Mom's Weekend, The Best Weekend

Our sorority's Mom's Weekend was a huge success, to say the least.  Each year our sorority has either mom's weekend or dad's weekend, and it switches off every year.  This year was designated to the moms, and I was fortunate enough to be on the committee that planned the entire weekend.  My mom came in on Thursday night so that we had even more time to spend together.  As soon as she got here, she took a few of my friends and myself to Olive & June for an amazingly delicious dinner.  We started off with seafood fritto misto and zucchini involtini (my favorite part of the meal- pictured below).  For our main course my mom and I split the whole wheat ravioli with goat cheese and roasted pears; seared golden tilefish with artichokes and citrus; and sides of roasted baby beets and baked eggplant.  We were going to order dessert at the restaurant, but decided to make a Tiff's Treats run instead.  I highly, highly recommend Olive & June, and I know Caramelized does as well :)

Friday was crazy hectic, as I had to rush around to get things ready for our sorority's Friday night event.  Luckily my mom didn't mind helping me all day, but thank goodness she was there because I needed all the help I could get!  Our "Dinner, Drinks & Dessert at the Driskill" event went off without a hitch, and everyone seemed to have a great time.  We hired a great photographer, a beautiful pianist, and worked with the amazing Driskill staff.  To decorate for the "Texas Chic" theme (for Go Texan Day) we set out Texas "confetti," cowboy boots, and even had a Texas necklace giveaway.  And thanks to my incredible mother, every girl and her mother also left with a personalized truffle from Sessy's Sweets.

We got creative with our pledge class event this year and decided to do a cooking demonstration with our moms at the Silver Whisk Cooking School.  After a long trek out to Lakeway, we sat down for a fun and interactive lunch.  We learned how to make deconstructed salads, chicken Parmesan with angel hair pasta, and tiramisu.  We all watched the staff "shake," jammed out to Beyonce and Britney Spears, and took turns volunteering with the chef.  My mom and I enjoyed the class and the delicious food, and look forward to taking more cooking classes together soon (I have to learn somehow)!

Because the weather was absolutely PERFECT outside, we spent the rest of the day walking around and shopping at the Domain.  I (un)fortunately had a good shopping day, and got a few goodies from J. Crew, Anthro, and Free People.  By the time we left the Domain it was 5 o'clock somewhere, so mom and I were ready for a little happy hour.  We stopped by Whole Foods on the way home to pick up an assortment of olives, cheeses, and other various appetizers.  We came home, polished off the appetizers and a bottle of our favorite Sonoma Cutrer, and made our way to Kenichi for a phenomenal sushi dinner.  I don't have any pictures from this meal- sorry guys.  As if I wasn't full enough, we then went to Halcyon with Cara and her mom where we ate a cookie with ice cream and drank "adult" caramel hot chocolate...yum.

Sunday morning we sat and had coffee before getting our nails done together.  Once again, it was gorgeous outside, so we went to have lunch on South Congress.  Then, sadly, mom had to pack up and drive home. 

I hope everyone else had as much fun with their moms as I had with mine!  Can't wait for her to come back and visit me again soon, because it is always a good weekend when mommy is in town.

Valentine's Weekend

Valentine's Weekend was so amazing and full of great memories.  As I said in my last post, the festivities started Wednesday night with a little dessert party in our apartment.  As promised, the chocolate chip blondie cookie recipe is posted below.  The Valentine's festivities continued on Thursday when my boyfriend, Ron, came to Austin so that we could our 5th Valentine's Day together.  He surprised me with two dozen red roses, a teddy bear, a balloon, a picture frame and a lot of chocolate!  We started with a little happy hour at home, and then made our way to a restaurant called Chez Zee.  This restaurant was the definition of romantic and cheesy and right up my ally.  The walls were covered in twinkle lights and heart lights, a band performed love songs in the middle of the restaurant, every table had a vase of fresh roses, and there was even a candy apple red grand piano at the entrance.  We at spinach and artichoke dip, shrimp bisque, rainbow trout and finished it off with a slice of mocha fudge cake.

The next event of the weekend was our sorority formal on Saturday night.  We enjoyed sushi and drinks at Maiko Sushi with 19 other couples, and then went to The North Door for the event.  The venue and vendors were all perfect.  There was good music, good drinks and even a candy bar where we could make our own candy goodie bag to take with us.  We all danced the night away and had a great time!

Chocolate Chip Blondie Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 bag Valentine's Day M&Ms

Directions:

1. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl.  Add this mix to the brown sugar mix. Combine the brown sugar, vanilla, eggs and butter in a large bowl.  Stir until blended.
2. Add chocolate chips! Stir.
3. Spread the mixture into a greased 9x13 baking pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes (I did 20 minutes and they were still very soft).
5. Add M&Ms to the top of the blondie cookies about 5 minutes before you pull them out of the oven.
6. For best results, refrigerate for 15-20 minutes to harden.

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving this year was by far one of the best Thanksgivings our family has ever had.  With over 30 people and enough food to feed a small army, we were all thankful to spend the holiday with our friends and family.  The only thing missing this year was my little brother, Allen.  Allen stayed in New York City to celebrate with his friends, so we set up a laptop and Skyped with him at dinner (the next best thing to actually having him here).

For those of you who know my mother, you know that there is not a holiday she does NOT decorate the house for.  There are decorations on every flat surface and hanging from every ledge.  She really knows how to entertain, and I can only hope that one day I can entertain as well as she does.

The best part was when my mom and I came downstairs wearing the same pants.  This was completely unexpected and unplanned... obviously.  Luckily we styled our outfit in different ways, and most people didn't notice that we were matching.

At our Thanksgiving dinner we devoured a poblano and cream cheese tart, smoked turkey, baked turkey, stuffing, salad, green bean casserole (made by yours truly), and vegetables.  After happy hour, appetizers and dinner I was stuffed, but of course I made room for some dessert.  For dessert we had a strawberry cake with cream cheese icing, chocolate mousse cake, pecan pie and ice cream.  YUM.

Hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday as well!