Work has been utterly crazy I feel like I am just getting back on track from the insane holidays. I worked way too much that I felt like I completely missed Christmas. Which in a way I guess that I did. I was so upset by all of this that yesterday, yes the 18th of January I finally took down my Christmas tree. My sweet husband knew that I didn't want to take it down because I missed practically everything so he patiently waited until I said it was time. I don't know what our neighbors thought when they looked out the window this morning and saw our tree on the curb, ready for pick up.

This weekend was the first full weekend I've had off since before Thanksgiving, and I took full advantage of it. (My restaurant is closed Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday-not the normal weekend.) I got a much needed massage yesterday and decided that I need to treat myself to that every month and my husband said the same thing-wahoo! Since it was a rainy day (Super rare here in Vegas so I fully take advantage of it) we ordered in dinner and watched a couple of movies that we got for Christmas, like I said just getting on track and catching up with everything.

Have you seen Julie & Julia? My parents gave it to me knowing that I would love it and I did. I laughed and cried-a lot. There is a scene in the movie where her younger sister writes her a letter to tell her that she is going to have a baby, she is thrilled and devastated at the same time-she was never able to have children. That scene touched me so deeply; I loved the movie and recommend it to any foodie out there. Meryl Streep is amazing in it!

Here is a quilt top I finished in October. I'm a sucker for civil war replica fabrics, so I used several in this quilt.

Trying it out on my bedDessert photos. Here is our Hazelnut dessert, sorry these aren't the professional ones. Ok, starting on the left side of the plate. Gold dust that has been brushed on. Then the triangle, on the bottom: chopped hazelnuts, then a frangelico (a hazelnut liqueur) caramel, a hazelnut shortbread cookie, and then caramel mousse piped on top. Next we have chopped up candied hazelnuts as a base, two brandy snap tuiles and a scoop of cajeta ice cream (caramel made with goats milk)

This is our smore dessert. A chocolate sauce line is drawn across the plate. Then the half moon shape is made of a rich chocolate fudgie base (this is the "sinful" that many of you have tried) and then a toasted marshmallow-yes we make marshmallow from scratch. I get that question a lot, I don't know why? The 2 round spheres are a graham tuile. Graham cracker crust is then a base for a scoop of Godiva ice cream.

This is our new apple dessert. The base is made up of chopped, sauteed apples. Then brioche that was soaked in calvados (apple brandy) custard and then baked-its like a delicious french toast. Topped with a scoop of maple ice cream and then a sugar garnish.