Cheers to the new year.

Were back! I can't believe today is the last day of 2010. 2010 has been an amazing year. Matt went to school for his current job and graduated top of his class, we soaked up our last days of living in Hawaii, and went on our last inter-island trip to the Big Island which might actually be my favorite of all the islands. Here's a few pictures I love but haven't posted before of our last days in Hawaii:

In April, we sent our things off with TMO and slept on the plastic wrapped bed in the living room again. It's like our "extended honeymoon" came full circle. Then we hopped a plane for California where I cried my eyes out for about 2 hours mourning the loss of my first home. In California, we sat on the floor and slept on an air mattress for a month before our stuff got here. But I was okay with that because my house was certainly an upgrade from my shabby little apartment in Hawaii! The pictures of these beds make me laugh but also remind me how much moving across the ocean SUCKS.

In April we also bought our washer and dryer which was our first major appliance purchase and pretty exciting for us because we're nerdy like that! We spent most of May getting used to our new home, painting, decorating, and exploring the area. I graduated! Matt started his new job in June and worked super long days until August. I went home for a visit! But we still managed to squeeze in a little fun. Matt got promoted! And got instructor of the cycle! And Kelly, Nick and Steve came to visit too!

In September, we went to our first rodeo, took our road trip to San Francisco, went to Big Bear for a weekend on the lake, went to an Angels game, and then went to Virginia to visit our best friends from Hawaii.

In October, Matt started work again (and was picked to be the machinegun instructor for his company over lots of more experienced guys, a huge honor!) but we still found time to go apple picking, see the Patriots play at Chargers stadium, tailgate in Compton for a USC vs Oregon game, and dress up as Monsters for Halloween. In November, we went to Vegas for the Marine Corps ball and had our first California Thanksgiving.

This past month, we decked out the house for Christmas, walked around and enjoyed the food in Little Italy, went to Disneyland, celebrated our own little Christmas in California, and went home for a visit where we were bombarded with a blizzard and kisses from a 1 and 2 year old.

We've been so busy and done so many amazing things this year. This is honestly just a small sampling. To put into perspective how much traveling we've done just throughout the state of California - remember these maps I made?

Well this is what California looks like now. And we drove down the entire coast from the top pin all the way to the second pin from the bottom!

Needless to say, 2010 has been an amazing year full of changes, new friends, and new experiences. We cannot wait to see what 2011 has in store for us!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

The closer it gets to Christmas, the busier we get! After Disneyland, the rest of the week was a whirlwind of work, shopping, wrapping, and trying to kick my cold for good (which was unsuccessful!). And then Saturday morning, we got in our Christmas PJs and FINALLY had our Christmas! Here was the tree on Christmas morning:

I am the most spoiled girl alive. And Matt is the best gift giver. I got so many things I've been obsessing over and some beyond thoughtful gifts. Matt has the best way of taking memories, inside jokes, whatever and turning them into the sweetest, most sentimental gifts. And he's so good at taking mental notes on things I like. I don't give him enough credit. My favorite part is of course watching him open his gifts. I'm so glad I was able to buy his gifts with my own money this year, it means so much more to me. I was going to post pictures of our Christmas but it was a special morning I want to keep all to ourselves. :)

The rest of the weekend I wanted to do nothing but relax. We watched Christmas movies and Matt worked on a Christmas gift for the boys that Kerry requested last year. I can't post any sneak peaks since I don't want my brother or Kerry to see it. But Matt is super talented when he has a paintbrush in his hand... and that's all I'll say about that! You will definitely be seeing a picture of the finished product, hopefully in Vinny's hands! And while Matt painted, I cooked and baked. Clam chowder and a chocolate candy cane cookie (my favorite flavor combo, as if I haven't said that enough times already) to be exact.

Clam Chowder


This was surprisingly easy and even more surprisingly tasty. Being from New England, I'm pretty picky about my clam chowder and I wasn't keen on the idea of using canned clams, but I also wasn't keen on the idea of paying for fresh when I didn't even know if we'd like the recipe. Totally exceeded my expectations.

3 6.5 ounce cans chopped clams
6 strips of bacon
1 small onion finely diced
2 medium russet potatoes diced
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup flour
1 quart half and half
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
plenty of black pepper

1. Fry up the bacon in a large skillet. Leave the grease in the skillet and drain the strips on paper towel.
2. Put potatoes and onions in the skillet with the bacon grease, and pour in the juice from the cans of clams. Put enough water in the skillet to cover the potatoes and onions and cook over medium heat until tender.
3. In a large heavy saucepan, make a rue with the butter and flour. Whisk in cream stirring constantly. Add in vegetables with all the juice from the skillet.
4. Stir in clams and heat through. Add red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Serve and enjoy!


And the chocolate candy cane cookie recipe is here. I just love them because they're so pretty. I also messed up the cookie recipe somehow because mine came out flat and crispy and the picture certainly doesn't look like the cookies are supposed to be flat and crispy. But they were still delish.

