Sushi Date Night

My husband and I went on a sushi kick when we first moved to Portland. We ordered it at lots of different restaurants and during that time I found that my favorite way to eat sushi was with terriyaki and spicy japanese mayo sauces.

I decided to make sushi for our date night and drizzle it with these sauces. How did I learn how to make sushi? Well, my husband gave me a few pointers. His Mom made it while he was growing up. I learned the rest online.

Here is a youtube sushi tutorial I put together.

Crab Pot

We'd heard about crab pot restaurants from family for the last couple of years. Then, we found out that there was one nearby in Vancouver, WA called Joe's Crab Shack.

So, we decided to go there this weekend. We tried their old bay and cajun crab pots.

The food was pretty good and the view of the Columbia river was beautiful.

Overall, we had a fun experience, but the food was a little pricy (as expected.)

Batman Themed Date

My husband really likes the newer batman movies starring Christian Bale. So, I thought he would enjoy this date.

I set up a table with movie inspired food and played the Batman theme song in the background.

Batman Pizza

I got the pizza idea from this blogger and used a homemade pizza recipe from this cookbook. I cut out the image using a card stock template after the pizza had finished baking.

Blue Flower

In the first movie Ra's al Ghul tells Bruce Wayne about a blue flower that grows on the "eastern slopes."  I tried to recreate the flower using blue taffy and black jelly beans.

Toxin

The blue flower is used to make a toxin. I tinted crystal light lemonade with blue food coloring to represent it.

Two Face's Coin

I used a chocolate coin for this.

 Bats

We had some smoked salmon cream cheese and crackers in the house, so I used them to make these bats. My inspiration for the bats came from this blogger.

I would have liked to create signs for the food and there is even a free batman font online, but I didn't have time.

New Years Date

For new years, I surprised my husband with this dinner.

 We had sparkling cider. The "Happy New Year!" sign was our hummus appetizer. Then, I made my husbands favorite meal, salmon pinwheels (recipe below.)

 For dessert, we had chocolate brownies topped with peanut butter cream cheese frosting and a festive Oreo decoration (recipe below.)

The oreo clock idea came from this website.

Salmon Pinwheel recipe

Filling
I used 1/3 cup cream cheese, 3 pickled artichoke hearts, two sun dried tomatoes, green onion, and slash of lemon juice and salt.

Salmon
I bought slices of salmon that had a lemon butter glaze on them already from Winco. I pounded out the salmon to be the same thickness, lined them up, spread the filling over them and rolled them up, using skewers to hold them together. Then, I sliced the salmon log into pieces and baked them at 350 for 15 or so minutes.

Cupcake recipe
I used store bought brownie mix for the base.

Frosting
I started out with equal parts of peanut butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar. Then I added what I thought it need. A little more peanut butter, then more sugar to balance out the sweetness, then more cream cheese if it tasted to peanut buttery. I added a splash of vanilla. The frosting was a bit thick, but it went well with the dense brownie.

Christmas Party

We had my brother and his family over for dinner on Christmas. We served festive food.

Dinner:

Here is a picture of how the table looked, before we put the turkey out.

Instead of a vegetable tray, we had a veggie tree. I got the idea online. I used a styrofoam cone for the base and used toothpicks to secure the veggies.

I thought the kids would get a kick out of this penguin appetizer. I'd made it before and I think I originally got the idea on pinterest. The penguins were made with olives, cream cheese and carrots.

When I was a kid, we would often have cheeseballs with crackers around Christmas. So, I wanted to keep up that tradition. I got a jalapeno bacon cheese ball from Safeway and dressed it up to look like a snowman with chocolate chips and a carrot nose.

For the main course we had turkey, honey mustard, cranberry sandwiches. I formed the bread into a wreath shape and put a bow on top after it had finished baking. Here is a link to the bread recipe. I used all the ingredients and made one big loaf instead of 3. I baked it for 15 to 20 minutes.

This picture was taken before we put the turkey and lettuce out on the table.

Dessert:

For dessert we had a frozen peppermint ice cream / brownie dessert. It was topped with whip cream to look like snow, and a candy cane / gum drop to look like the north pole.

Memory Game:

After dinner we played a holiday version of the game "Memory." I put this game together last year for a cookie exchange party I hosted. Here is a link to the holiday game details. I added more ideas this year and gave less candy, since there were fewer people and I didn't want to load the kids up with too much candy. Here are some of the prizes I gave.

Santa's sleigh

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse

 

 

 

 

 

 Angel Food

Live Nativity

We went to see a live Nativity that the church put on in West Salem this year. It was outdoors. We walked along a path with stations. Each station had scriptures from the bible about the Saviors birth posted and read out load. Actors were in the distance. At the end of the path we came upon the "Stable" with Mary, Joesph and the baby Jesus (doll.)

"Angels" (young women) sang hymns in the background. There were animals too. They even had a camel and all the kids wanted to pet it.

Cookies and hot chocolate were served inside the church.

 There were a few rooms that displayed artwork. One room had pictures of the Savior and the second room had nativity scenes made out of different materials. There were people playing beautiful music on the piano in the rooms. I really felt the spirit while we were there and we both were so glad that we went.

My husband and I were introduced to a Walter Rane painting while we were there, that we had never seen before. It was of the Savior in 3rd Nephi, where he blesses the little children. It was so touching. Here is a link to the picture.

There was another picture on display of Mary holding the baby Jesus that I really liked too. It was a piece by Liz Lemon Swindles. Here is a link to the painting.

Christmas Lights + Hot Chocolate

I love traditions, especially Christmas traditions. One of my favorites is driving around, looking at Christmas lights, while drinking hot chocolate / steamers. We do this every year.

As you're heading into town from South Salem on Liberty, there is a church that goes all out with their light decorating. They even have Christmas music playing. We got out of the car and walked around a little bit this year so the baby could see the lights and while we were there we noticed that Santa was there too.
We all enjoyed the lights.