Tao of Schnoll

Happy Birthday Bondi!

2014-04-10T13:41:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that Bondi turns 3 today! This little pup definitely stole our hearts and is our best buddy. She is also one of the funniest, oddest, and thank goodness, most durable dogs I've ever known.

Happy birthday Bondi!

First Spring Weekend

2014-03-24T09:50:00.002-07:00

We kicked off our weekend celebrating our anniversary on Friday. It was a very low key day since Dave and I decided we want to take a tropical vacation in the next few weeks/months instead of going all out on the actual day. But we still had a great time celebrating!

First up, we took our daily walk down to the meadow. Bondi has been obsessed with the mud lately and has been making a beeline right for it. She also decided to jump in the pond to swim after the ducks! Needless to say she's ended up having more baths in the last week than in the past year!

Since our first anniversary is considered the "paper" anniversary, Dave's mom gave us some Elephant Poo Poo Paper! Such a fun and clever present, and very fitting for the "paper" anniversary! Have you seen this stationary before? Can't wait to use it!

For dinner, we went to The Chart House. The view from the dining room is pretty spectacular and luckily we were seated just in time for sunset. Although I'm not a huge fan that they print their menus daily with their specials (big waste of paper!), it was really fun that they had our anniversary printed on the top of the menu! The service we excellent and the food was amazing. I highly recommend the New Wave Surf and Turf with short ribs, scallops and mashed potatoes -- some of my favorite foods!

When we got home we opened up one of our last bottles of Ernest Hill and ate the other half of the chili chocolate bar from Mexico. Note to self, keep chocolate in the freezer and not the fridge when you want to save it for a year. :)

The rest of the weekend was spent working in the yard, raking pine needles and clearing out bushes. We're getting ready to put in a small stream, waterfall, and pond in over the next few weeks (depending on the snowfall this week). I'll be sharing photos of that project soon!

How did you spend your weekend?

Our 5/1 Anniversary!

2014-03-21T03:00:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that it has been a full year since we finally tied the knot! This is an extra special anniversary because we're celebrating 5 years together (along with our 1 year of marriage). All of our special anniversaries fall on the same day which make it very easy to remember -- 321.

Since we were married in Mexico and didn't have a wedding cake, I picked up some spicy Mexican chocolate that we ate part of as soon as we were back home in Tahoe after the wedding. I've been saving the rest of the bar for the past year and so we'll finish that off tomorrow instead of the top of a cake. We also have some special wine from Ernst Hill, one of my favorite vineyards in Australia, and I believe we are down to our last two bottles! We picked up a case on our 1 year anniversary and have finally worked our way through it, mostly saving them for special occasions.

To celebrate this occasion, here are some photos of us from each year we've been together!

Our first vacation! Western Australia -- April 2009
Yes, this was only a few weeks after we started dating!

Hanging with some local wildlife in Sydney -- April 2010

Soaring! Celebrating our 2 year anniversary a few months late. October 2011

We're engaged! Our 3 year anniversary at Heavenly March 21, 2012

We're married on our 4th anniversary -- March 21, 2013

Here's to many more anniversaries as a push-me-pull-you couple. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Time to celebrate!

The "Jessica" Sales Cycle

2014-03-19T03:00:00.000-07:00

So last night I had probably one of the funnier and yet more embarrassing "idiot" moments in a long time. I've been selling a bunch of my old DVDs through a local Facebook group called Upcycle. It's like Craigslist but on Facebook. Anyways, a girl came over last night around 8:45pm to pick up some of the movies, and this is what ended up happening...

Girl: I'll take 2 of the boxed TV series and 1 DVD.

...total comes to $11 and she hands me $11...

Me: Oh, let me give you $5 change!

...I hand her $5 for no reason...

...she walks out the door...

...I realize my mistake and run after her...

Me: I'm so sorry but the total was actually $11 so I should not have given you change.

Can I please have my $5 back?

...she says no problem, hands me the $5, and drives away...

...I come back inside and put the cash in my wallet when I realize that the $10 bill is missing...

...I frantically search everywhere, looking for the $10 bill, and I can't find it....anywhere...

Dave: Did you accidentally hand her the $10 back?

...he starts laughing hysterically...

Me: I can't remember! I have no idea but I guess so! OMG I gave her back her money!

...Yup, I apparently decided to give her her original $10 bill when I got my $5 back from her...

...Frantically begin texting her telling her my mistake...

...Thank goodness for nice people! She drove back and gave me the $10...

...So I gave her another DVD for free...

Cannot. believe. this. actually. happened.

As Dave described it:

The "Jessica" Sales Cycle

Stage 1 -- Exchange Goods for Money

Stage 2 -- Return half the funds as 'change' without reason

Stage 3 -- Attempt to remedy Stage 2, but instead return all funds to buyer

Stage 4 -- Fail

Tasty Tuesday -- Grilled Sesame Chicken and Rice Noodles

2014-03-18T03:00:00.000-07:00

Starting a new series today on the blog called Tasty Tuesdays! For this first one, it's all about Grilled Sesame Chicken and Rice Noodles. And best of all, it was easy to make it gluten free!

I adapted the recipe from a very popular pin on Pinterest right now from The Pioneer Woman. I also had all of the ingredients (minus the fresh veggies) on hand which made it even easier! Hello $1.37 grocery bill!

I made two separate bowls worth of the sesame marinade -- one for the chicken, and a fresh one to add at the very end to the noodles.

I marinated the chicken for about 90mins in the fridge. I flipped and re-basted them about halfway through.

This was my first time cooking rice noodles. I LOVE noodles so it's been tough trying this whole gluten free thing, so I was excited to finally have noodles again that I could eat.

For the veggies, we chopped up zucchini, mushrooms, and yellow bell pepper and added them to a large sauté pan. I then drizzled a bit of sesame oil, gluten free soy sauce, and olive oil on top to help compliment the flavors of the marinade/dressing.

Fresh green onions always add a bright flavor to the finished dish!

To cook rice noodles, you bring a pot of water to a boil, then remove it from heat and add the noodles to soak. It was definitely a bit different for cooking and took a bit longer than it said on the box, but they eventually turned out great.

Dave grilled the chicken and basted them while they were cooking. They turned out amazing! They almost had a sticky sweet flavor from the soy sauce and sugar in the marinade. I could not stop nibbling while waiting for the rest of the meal to come together!

Once the noodles and veggies were cooked, I added them all to the same pan. I then poured the fresh marinade/dressing to the pan and tossed everything to combine. We then plated it with the sliced grilled chicken on top and fresh green onions. Talk about YUM!

