I even cried a little.

Higher Ground Vera Farminga's directorial debut (you know her from Up in the Air...yah, she was naked with Clooney). I wasn't sure what to think about the movie while I was viewing it but I've continued thinking about it for days after. Probably a good sign.

Resurrect Dead The first documentary that I saw during this festival. Fascinating story! Tale a three people trying to solve the mystery of some street art (and the artist who created it) found on the east coast and in south america. The weirdest part, however, was during the Q & A and an audience member who stood up and claimed to know one of the potential suspects on the list of possible artists. Small freakin' world.

Page One: A year inside the New York Times

The Green Wave

Gun Hill Road

Benavides Born

Win Win

A Teensy Taste of New Orleans in SLC

Monday night I went to see the Preservation Hall Jazz Band play in Salt Lake City. I first had the pleasure of seeing them in New Orleans in 2007 and was blown away by the music. I was very moved by the contrast of a city nearly destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and the ability of its people to continue to celebrate life with such joyful music.

Italian Fig Cookies

My Nana used to make these every year during the holidays. I didn't appreciate them much when I was a kid but as I got older I came to appreciate them. My Nana has been gone for nearly twenty years but every once in a while I get the urge to carry on the tradition and make these cookies. Plus, my Dad is in town for Christmas this year and he loves the fig cookies.

I didn't use my Nana's recipe completely because she had the luxury of having a fig tree in her backyard (in Queens!) so she used fresh figs. I have to rely on dried figs so I took some inspiration from this recipe that I found on the Food Network's website.

Merry Christmas!

Peppermint Layer Cookies

Yesterday, Ryan and I made Christmas cookies. I let him pick what he wanted to make. That will teach me! I am very pleased with the way these Peppermint Layer Cookies from Sunset Magazine turned out although making them was a several hour affair.

Next up, Italian Fig Cookies! These were a staple when I was growing up, my great-grandmother made them every year at the holidays.