Brown Sugar Shortbread with Lemon Curd and Fig Jam

I've been reading a lot of food blogs lately, especially after my Epic Roasthouse dinner with all the Fabulous Foodies of FoodBuzz, which I still need to post about.  I found a blog of a foodie in Japan which has incredible recipes.  One of my coworkers was leaving to take a new job up in Chico and so I gave him a handful of recipes and told him to pick one for his “parting treat”.  He picked this one.

The cookies and the jam are both super easy to make.  In fact, I couldn’t believe just how easy it was!  For the wine in both the shortbread and the jam I used Geyser Peak Sauvignon Blanc.  They turned out quite nicely, so nicely in fact, that I made a batch Monday night and a batch Tuesday night. 

Here is the jam reducing on the stovetop.  It was such a gorgeous color.  I didn’t cut the figs into small enough pieces so I had to use my Pampered Chef Chopper in it to get it saucier.  It worked perfectly.  I could have used my immersion blender as well, but it was in the pantry and the chopper was right next to me.

Finished Fig Jam

   

Max, keeping an eye on the cookies while they bake.

A new week

I've been a running fool this past week. Tuesday we had a great first Buddy Run leaving from the LLC Office. We only did 2.75 but I actually ran closer to 4 miles between running back and forth between the different groups. It was fun, except the part where I tripped. My husband says I have problems because I always get banged up, at least once a week! What can I say...I'm talented that way I guess. I've always had at least one scrape on my body between nicking my hands on cupboards or tripping and skinning my knees. I think I must have weak skin... :)

Thursday we had another fun track night. I just wish they would get those lights turned on - it would be nice to be able to see everyone at track! We ran 2 x 400, 1 x 800 and repeated. Nice, quick, and easy. I love track. It's so fast!

Saturday we had our OYO run and I joined up with Chris and Stan at Rivermark. All our runners worked their tails off and had a good 4 mile run. I managed to go 5 miles, doing the running back and forth between the groups.

On Sunday I went down to Sports Basement to join in on their run. I only did 4 miles. It was raining and very windy and the trail was closed at the 2 mile mark. I met a nice woman named Amy who is starting to get back into running with her boyfriend. We chatted the whole way and the time flew by!

Tonight I took Max for a run. He's been cooped up for a while because of the stormy weather. He's finally tuckered out, thank goodness! I'm tuckered out too but need to get everything ready for tomorrow - gotta leave for the train at 5:30 am to prep for those auditors!

Happy Holidays!

Right now, the weather outside is frightful.
But our Max is so delightful.
And since I have no place to go, let him pose, let him pose, let him pose!

I know, I'm terrible. But I have managed to take a photo of most of our tree and Max. I had a hard time getting the tree topper in there without cropping his head. I've been wanting to get a new tree topper for about 10 years now but I can't find one that I absolutely love. Why don't they make nice ones anymore?

Aaron brought home our tree a couple of weeks ago. He loves the big bushy trees that look to me like they've been shaped. I prefer the noble firs but he thinks they are too skinny and spare looking. So, he almost always gets his way. I don't complain because this is his favorite holiday and I love seeing him sit in front of the tree staring at the lights.

Isn't he the most handsome fellow? If only he wasn't such a mischievous little monkey. Here's the latest Maximus story...

Aaron's best friend Lance came to visit this last week. He lives in Missoula, where my best friends live. Since one of my friends was leaving this Saturday to go on a cruise during Christmas I asked Lance if he would drop her present off for me. I put it in his suitcase and considered it done. Last night as I was wrapping presents and getting my packages ready to mail I saw it. Tricia's present, sitting on the pile of already wrapped presents.

Me: "What the hell? Shit! God-dammit!"

My mother: "What's wrong? What happened?"

Me: "Shit!"

My mother: "Why are you cussing so much?"

Me, realizing I'm talking to my MOTHER on the phone while cursing: "Oh, nothing, just a present I thought got sent already..."

I thought Lance put it back on the pile of presents but Tina told me that she found it next to the stairs, under the vacuum. After closer inspection, I realized that there were two mini-puncture marks in the present. No slobber, thank goodness. It turns out that while Lance was packing, Max was trying to help. He grabbed the present out of the suitcase while Lance wasn't looking and brought it back downstairs. Lance flew out that afternoon. Such a good little monkey. Always getting into trouble! That's why it is a good thing he is so dang cute!

The life of a dog

It's the holiday season. Here in California, the leaves are falling from the trees and it's turned brisk. That doesn't bother Max at all, he loves to go for walks! One Sunday we took a walk downtown to go watch the San Jose Holiday Parade. It was a gorgeous day and we had a lot of fun. Max was trying to look and smell everything at once.

Oh look, a pole!

Oh look, another pole!

Mmmm...ivy, I love this stuff!

Max is pretty good walking on a leash. He gets a little excited and wants to sprint right from the start but he slows down once he realizes that he gets to smell and pee on everything. Ah, the life of a dog!

Wonderful Wednesday!

Aaron had the day off today so I decided to take today off as well. Now that it's the Holiday Season, he'll be working every weekend until January AND he only gets one day off a week. Poor fellow. Since we won't be seeing a lot of each other we thought it would be fun to have a day off together. We plan on doing it in December too, although we might be shopping that day!We slept in until 8:30! and then got up and had some coffee and changed into some running gear. We packed up the monkey and drove down to Almaden Quicksilver Park. We were going to do a short walk/hike/jog. Max has been limping on one of his paws and so we only did 2 1/2 miles. He did start limping towards the end of the run, so it's a good thing we keep it that way! Max had a great time and did a fabulous job on the trail. Of course, there were no other dogs or animals to distract him, but still...baby steps. We did let him off leash and he stayed close to us and didn't wander too far off the trail.

Isn't he such a handsome fellow?