Grilled Sesame Chicken and Rice Noodles

Adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Marinade/Dressing Ingredients

(make 2 marinades in separate bowls, one for the chicken and one to add to the noodles)

1/4 c. gluten free soy sauce

2 Tbs. sugar

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbs. rice vinegar

3 Tbs. toasted sesame oil

1/2 tsp. hot chili oil

(2 Tbs. olive oil to the marinade for the chicken)

2-4 chicken breasts

1 pkg rice noodles

2-4 green onions, thinly sliced

1 zucchini, chopped

1 8oz pkg mushrooms, sliced

1 yellow bell pepper, sliced

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

1 tsp. gluten free soy sauce

1 Tbs. olive oil

Whisk together one batch of the marinade, including the 2 Tbs. olive oil, until the sugar is dissolved.
Put chicken breasts in a dish or bowl, and pour marinade over them. Flip to completely coat and cover the dish with saran rap. Marinate in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours, turning half way.
Bring a pot of water to boil on the stove.
Once marinaded, grill the chicken. Baste with the marinade while cooking for extra flavor. Should take about 15-20mins depending on the thickness of your chicken.
While the chicken is cooking, start cooking the veggies. Add all of the chopped veggies to a large sauté pan. Drizzle with 1 tsp. toasted sesame oil, 1 tsp. soy sauce, and 1 Tbs. olive oil. Cook over medium high heat until done.
Once the pot of water is boiling, remove from heat and add the package of rice noodles. Soak in the hot water until soft, about 10 mins. Use a fork to help separate the noodles.
When the noodles are done, drain well and mix with the veggies.
Pour the 2nd batch of fresh dressing over the noodles and veggies, and mix to combine.
Slice the grilled chicken on a cutting board.
Serve the noodles and veggies in a deep dish and place the sliced chicken on top. Sprinkle with sliced green onions.

Enjoy!

Tahoe Wedding Reception

2014-03-14T03:00:00.000-07:00

After a brief 2 week hiatus from the blog, I'm back, and with a recap of our wedding reception! We went the non-traditional route and split our ceremony and reception into two separate events about 4 months apart. This allowed tons of friends and family to attend and also allowed us to continue the celebration!

Since we were married in Mexico, we wanted to stay with the Mexican theme to help tie the two events together. I used a ton of bright colors, had a Mexican themed menu and desserts, and even a piñata! It was a casual and fun afternoon at the beach with lots of family and friends!

Wedding Reception

July 27, 2013

Save the Dates: Designed by Jess, Printed by Yellow Dog Printing

Invitations: Designed by Jess, Printed by VistaPrint

Venue: Burnt Cedar Beach, Incline Village

Photographer: Bent Water Studio

Caterer: The Yum Truck

Guest Book: Mixbook

Koozies: Custom Ink

Lake Tahoe Map: League to Save Lake Tahoe

Flowers: Safeway

Decorations: Michaels

Dave's shirt: Tommy Bahama (similar)

Jess' dress: ModCloth

Jess' hair: Kathy at Salon Be

I designed the save the invite postcard invitations myself (I am in marketing haha) and printed them via Yellow Dog Printing (Save the Dates) and Vistaprint (Invites). They turned out great and everyone loved the designs! This was the second Save the Date that we sent out since our first plan to Ecuador was cancelled due to a volcano eruption. Apparently we were just not meant to get married in Ecuador haha.

Dave's shirt Tommy Bahama (similar) // Jess' Dress ModCloth

We had to bring the paddle boards out for some photos on the lake!

For the party, we went pretty casual with the decorations since it was a beach BBQ. All of the flowers were actually from Safeway which I pre-ordered, and had two amazing girlfriends put all of the arrangements together for the party. They turned out amazing! The colorful buckets were on sale at Michaels and we borrowed the red/white checkered table clothes from the caterer.

The beach BBQ area at the beach had a large grill and serving table with all of the picnic tables surrounding it on the grass. It was a great setup to have the buffet right in the middle and everything only steps from the lake. The "D" and "J" are wooden letters from Michaels and the piñata was a custom made push me pull you piñata put together by one of our friends.

For a thank you gift, everyone took home a custom beer koozie with our push me pull you logo! They turned out great! These were ordered from Custom Ink. We also had bubbles for all of the kids to play with at the party.

I put together a guest album with a mix of photos from our ceremony and throughout previous few years of dating. It was really easy to make and I ordered it via Mixbook. We also had an awesome vintage map of Lake Tahoe for everyone to sign the mat in the frame. This piece turned out awesome and is in our bedroom. If you're looking for a similar map, I ordered it through the League to Save Lake Tahoe.

The Food

We had a local group, The Yum Truck, cater our event. Although they have a food truck, for this party they left it at home and did a more traditional service. They cooked all of the meat on site on the large BBQ grills -- so impressive! Everything turned out amazing!

MENU

Chips, Salsa, and Guacamole

Zesty Lime Grilled Chicken with Pico de Gallo

Chipotle Grilled Tri-tip

Cliantro Lime Rice

Black Beans

Mexican Caesar Salad

Street Corn

For dessert, my mom and I took on the task of once again cooking everything. You would of thought we would have learned our lesson after the engagement party! Thanks to help from a few girlfriends and family friends, we finished making over 300 mini cupcakes and cookies! All of the serving trays were from the Dollar Store and the recipes are linked, so check them out!

DESSERT

Margarita Cookies with Tequila Icing

Gluten Free Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes

Churro Cupcakes

Margarita Cupcakes

Our favorite Tahoe family, Schue Love!

Fashion: Wedding Attire Options

2014-02-26T06:00:00.000-08:00

As I was looking through our calendar for this coming summer, I realized that we've been invited to 5 weddings! Apparently 2014 is turning out to be a popular year. The weddings are a complete range of styles/dress codes too. I figured I should start looking for some possible dresses to wear. Shopping is rather limited in Tahoe with the closest "real" mall an hour away in Reno or two hours away in Sacramento, so I usually buy online to save time. Here are some of my favorites that I've found so far.

ModCloth

This is my favorite dress so far -- it just looks so fun and fancy! I think it would fit for any of the ceremony types too!

ModCloth

I think this dress is so fun! This would be perfect for some of the dressier/evening weddings.

Nordstrom

This is a great dress for a more casual outdoor wedding. I also love the color!

Nordstrom

This is a fun dress and I like the subtle high/low hem. It is also one that I think would be perfect for either a day or nighttime wedding. Will keep you posted on what I end up finding! Open to suggestions too if you know of some cute new styles out there.

Gluten Free High Altitude Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

2014-02-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed my photo of some freshly baked chocolate chip cookies! I decided to give this whole gluten free baking a try and though that this classic cookie would be the perfect place to start. I figured if I could make it taste as good as the original, then I would be sold on gluten free eating/cooking...

And we have a winner!

These turned out so delicious that dare I say it, are even better than with real flour! :) Also, since I live in Tahoe at 6,500' feet, I followed the high-altitude baking instructions as well to throw another twist into the recipe.