And as for the title, it really IS beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Boston! It's snowing! And I absolutely cannot wait to land and see the beautiful city covered in snow and have a white Christmas! We leave tomorrow at 10:20 on a red eye so this will be my last post before Christmas. For everyone at home who reads this, we CANNOT WAIT TO SEE YOU! And for everyone else, we wish you the safest travels and the happiest of holidays!

The happiest place on Earth.

Matt graduated another class on Monday. It was like a big sigh of relief - I was SO DONE with the amount of hours he was working. So to celebrate, and just because he had the day off and we wanted to spend the day together, I called in sick (which I have NEVER done, eek!) and we went to Disneyland!

It was the most perfect day ever. The weather was yucky in the morning but turned out to be perfect (and by perfect I mean 70 degrees and kinda cloudy so the sun wasn't beating down all day), the park wasn't crowded at all, and we barely had to wait at all to get on any rides. Plus, the park was all decked out for Christmas! I can't see how any trip we ever make there could top this one. Except maybe when Vinny and Luke come to visit!

I actually didn't take a whole lot of pictures. I haven't been to Disney since I was little and I was just basking in the happiness and Christmas cheer!

First I got my Minnie ears!

Then we hopped on Astroblasters. We're not very good...

But it was our first time so cut us some slack!

We made our way around Tomorrowland and Fantasyland and I made Matt get on It's a Small World with me. I know lots of people can't even tolerate this ride, but I love its message... PEACE ON EARTH, ya hear!? :) I've never seen It's a Small World during the holidays and I got especially happy when I saw Irish step dancers and of course, MELE KALIKIMAKA!

My heart still aches for Hawaii - will it ever stop?

We saw Santa's reindeer...

And ate lots of Mickey shaped food...

I admired the Christmas decorations in New Orleans Square...

And I was especially happy we got to go inside the Haunted Mansion!

I made Matt take lots of dorky Disney pictures with me...

And at night, we enjoyed the SNOW on Main Street! I had no idea they made it snow and I almost cried. My heart aches for home too. Ya know, it's really hard when your heart is in so many places! But once I saw this:

I knew a little piece of my heart would be left here too.

OF COURSE we did more than what I've shown here, but we still missed so much and I CANNOT wait to go back! And actually, we already have our next trip planned! I'm counting down! Until next time, Mickey!

Deck the halls.

Wanna see a few peeks of our house decked our for Christmas?

Well come on in!

My wreath bow is pretty smooshed because the wreath is fat and doesn't fit in between the door and screen. Isn't this the fattest wreath though? Finding real wreaths in Southern California has not proved to be easy!

For some reason I am obsessed with this little display in my entryway!

I "swagged" the garland instead of wrapping it and I'm happy with how it came out! Although I was pretty disappointed when I bought a super cute ribbon for the bows and didn't have enough and when I went back to get more it was sold out. I had to resort to his plain gold but I think it looks okay!

I spy a cute little guy (or his cute little ears anyway)...

Remember when I alluded to something special we pick out every year? Well, it's a nutcracker! I have been in love with nutcrackers since I was a little lady. Anyone from Abington knows about the huge nutcracker at the Christmas Place - well that's how my love affair got started at the age of, oh, 5. I have a huge collection at home but these are ours that we've picked out since we've been married! The pirate was our new one this year! I meant to stick him in the middle of the collage but I am just too lazy to go back and fix it, so don't mind my weird photo arrangement. :) Also that little wooden tree and the joy to the world were my only Christmas crafts of the season. Next year I need to get started early!

Our tree at night... isn't she a beaut?

Some ornaments we love!

And I almost forgot...

Of course Jack's home needs a little love too!!

We of course have little trinkets here and there around the house, but in the interest of not showing 50 pictures, I think this is a good sampling! If I had more money I would spend, spend, spend on Christmas decorations. After living in a tropical climate for a few years, I have learned decking out the house is the only way to make it feel like Santa Claus is actually coming to town! Only 12 more days!

Carne asada.

Matt is like totally obsessed with carne asada anything. He always orders it whenever we're eating Mexican so I tried about a million recipes until I found one we both liked. My old boss in Hawaii actually gave me this recipe, and I sincerely doubt it's authentic or anything. But it's delicious!

Ingredients:
2 lb flank steak
1/2 cup tequila
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tbsp hot sauce (we love Tapatio)
8 garlic cloves, minced
1 small onion or 1/2 large onion, diced
1 teaspoon pepper

Mix all the ingredients and marinate the steak for at least 4 hours. We usually grill it, we like the char marks! But you can either grill it to your desired doneness, or broil it which is what we did this time. I had never broiled it and I broiled it on low for 10 minutes each side to get it medium rare.

You can also leave the tequila out but the alcohol cooks out and you don't even really taste it - trust me, Matt would NOT be okay if he could tell there was alcohol in it! If you decide to leave it out, increase the orange juice and lime juice by 1/4 cup.

This is so yummy with Mexican rice and black bean salsa!

A Jamie Oliver stir fry.

