Peppermint Milkshake

I wouldn’t say that I celebrate Christmas as much as I like having a day off and getting a few presents, but either way I definitely had a good Christmas. On Christmas eve, Kramer and I had a couple of drinks with some of his coworkers before heading over to Allswell for a few drinks and some appetizers. Their ricotta and toast is absolutely delicious and I would be happy with just a big plate of it for dinner. After that, we thought we’d go to Suzume for some salmon ramen, but of course, they were closed, so we just headed home. We grabbed some beers and ordered a pizza with garlic knots, which hit the spot just the same. We watched a few movies and got to bed early, which was good because we needed our rest for the movie marathon we had on Christmas day. We met up with some friends around noon to see Wolf of Wall Street to start off the day. I absolutely loved it. It reminded me of Goodfellas in the best way possible, and Leo never fails to disappoint. I’m sure that you’ve all heard that it’s three hours long, but it honestly didn’t feel that long and I can’t wait to see it again. After the movie, we headed over to Clem’s for a few hot toddies before grabbing some Chinese food at M Shanghai. We had soup dumplings, lo mein, Szechuan dumplings, beef and broccoli, sautéed pork belly and bok choy with black mushrooms, accompanied by tea and plenty of Tsingtao. After we were good and stuffed, we saw The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I liked it – it wasn’t anything mind blowing or life changing, but it was a really cute movie and a great way to end the day.

Just hanging out on Christmas with some cool people.This past weekend, I had been feeling a bit under the weather, so we took it easy. We stayed in on Friday night, ordered Thai food and watched Pacific Rim, which was absolutely horrible. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. I thought that maybe Charlie Hunnam and Idris Elba would be enough to at least keep me interested, but I was totally bored throughout the entire thing. We watched 10 Years afterward in an attempt to forget about the first movie, and at least that was somewhat entertaining and had a great cast. On Saturday, we had dinner at Cantina Royal for a friend’s birthday, then headed over to Gutter for some drinks, but left before the bowling started because I am still getting over a cough and shouting over loud music started to kill my voice really fast. On Sunday, I did a ton of baking while Kramer and I watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail and random episodes of TV. I made a ton of cookies, a pumpkin pie, and banana bread. It was raining outside and it was just nice to stay in and feel cozy.

A few weeks ago, The Savory asked me to do another “recipe hack” post, similar to the Ramen Hacks I did previously, although this one was a little less crazy than finding ways to use the flavoring packets from everyone’s favorite college dinner. I know that I always have a ton of candy canes left over after the holidays have passed, so it was fun to come up with a few different ways to use them. On top of peppermint brownies and simply using a candy cane to stir your coffee (which is delicious, by the way), I made these peppermint milkshakes. Kramer and I sucked these down faster than is probably healthy, but they were so good. Rich vanilla ice cream mixed with crushed candy canes and topped with homemade whipped cream? Don’t mind if I do. I’m not usually crazy about peppermint, but when it’s mixed with ice cream I find it to be irresistible. I actually ended up making another batch last night when I was putting this post together – they were that good. I figured that it’s still technically the holidays and I am going to indulge in any tasty seasonal treats before it’s the new year and I am forced to get my daily routine back on track. So, until then, make yourself a milkshake and enjoy!

Ricotta and toast at Allswell, two Christmas day movies and Kramer in his happy place.

Check out those sweet, sweet candy canes.

Place them in your blender.

Along with the ice cream and milk.

Top with crushed candy canes and enjoy!