The best part was though, I was finally able to use my brand new Kitchen Aid mixer! It has been sitting in a box in our kitchen unopened for the last 7 months since I haven't really had a reason to cook with it. It was so fun and easy to use! It was also WAY better than trying to do it by hand or using a hand mixer.

I picked up some Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour at Costco the other day and found some Bob's Red Mill Xanthan Gum at our local grocery store, Raley's, in their gluten free section. Luckily you only use a tiny bit of xanthan gum per recipe because the tiny bag was really expensive!

Otherwise I had all of the other ingredients in my cabinet and fridge which made it really easy to get to baking!

I followed the classic Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and their high altitude instructions that's on the back of their package of chocolate chips. I just substituted the flour for the gluten free flour and added in the xanthan gum. For the high altitude instructions, they have you increase the flour, reduce the amount of sugar and brown sugar, and add 2 tsps of water to the dry mix as well.

The rest of the recipe was straightforward and I had fun taking my time and really making sure everything was mixed nicely and trying out my new kitchen gadget.

Of course I also had to try the batter a few times! I did notice that the raw batter had a slightly different taste than "normal" cookies as the soybean flour has a distinct taste. I was a little worried that you'd be able to taste it once they were cooked as well.

Its been forever since I made homemade cookies from scratch so I had a little bit of an issue sizing the cookie dough on the sheet. By the way, has anyone else used these silicon non-stick baking pads before? If so I'd love to know if you have an easy trick for cleaning them!

I ended up baking them at 375 degrees F for between 8-10 mins depending on how large I made them. I waited until the edges starting turning golden brown but the middles were still soft and then let them set on some cooling racks.

I'm so happy to report that these were some of the best cookies I've ever baked! They were super moist inside and a tiny bit crunchy on the outside. I'd dare say they came out perfect and not a single one was burnt! I will definitely be making these again :)

Gluten Free High Altitude Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Nestlé Toll House

DRY Ingredients

2 1/2 c. Gluten Free All Purpose Flour

2 tsp. water

1/2 tsp. Xantan Gum

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp salt

WET Ingredients

1 c. (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, softened

2/3 c. granulated sugar

2/3 c. packed dark brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 12 oz. pkg Nestlé Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Combine dry ingredients into a large bowl (including the water)
Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in the mixer with the flat beater. The slower the better on the speed -- don't rush it.
Once combined, add one egg at a time, mixing thoroughly after each one.
Gradually add the dry ingredients allowing the dough to fully mix before adding more.
Once it's fully mixed, add the chocolate chips and mix to combine.
Create dough "drops" about the size of a large tablespoon on a cookie sheet lined with either parchment paper, aluminum foil, or a silicon baking mat.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown.

Note: High-altitude baking is for above 5,200' in altitude. For normal baking, visit the linked website for the original instructions.

Enjoy! :)

Weekend Recap!

2014-02-24T20:21:00.000-08:00

This weekend turned out to be a rather warm one here in the mountains with temps in the upper 50s! Certainly has not been much of a winter out here in Tahoe unfortunately, but we weren't complaining about the warm weather this weekend. We've been grilling almost every night for dinner which has been really nice (and tasty!).

Thai Shrimp and Quinoa!

We tried a new thai shrimp and quinoa recipe that turned out delicious and I'll share later this week. We also spent some time with our friends over at Schue Love enjoying the beautiful weather with a leisurely walk down to the beach and then enjoyed lunch at our favorite spot at Edgewood.

Love this view!

The weather was SO nice this weekend that we even grilled some tasty sausages on Sunday and sat out on our deck enjoying lunch and the sunshine! Bondi was a happy camper sunning herself on the deck.

I also completed my first FULL week of eating gluten free! After cooking in all week we decided to order a gluten free pizza from our favorite local spot. Unfortunately gluten free crust only comes in small or medium sizes and not a large pizza which was a bummer. They also charge an additional $3 to make it gluten free. I don't think we'll order pizza too often because of it, but the good news was that it turned out really delicious! I couldn't tell the difference other than the thinner crust so yay!

I also experimented with some gluten free baking and decided to tackle the classic Chocolate Chip Cookie. I figured that this cookie would be the true test to gluten free baking -- if I could make it taste as good as the original than I would be sold on giving up wheat flour.

Well I'm happy to report they were a big success! I'll be sharing my gluten free high altitude version tomorrow so check back! Hope everyone's week is off to a good start!

PS -- help one of my clients, Getaway Reno/Tahoe, by voting in this poll here.

Our Engagement Party

2014-02-21T12:22:00.002-08:00

Today marks 11 months of marriage for Dave and I, and looking back at our first year I can't believe how fast it went. Now with only 4 weeks until our big 1 year anniversary (and 5 years together!) I thought I'd be fun to recap our engagement, ceremony, and reception each week until our anniversary. So without further ado, we'll start with our engagement party!

ENGAGEMENT PARTY

August 4, 2012

Dress

Our engagement party was held about 4 months after we got engaged, and my parents were gracious enough to host the party at their house in Colorado! Over the years they have turned the backyard into a gorgeous setting complete with a Koi pond and small waterfall! The weather in August in Colorado is awesome with really warm evenings, so it was perfect for hosting the party in the backyard.

THE INVITATIONS

Invites: Wedding Paper Divas "Wine Bar"

For anyone that knows us, they know how much we love wine, so naturally, our engagement party needed to be wine themed! I was really excited when I found these invitations on Wedding Paper Divas and they matched the theme perfectly.

WELCOME BAGS

We had quite a few friends and family fly in to town for the party, so my mom put together some welcome bags. Inside we included some water bottles, sunscreen, and some special Colorado items like mints, chocolate, postcards, etc. They turned out really cute! The morning everyone arrived, I drove around and dropped off the bags at all of the hotels so they would be there when guests checked in. These were a fun way to help kick off the weekend.

The Welcome Bags!

THE FOOD

Main food table

My mom and I decided to put the menu and all of the food together ourselves for the party -- from scratch. I am never doing that again haha. We were baking/prepping for 3 days! Luckily we had lots of help with aunts, girlfriends, etc to make everything come together but whew! That was a lot of hard work. We wanted to keep people mingling throughout the party, so we opted for a "small bites" type menu that would be easy to eat while standing. We also hired one of our family friends to manage the food/drinks during the party so that we could actually sit back and relax.

MENU

Assorted Cheese & Crackers Platter

Swedish Meatballs

Caprese Bites

Blue Cheese Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Dates

Parmesan & Sausage Stuffed Mushroom Caps

Lamb Sliders on a Brioche Bun

Pear & Walnut Spinach Salad

Champagne Cupcakes

Dark Chocolate Chili & Whiskey Brownies

Assorted Fruit Salad

Lamb Sliders!

