Earring Exchange with the Girls!

Last night my Happy Hour Group did our Christmas get together! We did Dinner at Boucherie and then a few after dinner drinks at Oak!  A few too many glasses of Red Wine later we had a great time!

Last year we did an ornament exchange, but this year we did an Earring Exchange instead which I thought was a super fun idea, because who doesn't want another fun pair of earrings!?  And when you're with a group of girls who all have great taste you know your going to end up with something great!

Three Generations!

This weekend my Mom and Grandmother "Nan" came to visit me in New Orleans! My Mom was coming for a legal conference and she just brought my Nan along with her!

This was my Nan's first trip to New Orleans since we've been living here (though she has been to NOLA many times in the past) so I was super excited to have her come!  My Nan is a bit of a neat freak...a bit might be a bit of an understatement...so I have been cleaning like crazy.  Im pretty sure our apartment has never been this clean!

We had a great time together, enjoying the sights, scenes, smells and sins of New Orleans!

While my mom has been down to visit several times, this was my Nan's first visit down to see me in NOLA and I'm glad she had the opportunity! Maybe now she'll finally understand why I wan to continue living in here even after Zach's graduation!

Thumbprint Cookies!

Its Holiday Season, and with Holiday season comes Holiday Parties! Tonight I went to a party with my volunteers in Belle Chasse and I decided to bring thumbprint cookies that were a take off of my regular Shortbread cookies!

I started by making my standby Shortbread Cookie Dough but instead of putting it in a cake pan I made little balls, about the size of a Golf Ball, used my thumb to make a little bowl and baked for about 15 minutes on a Cookie Sheet.

This was a bit of an experimental baking adventure.  I made two different variants, one with Almond icing and one with Raspberry Jam.  The more traditional thumbprints were filled with the Almond Icing that I made with Confectioners Sugar, 3 tablespoons of butter, a dash of almond extract, and then added a little milk until the icing was the right consistency.  I spooned the icing into the cookies thumbprints and then topped with a little dash of rock salt to give it a good sweet and salty taste! It did take longer than expected for the icing to harden (I was making these right before the party so I had to stick them in the refrigerator to speed up the process).  To make the Raspberry Cookies, before baking I just added Raspberry Jam to the thumbprint and then drizzled with a little almond icing.  They were so good and so easy I think these are going to be my new go to!