Oops, the whole week went by before I got to post any more recipes! Why does it get SO busy around the holidays!? On one hand, I love the hustle and bustle, but on the other hand, I'd love to do nothing but bake holiday goodies and relax! I actually got pretty sick over the last week so while Matt's at the mandatory battalion Christmas party I'm just laying low. I don't wanna get all the beautiful babies sick too!

Do you guys like Jamie Oliver? Personally, I think he's pretty amazing and I love cooking his food. His recipes usually require a lot of ingredients but in my opinion it's totally worth it because besides the obvious health benefits, it's kinda neat to see where the flavor of processed food comes from. Like when I finished cooking this, it tasted just like I poured a bottled Asian sauce you could buy in the store over the beef and veggies... but this was made from all fresh ingredients - which is a whole heck of a lot better for you.

I made this last week and it was REALLY tasty. I forgot snow peas so I'm sure this would be even better (and prettier!) with them added in.

Ingredients:
8 oz vegetable noodles
vegetable oil
1 lb steak (I used flank steak but you could definitely use something cheaper!)
2 garlic cloves minced
a "thumb-sized" piece of ginger peeled and finely sliced
1-2 chili peppers
1/2 pound bean sprouts
soy sauce
sesame oil
juice of 1/2 a lime
1 large red bell pepper finely sliced
a handful of snap peas
1 can baby corn quartered lengthwise
6 green onions chopped
a bunch of cilantro (or you can leave it out if you're a cilantro hater!)


1. Cook the egg noodles, drain, and set aside.
2. Heat a large wok and add a splash of vegetable oil. Stir fry the beef slices, garlic, ginger, and chilies until just cooked. It's super important not to overcook the beef here because you throw it back in later!
3. Add the beansprouts, a splash of soy sauce, a splash of sesame oil, and the lime juice and cook for about a minute.
4. Pour the contents of the wok into a large bowl with all the juices. Put the wok back on the heat and add more vegetable oil. Add all the veggies and stir fry 1 to 2 minutes. Add the cooked noodles and toss well.
5. Set aside the vegetables and noodles in a bowl and return the beef and juice to the wok and stir fry until heated through again. Add the cilantro and toss.

Serve the beef over the noodles and veggies! Enjoy!

My favorite meal.

This is my favorite meal of the moment. I mentioned it before in another post. It comes from Elly Says Opa and we both honestly just want this all the time. I cooked a 2.3 lb flank steak and we ate the WHOLE THING.

I said this before but honestly, if you like mushrooms, you HAVE to try this. And I would recommend doubling the sauce!

I have a huge backlog of recipes that I wanted to share so you'll probably see a lot this week! And most are beef because after Thanksgiving we got sick of poultry reeaaall fast! So red meat lovers, stay tuned. :)

A date which will live in infamy.

Always remember why the flags are at half mast today.

Jack gets a Christmas sweater.

He loves it! He's so snuggly in general and I think he just thinks of this as like a blanket. It's a liiiiittle big but I knew the small wouldn't fit around him, he's such a fatty!


We tried to do a photoshoot but he just wanted to sleep, ha!

So much for my resolution to never put him in clothes!

And I figured out how to make my pictures bigger and still keep a sidebar. YAY!

Little Italy.

This month is flying by! I can't even believe it's already the 5th of December! And we go home in TWO WEEKS. What!?

For some reason, no matter how much I deck out the house in red, gold, and glitter, it doesn't feel much like Christmas here, even less than it did in Hawaii somehow. I don't think I could ever get used to the Christmas in warm weather and I legitimately wish all people from warmer climates got to experience Christmas in a real winter setting. It's magical.

But we partook in many Christmas activities this weekend. Saturday we did the majority of our Christmas shopping and we watched The Santa Clause. Love Tim Allen. Mostly because I associate him with JTT. Hello 2nd grade crush. And today, we went to Little Italy downtown because I just really love my heritage. No actually, I just really wanted a limonata. If you don't know what a limonata is you're totally missing out. It's like a sparkling lemonade.

And limonatas are usually sold at Italian delis. And Italian delis are the best thing in the world. So I Yelp'd a good deli and read amazing things about Mona Lisa. And it TOTALLY exceeded my expectations. I didn't expect anything we ate in Little Italy to live up to what I've grown up eating or what I've eaten in the North End of Boston or even what we had in San Francisco. But Mona Lisa is really freaking good.

I had a Caprese sandwich and my limonata:

And Matt had a capicola, mortadella, salami, and provolone sandwich. Which is a REAL Italian sub. Not salami and ham. Or salami and pepperoni. He ate the first half during the two seconds I was taking pictures of my sandwich.

Super thinly shredded lettuce is always a good sign.

Then we got Gelato here:


Which was really good. And walked around Little Italy.


There are a ton of really cute, bright colored cottages that the Italian fishermen used to live in back in the day. The owners of this house obviously LOVE their heritage:


Look who we stumbled upon!


That's John Basilone, Matt's idol.

The thing I liked most about it though is there seems to be a sense of community. People were out and about and there were tons of people speaking Italian. That just makes my heart sing.

Also these are made in Little Italy:


That makes it a pretty amazing place, right?