THE WINE

The Wine Table

Since this was a wine themed party, it was only fitting to have a full table dedicated to it! Dave and I decided that we should serve wine that had a story behind it that fit with our lives and we somehow managed to narrow it down to 3 main wines. Check back later this week for the stories that match with the wine! :)

Four Vines Naked Chardonnay

Loxton Zinfandel

Buena Vista Carneros Pinot Noir

THE DECORATIONS

Photo wall

For all of the decorations, I decided to go with the DIY route. Armed with my Pinterest inspiration board and Etsy favorites, I came up with quite a list of decorations to make! Living so close to the vineyards of Northern California made it quite easy to get TONS of corks for free. TSA probably thought I was nuts though with all of these decorations and extra corks in my carry on suitcase!

My favorite piece!

THE GUESTBOOK

Instead of doing a traditional guest book for the party, we thought it would be fun (and fitting) to have everyone decorate a coaster! I ordered a bulk set of blank coasters through Etsy for people to decorate. We also had an empty wooden wine box for people to put the completed ones in. Armed with colorful sharpies and a custom push me-pull you stamp, our guests created some awesome masterpieces. Can you tell which ones were designed by adults and which were by kids? :)

Some of the awesome coasters!

THANK YOU GIFTS

Custom Wine Glasses

I ordered custom wine glasses from The Tipsy Grape to commemorate the occasion and everyone got to take one home with them! The design was etched in so they hold up to the dishwasher. These are still our favorite wine glasses to use. :)

We had such a fun time celebrating with our friends and family that night and it was exciting to see all of the tiny touches come together for such a wonderful party! Thanks again to everyone who came and to my parents for hosting. And to one of my best friends, Jocelyn, for playing photographer and capturing all of the details.

1 year anniversary

2014-02-20T11:40:00.000-08:00

In the midst of preparing my taxes, I realized that my business turns a year old today! YAY!!!!! Thank you to everyone who's supported me over the last year -- especially Dave who gave me the big push I needed to get this business started!

I'm so excited to hit this milestone. It has definitely been work but it has been so nice being able to work from home, set my own hours, and have control over my own business. Given everything that happened last year as well it was nice to have something that was so incredible flexible and allowed me to be everywhere I needed to be while still working.

We'll see what Year 2 has in store, but I have high hopes for it! Don't forget, if you know someone that is need of some marketing whether it's social media, reputation management, press releases, promotions, etc, please send them my way! :)

If you haven't done so yet, visit my website too at zephyrcoveconsulting.com!

Tahoe Casual

2014-02-18T20:41:00.000-08:00

I've recently discovered Polyvore (I know, I'm late to the party on this one) but I really love it! You can "clip" and create all sorts of different collage boards!

I had some fun the other day putting this outfit together. I thought it was a perfect casual outfit for Tahoe. I may need to buy that sweater... I just love the duck!

What do you think of the collection? Any other items you'd pair with it?

Tahoe Casual
sweater // jeans // boots // clutch // necklace

Weekend Recap

2014-02-17T14:29:00.000-08:00

It's Monday! (You can take that with excitement or dread depending on how you feel about Mondays...)

It was a fairly low-key weekend for us as we didn't have anyone from our ski lease come up to use the house for the holiday weekend since passes were blacked out. It was so quiet! The weather is also still confused on whether its supposed to be winter or summer, with rain instead of snow at our house. So we decided to skip on skiing.

We never do very much for Valentine's Day each year since our anniversary is only a month later, but we did do a little something to celebrate. I made Dave an awesome, decorated, handmade card, and he brought home some gorgeous pink tulips -- my favorite!

He also surprised me with my all time favorite dinner that he cooks -- Seared Ahi Tuna! It's marinated in orange juice, soy sauce and cilantro and he adds a macadamia nut crust. Delicious! If you're in Tahoe and need some fresh fish, we highly recommend Overland Meat & Seafood Co. They get fresh fish delivered every Friday straight from Hawaii. They also have a wide selection of organic, grass fed and free range meats.

We also opened a bottle out of our special case of wine from Ernest Hill Wines. This winery was a favorite of mine when we lived in Australia so we joined our wine club. Before we moved back to the States, we picked up a full case of wine that we've been working our way through over the last 4 years on special occasions. Unfortunately, the 2008 'Dam' Merlot (the only merlot I've found I actually like) had already turned bad. Damn! Dave thinks it may have been seal fail that caused it, but talk about a disappointment! We decided to open the 2009 of the same name to see if that was any better. Luckily it wasn't a complete fail, but it was definitely past it's prime and needed quite a bit of time to open up -- like 24hrs... We ended up drinking a bottle from Safeway that was much better although rather ordinary. Fingers crossed the last 3 bottles we have hold up one more month till our anniversary!

We also enjoyed the beautiful weather with a walk down to the beach (yes the beach in February!). Other than that, it was quite the low-key weekend with plenty of time spent in front of the fire catching up on HBO and Netflix. So excited that House of Cards is back!

How did you spend your long holiday weekend?

Thai Peanut Chicken Curry

2014-02-16T10:04:00.001-08:00

There are few things I love more than peanut sauce. Seriously. It goes great on pretty much everything -- noodles, rice, chicken, shrimp, veggies, etc! Up until now, I'd been relying on the peanut sauce in a bottle from the store. Sure, it's easy and convenient, but it's also not the same as a truly fresh.

I was really intrigued when I came across this recipe at Closet Cooking for Thai Peanut Chicken Noodle Soup, and it had been in my list to try for a while. I shared it with Dave, and while he's not a huge fan of soups, he does love curries. So with a little tweaking, we were ready to experiment with this dish and turn it into something of our own.

We have a winner! It turned out so tasty and delicious, definitely a success. The best part was I was able to make it completely gluten free! I'm experimenting with eliminating gluten from my diet (more on that later), and this was really easy to adapt. We substituted noodles for a bed of rice, and switched out soy sauce for gluten-free soy sauce. Who knew there was wheat in normal soy sauce?! We also sped up the cooking time by buying a pre-sliced mushrooms and pre-roasted chicken at the store, shredding the breast meat, and adding it at the end.

Thai Peanut Chicken Curry

(Adapted from Closet Cooking: Thai Peanut Chicken Noodle Soup)

Ingredients:

2 tbs olive oil

1/4 c. red curry paste

1 (14oz) can light coconut milk

2 c. chicken broth

1 c. sweet potato, butternut squash, or yams, peeled and diced

1/3 c. peanut butter

1/4 c. lime juice

2 tbs gluten-free soy sauce

2 tbs brown sugar

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 pkg pre-sliced brown mushrooms

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 rotisserie chicken, breast meat shredded

2 c. brown basmati rice (prepared in rice cooker)

Garnish

1/4 c. chopped peanuts

2 green onions, sliced

2 c. bean sprouts (optional)

1/4 c. cilantro, chopped (optional)

lime wedge (optional)

1) In a large pot, heat the red curry paste with olive oil over medium high heat until fragrant, about 1-2 mins. Be careful, it will start to splatter.

