Best laid plans and all that....

The plan had been to go on a short lowlands hike today. Getting out, wilderness etc.

The weather even cooperated, it's a wintery grey partly cloudy this morning, but not raining. No shadows, but glimpsed of blue.

Perfect day for a winter hike.

But.

My little nut is sick and totally miserable.

There will be other days for hikes.

NYE Dinner

I was having my MIL, SIL, and nephew over for dinner last night, and didn't really feel like cooking much of anything really involved.

And Costco was out of smoked salmon, grr. Well, not out-out, but out of the smoked salmon made with Alaskan wild caught fish, and I won't buy anything cultivated.

So dinner ended up being:

-- sliced sirloin steak on bagels with chive butter
-- little meatballs in that vile grape jelly sauce (my nephew LOVES this, and always asks for it...)
-- onion tart with crème fraîche and bacon
-- pigs in blanket (for Linnea, who loves them!)
-- Unstuffed Mushroom Casserole.

I was happy with everything except the mushroom casserole. It was... ok. Just... nothing really complex. I love stuffed mushrooms, but this was just lackluster. That said, it's a good enough idea that I will work with the recipe to see if I can pin down what I felt was lacking and how to remedy that!

Dessert was homemade chocolate pudding and SHORTBREAD COOKIES CANADA CORNSTARCH .

For the cookies... I add vanilla because I have to, and I usually roll them in some kind of sugar. This time, I used a coarse sugar and added in.... edible sparkles, gold and silver, in two different bowls. OMG, such fun. The cookies sparkled! I was thrilled. :)