First off, happy holidays to those who celebrate!

Dave and I kept things relatively simple this year, but we did do a fancy dinner with Dave’s parents and Melanie and her mom for Christmas day.

Here’s a pic of the menu! I made the cocktail (link here, it was delicious), the kale/squash salad, the peppermint ice cream (I use this recipe as the base, and added 1 tbsp of peppermint extract and a handful of Trader Joe’s peppermint chips), and the brownies. I also supplied the tenderloin, though Mel cooked it in her sous vide.

This upcoming Saturday night we have tickets to the Astra Lumina exhibit at the South Coast Botanic Garden. I’ve never done it before, and it looks really pretty. The garden itself is a really nice place to visit, with a great cactus area.

No plans for New Year’s Eve—we tend to fall asleep hours before midnight!