2) Add the coconut milk, chicken broth, butternut squash, peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce, brown sugar and turmeric to the pot. Bring the contents to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

3) When the butternut squash is tender to be pierced by a fork (about 10-15 mins depending on the size), add the sliced mushrooms to the pot.

5) Once the squash is completely cooked, add the sliced bell pepper.

4) Continue simmering until mixture has reduced and thickened to your preference.

5) Turn the heat to low and mix in the shredded chicken meat. Once the meat is hot, the dish is ready to serve!

6) Serve over a bed of brown basmati rice and garnish with green onions and chopped peanuts.

A few notes from the first time making this -- we only used 1 c. of chicken broth and let it reduce a bit too much so we weren't left with as much liquid at the end as I would of liked. As a result, we didn't add all of the chicken meat that we shredded. I will definitely increase the amount of chicken broth next time. The dish also had a really nice creamy flavor, but not as much heat as Dave would of liked. Next time I'll experiment with adding some sliced red chiles to the pot and have some for garnish as well.

Now we get to battle out who gets the left-over serving for lunch today! :) Enjoy!

Rustic Guest Bedroom

2014-02-14T18:29:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's already the middle of February! Time has been flying by this year! It's been a busy few weeks with a trip out to Colorado for some more skiing and a conference for Dave, lots of friends visiting on the weekends for some skiing, and my marketing business picking up!

Rustic Guest Bedroom
bedframe // duvet // curtains // lamp // burlap monogram // wall art

One of the main items on my to-do list for the year is to finally get our guest bedroom finished. We already have the bed frame, wall color, and rock lamp, so we only really need the bedding and some finishing touches to pull the room together. It's just been tough to get over that last hump and put the room together.

Let me know what you think of this design scheme in the comments below. Would love some input and suggestions! Hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend!

Recipe Review: Teriyaki Salmon and No-Bake Cookie Dough Bites

2014-01-14T11:04:00.000-08:00

You may recall that one of my New Year's Resolutions was to cook one new recipe each week. Pinterest has been one of my favorite resources for new recipes over the past year, with some turning out better than others. Last night I decided to try not one, but two new items, and thought it would be fun to provide a bit of a review on how the recipes/meals turned out!

Photo Credit: Damn Delicious

First up, Teriyaki Salmon with Sriracha Cream Sauce from Damn Delicious. I've had this one pinned in my Food Board for quite some time now and finally decided last night to give it a try.

This recipe was really easy to follow, especially with the step by step photo instructions listed on the website. I also had the majority of the ingredients already in my cabinet/fridge so only had to purchase a handful of items including the sweetened condensed milk, green onions, and cornstarch -- I couldn't believe I didn't have any on hand! Oh, and of course the salmon.

I made the marinade first and it smelled amazing while it was simmering! I will definitely keep this teriyaki recipe on hand for other dishes! I love that it was so simple too -- no more bottled teriyaki sauce for me!

After marinating the salmon for close to an hour, I finally started cooking dinner. We opted to go with brown rice for a healthier option, and to also add some zucchini for a veggie to make a more complete meal. For the zucchini, I thinly sliced them and put them into a pan with some of the teriyaki marinade from the fish to give it a nice flavor and complement the meal. We had some large pieces of fish and it took exactly 20 mins at 400 degrees for them to cook, just like the recipe said, and they were cooked perfectly!

The Sriracha Cream sauce was also super easy to whip up, and added a really nice flavor pairing to the fish! Everything went together quite nicely. You can see how our version turned out -- need to work on my drizzling skills and get some white plates for better photos!

Overall, we loved this dish and will definitely keep it on hand for the future. I will also try some different versions of the teriyaki marinade as well -- maybe even thicken it up a bit more for grilling.

After dinner, we were in need of a dessert! One of the more popular food pins I've found recently are no-bake cookie dough bites. It seems every blog has a version of them and I've been waiting for one that looked super easy and didn't require a ton of ingredients. This version from Lauren Conrad's site finally sold me to give them a try. For this recipe I had to buy most of the ingredients including the cashews, oats, agave syrup, and mini chocolate chips. But, the good news is I now have these items on hand to make more batches next time!

Photo Credit: Lauren Conrad

This recipe said it would make one dozen dough bites, and from the photo it was hard to tell how large they actually would be. You only use 1 cup of dry ingredients to make them though between the cashews and oats, which made me a bit skeptical that I would get a full dozen. The recipe is ridiculously easy, although I did run into a bit of a problem when mixing the dough in my food processor. I have a larger processor, which seemed a bit too big for the small amount. I think it would work better if I doubled the recipe in the future.

Once the dough was ready, I started rolling the dough bites. I ended up making 6 of them, all about 1" in diameter, so not very large at all. I wouldn't want to make them much smaller. Dave tasted one before I told him what it was made out of it. He liked it, but wasn't quite sure of the flavor. I used raw unsalted, un-roasted cashews since it wasn't specified in the recipe. Once I told him what was in it, he suggested that in the future we try it with the salted and/or roasted to add a bit of salt to complement the sweet with the agave and maple syrup.

You can see how our version turned out -- looks almost identical to the original! This is a recipe that will take a bit more fine tuning to really get the right flavor combination, but it definitely has potential, and I love that it's a bit of a "healthier" option to cookies! These were perfect little sweet treats to enjoy after dinner while we continued our Big Love marathon. Almost done with Season 2! Definitely a successful (and tasty) evening of new recipes!

The Search for Local/Fresh Food

2014-01-12T12:20:00.000-08:00

While we absolutely love living in the mountains and being somewhat remote from a big city, there are definitely things we miss about city life. The biggest thing we miss by far is access to farmers markets year round with fresh, local food. When we lived in Oakland, our neighborhood had a weekly farmers market on Sundays. It was awesome to be able to walk down to the market and pick up lots of fresh fruits, veggies, and even locally produced honey, grass-fed organic meat, and fresh seafood. We also signed up for Farm Fresh to You and received an incredible box of produce each month. Finally, when we weren't able to find everything we needed at the market, we had Whole Foods just a few blocks away. While Whole Foods is definitely pricey, the quality and selection of organic food is pretty amazing.

One of our CSA deliveries from Farm Fresh to You

When we moved to Tahoe, we didn't really think about access to fresh food. While there are a few farmers markets in the summer, unfortunately they don't feature a great selection or even businesses that are truly local. This wouldn't be the end of the world if we had a better selection and quality available at a grocery store, but the closets Whole Foods is an hour away, and Trader Joes is 30mins away. So those are fine if I'm able to plan in advance -- which, less face it, can be a bit difficult. We also weren't able to continue our membership with Farm Fresh to You because they sadly don't deliver up to the lake.

