We wrapped up the decade with a very festive holiday season!
This was the first year our little guy fully understood the idea of Santa. So we had a ball making our favorite Mozies to share with jolly old St. Nick. The excitement of discovering he had eaten the cookies and left a special present was unforgettable!
Then since Sara, Mike, AND Naomi were in town for the holidays, we realized it was a perfect opportunity to celebrate both New Year's Eve and our little Capricorn's birthday with everyone together. Over the years, Mel has realized that hosting parties can be stressful because we wind up spending the whole time worrying about cooking the food, serving the food, and cleaning up the food and next thing we know the party is over. So she tried to think of a way to minimize all that food-related activity and actually enjoy everyone's company. Idea: 2020 Taco Buffet! The various components could all be laid out before the party started, kept warm in slow cookers and hot trays for the duration of the gathering, and cleaned up after everyone left. Woo!
First step: finding the right slow cooker recipes for the meats. Some Googling led us to two that looked promising:
The Shredded Mexican Chicken was so easy and affordable, and yielded a tons of super tasty chicken!
The Beef Barbacoa recipe involved a bit more prep work, and the results were tasty but a looooooooooot spicier than expected. We love spice, and DJ's dad raved about the heat level. But definitely worth noting that the chipotles and chiles pack a serious flavor punch. Whew!
As far as the logistics, the plan worked out just as we'd hoped. The food stayed hot all day, folks could nibble as they pleased, and we didn't have to touch a thing until everyone headed home. Will definitely try this again next time we have a large gathering!
And for dessert, we enjoyed a New Year's champagne toast, Ibee's rum cake, and a custom birthday cake from Bovella's.
The birthday boy requested a strawberry cake and his favorite color is red, so we went all out and got the reddest cake possible: red velvet, strawberry mousse, and fresh strawberries. We weren't sure how it would actually taste, but it turns out the combination was delightful and surprisingly not too sweet!
HAPPY 2020 TO ALL!
Cheers to a new decade of blogging and food-happy-dancing!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment