A Little Holiday Review

I hope everyone had an amazing holiday season - it's hard to believe the 2013 holiday season is over! From getting ready for Thanksgiving, to hosting Christmas and celebrating New Year's Eve (which is actually Nick and my anniversary), it's been a bit of a whirlwind! With only four weeks between the major holidays, we only had a day of relaxing before it was time to get the house ready for Christmas. In no time we had the stage set for the next holiday.

Christmas Tree Decorated

It's always fun decorating the tree because we have collected so many ornaments from our travels that we get to re-live those trips as we decorate. I have to say, Arthur had some trouble with the tree and seemed to enjoy the taste of our sentimental ornaments a bit too much and gobbled them up! While some of them cannot be replaced, the one from our honeymoon is being replaced by the resort after we sent a desperate email!  Phew!

Peninsula Grill's SUPER Coconut Cake - Valentine Day Special

This Valentine's Day we decided to stay at home and have a delicious dinner in.  In the past we have gone out to some great restaurants (Grill 23 and Mamma Maria) but I always worry whether we will see the restaurant's best food on these high-traffic evenings.  Nick was taking care of dinner (lucky me!) so I decided I would make something special for dessert.

Extreme Coconut Cake (excuse the mess)

Dinner was a surprise until he started cooking - remembering how delicious I thought Garlic Butter Roasted Mushrooms looked, he whipped it for a perfect dinner.

Lemon Lavender Bundt Cake

Once again, after returning home from Dubai and with new spices in hand, I was on the lookout for recipes in which to use them.  I had used the hot paprika already, but had yet to use the lavender.  This had to change, and the Lavender Lemon Bundt Cake was the perfect inspiration!

Bundt Cake

It's been ages since I have made a cake - it's not something I tend to bake because I don't like to have it tempting me in my house (or my office!).  Something about this Lavender-Lemon bundt cake however, called to me.