So up until now, we've settled for our local Safeway. While I've complained about the poor quality and selection, I've continued to just suck it up and buy at Safeway because it's convenient and easy. That all changed the other night. I sent Dave out to the store for a bell pepper and some tomatoes. The red bell peppers had literally just arrived in stock (they'd been out for most of the week), so I assumed they'd be at least fairly fresh. To my dismay and disgust, I cut into this bright red bell pepper only to find mold and a grub crawling inside! This was my wake up call to really start investing time and effort into searching for local, fresh food and taking more of a proactive approach to knowing where our food is coming from.

I've found a handful of resources to check out and will keep you posted on our search!

Slow Food Lake Tahoe

While this organization is primarily based in north lake, they have an excellent resource list for local farms, farmers markets, and local producers. Will definitely be investing more time in looking through their resources.

Tahoe Food Hub

While the Tahoe Food Hub primarily is set up to help businesses such as restaurants, schools, hospitals, etc, I think they will definitely have some useful resources and links to check out.

How do you source your food?

Recent Ramblings

2014-01-09T15:48:00.002-08:00

It's been a fairly quiet week here at the Schnolls. We're anxiously awaiting some snow here in Tahoe. Unfortunately the last snow we received was the day we flew to Minneapolis which was at the very beginning of December. While the warm, 50 degree sunny weather every day has been nice, it's supposed to be the middle of winter with lots of white fluffy snow everywhere! So since we can't spend all of our free time skiing fresh snow, I've found a few other items to keep me busy this week.

I finally put together our wedding photo album from Mexico - yay! Gotta love Mixbook!

Discovered the show Scandal on Netflix and now I'm obsessed. Officially binge watching the series!

Dave and I also were turned on to the series Big Love, definitely an odd show but we're liking it!

I've also been cooking some new and old favorite recipes this week too! Everything from Sesame Noodles, Tortellini with mushrooms/spinach/sundried tomatoes, etc, Red Curry with chicken, and Grilled Chicken with Quinoa. I'll share some of these delicious recipes soon! :) And on that note, I'm still not sure what to cook for dinner tonight! Any suggestions?

A Relaxing Weekend and Homemade Gourmet Hot Pockets

2014-01-05T17:17:00.000-08:00

This weekend was a nice and relaxing way to kick off the new year. On Friday we headed out to dinner in Incline Village with Dave's mom, sister, and her boyfriend. One of our favorite restaurants, Bite is located in Incline and it's always a good time when we have an excuse to go there for dinner. It's an American tapas restaurant that is very innovative with fun twists on classic dishes. Some of my favorites include the Ahi Sliders, Moroccan Spiced Lamb Meatballs, Pan Seared Sea Scallops, and the Prawn Wontons... it's just all so tasty!

Not a bad view from Heavenly!

We also had some of our ski lease friends up this weekend, so on Saturday we had a fantastic day hanging with them. We hit the slopes at Heavenly for a few hours, and then had a delicious lunch of homemade gourmet hot pockets, jumped in the hot tub, napped, watched Rush, and cooked some amazing spicy burgers for dinner and enjoyed time with some awesome friends. Definitely a great weekend to kick off the new year.

Now on to these delicious hot pockets! These are so much better than the frozen kind you find at the store, and the best part is you can customize them to fit your taste buds! You can also make them as large or small as you want, which makes it great for satisfying your whole family. We've already made these 3 times in the past week!

Gourmet Hot Pockets (serves 2 adults)
You'll need:
- 1 package crescent rolls (each additional package makes 2 large hot pockets).
- Mesquite Turkey deli meat
- Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
- Pesto
- Sun-dried Tomatoes
- Garlic Salt
- Paprika
- Parmesan Cheese

You can change up any of the filling ingredients to fit your preferences. Dave likes to make his with hot habanero cheese, turkey, and mushrooms!

1) Preheat the oven to Bake at 375 degrees F.

2) Open up the package of crescent rolls. They come perforated to make 8 dinner rolls. You'll want to separate the sheet into quarters, consisting of 2 rolls. Using your fingers, gently smooth the perforation out and blend the dough together.

3) Add in the filling! Start with a thin layer of pesto, and make sure to leave room around all of the edges to seal it. Next, add your cheese, then turkey, and top with some sun-dried tomatoes!

4) Take another quarter that has the perforation smoothed out, and place over the top of the filling. Then starting folding the bottom dough up and over the top piece around all of the sides, using your fingers to help smooth out the dough. You want to avoid any holes and gaps so that the goodies don't leak out while baking.

5) Sprinkle a bit of paprika, garlic salt, and parmesan cheese on top.

6) Place on a non-stick cookie sheet, and bake for approx. 12 to 15mins. Keep an eye on it as it is baking. You want it to turn a nice golden brown.

7) Enjoy!

New Year's Resolutions

2014-01-02T16:47:00.001-08:00

Since it's a new year, it's time for some New Year's Resolutions! This year I've decided to try and stick to the following items:

1) Stop watching reality TV. This will be a tough one. I am a sucker for reality TV from the Real Housewives, to The Bachelor, even Dance Moms! You name it and I'll pretty much watch it. It's my guilty pleasure. But, it's about time I gave it up since it's just mindless junk.

2) Cook 1 new recipe per week. It can be easy to get in a bit of a slump and cook the same thing week after week. We cook dinner about 5-6 times per week, but usually rotate through the same handful of recipes. This resolution will also help improve my cooking skills!

Making a pumpkin pie from scratch at Thanksgiving!

3) Continue working out at least once per week. Last year I got into an excellent fitness routine and was working out a minimum of once a week, but closer to 3x per week. I even ran in my first 12k race! I want to make sure that routine continues through this year too.

12k at Burton Creek!

**Updated 1/3/14**
I forgot to add another very important resolution!

4) Spend less time on my phone. I want to spend less time sucked in to mindless browsing on my iPhone. I find myself spending way to much time each day reading, and re-reading the news and checking social networks every few minutes to see what's new. I want to make my time more purposeful. There are too many good things in life to continuously be sucked in to my phone.

What are some of your resolutions for 2014?

2013 Year in Review

2013-12-31T11:13:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! 2014 has finally arrived and we're excited to see where this year will take us. This past year was definitely a roller coaster of extreme highs and lows. Here are some of our incredible high points from the past year.

We got married! We finally tied the knot on our 4 year anniversary, March 21st, in a small ceremony with friends and family in Mexico. It was an amazing week and the day itself could not have been more perfect.

I started my own company! With a little pushing from Dave, I finally worked up the courage to quit my office job and start my own marketing consultancy. Zephyr Cove Consulting was born and has been an amazing adventure! I'm lucky to have found fantastic clients that have stood by and supported me during our lows this summer.

We had our wedding reception! Since we had such a small ceremony in Mexico, we decided to have a big beach BBQ reception a few months later here in Lake Tahoe. It was a great excuse to get all of our friends and family together for a great weekend, and to continue the wedding celebration!

I surprised Dave with a fun birthday weekend including a Moroccan cooking class and an intro flight lesson over Lake Tahoe!

We completed 4 remodel projects! We managed to complete and survive quite a few remodel projects on the house! It started with changing our 3 bedroom into a 4 bedroom with a remodel of our 2nd floor. We also did a complete makeover on our guest bath with dramatic changes! We expanded our deck and built a small patio for a new hot tub -- excellent investment. Finally, we wrapped up the year with a complete fireplace overhaul in our living room! Stay tuned for posts detailing our projects soon!

We competed in Vail Resorts' #EpicRace and skied 26 resorts across the US and Europe in 29 days! When we first heard about the race, we knew we had found the perfect honeymoon! The race took us not only from Tahoe to Utah and Colorado, but also to Minnesota, Michigan, Austria, Switzerland, and France! We skied some of the most diverse terrain around the world, made some incredible friends, and truly had a once in a lifetime experience! This trip definitely helped us end our crazy year on a high note. To read more about out our trip, click the Epic Race tab on the right hand side of the page.

After such a crazy year, we are definitely excited to see what 2014 has in store for us!

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!

#EpicRace Final Day Recap (Part 1)

2013-12-27T14:14:00.003-08:00

We've been waiting to post about the final day of the EpicRace until the official results came out, which were released earlier today. First of all, a big congrats to those Top 10 winners, especially our friends Joe, Steve, and John!

Congrats Joe, Steve, and John on your Epic Win!

I also want to emphasize what an amazing experience this entire trip was for us. It was the perfect honeymoon after a very crazy year. So even though we're not in that Top 10, we still had a blast. Vail just posted Episode #5 which is a great recap on the final day, and features us again!. Now on to how we lost...

After much discussion and time spent analyzing the map looking at lift times, runs, etc. Dave and I decided that we were going to go with a strategy that would either completely pay off or would definitely make us lose. Figured it was time to really go all out. So bright and early Friday morning, we set off for a quick walk up the mountain to our hotel's closest gondola's mid-station. There were a few new runs opening that were easily accessible from that lift and we figured if we started at the mid-station, we could be a few cars ahead of the group starting at the base. However, if one of the checkpoints wasn't on this lift, we'd be behind as we'd have to race to the bottom and jump on the correct lift.

We stood at the lift and anxiously awaited the email at 9am that detailed the scavenger hunt. When it finally hit our inbox, we realized that the clues were actual puzzles! There were several locations for the 3 towns of Merible, Les Allures, and Brides-Les-Bains, and you only had to check off one location per town. At the checkpoint there would be an EpicRace sticker and that sticker must be visible in your photos/video submitted for it to count. Here's an example of one of the puzzles. Um yeah, try solving this without a pencil and paper - it's tough!

Meribel Location A

Discover the next location by solving the clues below and using the keypad on your phone (diagram below) for clues 2, 4, 5, 7, and 8 to reveal the letter. For example, the second letter for the number 4 on the keypad corresponds to the letter H.

“He’s got the best view in the house from this high up perch”

Clues:

1) _____ The year Vail was founded (no need for keypad)

2) _____ Subtract the last number from the second number. Use the last letter from the keypad number.

3) _____ The first letter of a ski resort in Lake Tahoe on the Epic Pass (no need for keypad).

4) _____ A letter represented by the third number of the answer to #1. Use the last letter from the keypad number.

5) _____ Subtract 3 from the number of ski resorts in North America on the Epic Pass. Use the first letter from the keypad number.

6) _____ The first letter in the name of this street in Breckenridge where all the action can be found (no need for keypad).

7) _____ A letter represented by the number of ski resorts “where Epic begins.” Use the first letter from the keypad number.

8) _____ A letter represented the number of this chairlift at Beaver Creek where you can take in a view of the Gore Range. Use the second letter from the keypad number.

The answer is SNOWMAN, although at the time, I was pretty sure it spelled SAULIRE after solving the first letter, the name of a lift at the base and we had started in the wrong spot. So we raced to the bottom, skiing as fast as we could and ran on to the Gondola. Rather than double checking, we moved on to the next puzzle for the town of Les Allures. Once we got to the top of the gondola, we started scanning everywhere for the sticker. Had we actually solved the puzzle, we would of known to look for a snowman. We found it after a few valuable minutes of searching, and quickly recorded our video.

Next it was time for probably one of the fastest runs of my entire life down 4,000 vertical feet from the summit to the base. It was absolutely amazing and probably my best skiing ever! Once we were back at the bottom, it was time to hike/run over to a different gondola that would take us down to Les Allures and then to Brides-Les-Bains. We dropped our skis off at the top since we wouldn't need them for the rest of the race. As soon as we hopped into the gondola, our ski boots and jackets came off and our snow boots went on. We also uploaded our video to YouTube while we had a few minutes of down time so that it would be ready once the final picture was taken for upload. We had solved the following puzzle for Les Allures:

Les Allues Location B

Complete the clues below to find this location. Using the answers, place the letter of the corresponding number in the black (ie. Farmer, letter 2 = A)

Clues:

1. Trail named after a girl at Afton Alps

2. Unbuckle with the Angel’s at this resort

3. Sit here in an Adirondack Chair at Heavenly

4. Catch the gondola here at Keystone

5. 3pm ever day at Beaver Creek

6. A "spooky looking dude" from Kirkwood

The answer to this one, is CHURH! From our previous recon earlier in the week, we knew exactly where it was. Once the gondola arrived at the station, we dumped our backpack and ski boots and sprinted towards the church. Oh, I forgot to mention that the entire valley was completely socked in fog, so dense you could barely see 15 feet in front of you! Although it added a fun element to the race that morning, it also made it a bit tougher to find the church or see any of the other racers for that matter! We made it though, took our picture, and started the run back to the Gondola.

At the Church in Les Allures!

Back in the gondola, it was time to solve the puzzle for the final town. We had a bit more difficulty with this one. We tried one puzzle first but couldn't figure out where it was sending us, so we moved on to this one:

Brides-les-Bains Location B

Answer the clues below to reveal the location where you do the activity found within the boxed area.

Clues - Name each of the following Resort’s terrain parks:

1) Northstar

2) Vail

3) Keystone

4) Canyons

5) Breckenridge

The answer to this one, is SKATE. Although skate park came to mind, we focused instead on ice skate, and began looking for an ice skating rink in town on Google Maps. We couldn't find anything definitive so we decided to just look for it as we ran. When we arrived at the station, we once again dumped our gear and began running as fast as we could into the town looking for an ice rink. We finally found a tiny one outside of the tourist office, but there wasn't an EpicRace sticker! There were quite a few other racers at this point around the tourist office, and we heard them talking about gondola checkpoints at either end of the town. We decided to scrap the clue, and just follow some other people to the last checkpoint since we knew we'd lost at this point. We finally found it at the VERY end of town, easily half a mile away. We snapped our photo, and uploaded as fast as we could.

At the red Gondola in Brides-Les-Bains!

By the time we uploaded, we came in around 70th place, however, this number dropped significantly as people realized they hadn't completed the race correctly and were having to re-do their submissions. The most common mistake people made was not having the EpicRace sticker in the photo. So we ended up sitting closer to 50th. Not bad out of 131 people!
Although we were bummed that we hadn't done as well as we wanted, we were still stoked and excited about how much fun that final morning was and we were happy that it was actually challenging. We also knew we took a risk by choosing our starting location, and that's okay. After talking to other racers, and taking some time to breathe, we realized that the fastest way to win the race that morning was to never actually put on your skis! Starting in Brides and working your way up to the final checkpoint was the fastest way since you wouldn't lose time skiing down and could upload from the summit. We were definitely banking on more skiing being involved which is why we chose the strategy we did, but looking back, we should of known that to make it fair to all ski levels and abilities, it wouldn't really play a factor. We also found out that there was a closer checkpoint at the library in Les Allures that was literally right outside of the gondola, which would have been much faster than running all the way to the church and back. And in Brides, the checkpoint was a skate park which we ran right by looking for the ice rink.
Now that the official results have been published, Dave and I finished at #41 & 42. So although we didn't win the pass for life, we still each get a free Epic Pass for the 2014/2015 season. Plus, it was an amazing trip where we met lots of great new friends and skied some incredible places. Now the debate begins... do we try our luck again next year? :)
Stay tuned for Part 2 as I recap the Après Ski party and final few days in Europe...

Christmas and Strawberry Snowballs

2013-12-26T10:10:00.000-08:00

It's been a whirlwind couple of days as we squeeze the entire Christmas season into about 48 hours. We finally got home from Europe around 1:30am early Monday morning (I'll post final thoughts and recaps on the last day of the race soon). When we walked in the door, we were greeted with a cute little Christmas tree already decorated with lights! Such a fun surprise after an incredibly long day of traveling. After a few hours of sleep, it was time to get up and get ready the house ready for Christmas!

Even though we had just gotten back, Dave and I were hosting Christmas Eve dinner for his mom, sister, and grandma Lolly - the Christmas Tree culprits. I love hosting dinner parties, especially for holidays. Unfortunately with the limited time we had to get ready, I had to simplify things a bit, but there was still time for a few fun and easy touches.

I knew I wanted to incorporate some fruit into the meal somehow. We went a full 2 weeks without fruit and hardly any veggies while we were in Europe, so I was really craving some fresh produce. While we were at Costco I stumbled across some gorgeous strawberries and knew immediately what I wanted to make -- Strawberry Snowballs!

With the limited time I had to get everything ready, these were the perfect dessert to satisfy my fruit craving and of course, who doesn't love things dipped in chocolate!

Amazingly fresh and delicious strawberries!

You can pick these up at Michaels Craft Store

The "snow" for the snowballs!

These were a big hit with just the right touch of whimsy, and made me feel like I had at least done something a little festive since I didn't have time for a full on baking marathon.

Strawberry Snowballs

You'll need:
- 1 large box of fresh strawberries (rinsed and patted dry)
- 1 package of White Chocolate Candy Melts
- White sparking sugar sprinkles (sanding sugar also works)
- Double boiler
- Parchment paper

Directions:
1) Melt the white chocolate candy in a heatproof bowl or pan over a pot of lightly simmering water. Keep an eye on the chocolate and stir occasionally.

2) Once the chocolate is melted, set the pot aside for a min or two to allow the chocolate to cool slightly.

3) Dip one strawberry at a time in to the melted chocolate, leaving the green end out.

4) Place the chocolate covered strawberry on a sheet of parchment paper. Immediately sprinkle the sparking sugar sprinkles over the chocolate so they'll stick.

5) Allow the strawberries to cool at room temperature before sticking in the fridge to keep fresh until the party.

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday spent with friends and family! Hard to believe it's time to get ready for New Years!

Happy Holidays!

2013-12-24T09:26:00.001-08:00

Mountain #25 of #EpicRace -- Méribel

2013-12-19T11:37:00.002-08:00

Today marked mountain #25, the last mountain before the big finale tomorrow. We saved Méribel for last so that it would be an easy day, since we'd already skied most of the mountain earlier in the week. Want to save our energy for the big day tomorrow!

We met up with Olympian Kaylin Richardson and the video guy Eric from Vail for some more filming this morning as well. They tagged along with us as we went to the very back of the valley to the base of the Mont Vallon lift for our check-in. The lift takes you to the highest point in Méribel, but unfortunately it doesn't open until Saturday. We may have to ski just one extra day to check it out.

We had fun filming with Kaylin and Eric, and will be excited to see the footage. Of course the light was SUPER flat out today as a storm is rolling in so I skied rather slowly and in a snowplow most of the time haha. Of course the day we ski with an olympian, I ski like I'm 12. I also found out what vertigo feels like today. The alps hardly have any trees like the ski hills in the states, which can make skiing in flat light very difficult. It's just a complete sea of white and you have no sense of which way you're going. Unfortunately I ended up feeling quite sick, and was not a huge fan of skiing today.

After we did our check-in video, we headed down to Méribel-Mottaret, the upper village. They have a giant air bag that you can do jumps on to and there was a large group of EpicRacers meeting at noon to watch/jump. We were there for probably a good hour watching different racers, Kaylin, and Eric all attempt different jumps and to cheer them on. Afterwards, we grabbed some lunch with Joe, Steve, and John again before taking one last lift up and skiing back home. We're expecting more snow overnight, although we're not quite sure how much yet.

Tomorrow morning will be an interesting day and we've been pouring over the map trying to figure out our strategy for tomorrow. At this point it's kind of a crap shoot on where to start. Vail hasn't really given out too many clues for what the race will entail in the morning. I think we'll just have to pick our starting point and go with it, and hopefully it works out in our favor. We'll try to update everyone on how it turns out tomorrow, but Vail is throwing a big après-ski party after the race ends tomorrow so we can all celebrate completing the 26 mountains. Should be a really fun time!

For our photo/video requirements, we completed the following check-points.

1) Base of Pas Du Lac Lift

2) Top of Burgin Peak

3) Base of Mont Vallon Lift