I planned a little birthday surprise for Aaron. I set up a dinner with his nieces Emily (who is at Tufts) and Molly (who is at Brown). I told him only that I wanted to make a reservation for dinner on his birthday and that he shouldn’t make any plans. It wasn’t until the day of, when I picked him up after work that I let him know we were having dinner with Emily and Molly, in Providence. We went to a restaurant called Chez Pascal, a french inspired bistro and had a great meal. It was a treat for both of us to have the time to talk and catch up with Molly and Emily. The evening was a great success. We hated to bring them back to their respective schools, but we’ll definitely do dinner again soon.

I thought it would be a fun night out for Mom, Amy and I to take a cooking class together. So I did a little research, found a local place and signed us up. Unfortunately, the class was a total fiasco – unorganized, horribly mismanaged and worst of all there really wasn’t any teaching or learning. The three of us tried to make the best of it though and enjoyed each other’s company and the absurdity of the situation. Mom made ginger poached pears, Amy made a rustic tomato and carmelized onion tart and I made apple crisp. Mid-class Mom was asked to help out another attendee make roasted vegetable napoleons (apparently the two chefs running the class couldn’t be bothered). At the end of the class we ate what we all had cooked – there were 11 of us in the class – the food was ok, nothing great. Needless to say, we won’t be returning. At least we had each other.

The day after Christmas Aaron and I hosted what has become our annual brunch for my entire family. We cooked up a big meal – Aaron’s famous latkes, tomatoes stuffed with sausage, egg casserole, fried donuts, fruit salad, bagels, yogurt filled strawberries, etc. “Entire family” now means 15 people and it looks like Aaron and I are going to need a bigger dinning room – but we all squeezed in had a great afternoon together. We opened presents and played with the kids. My siblings tried to get all their children to sit still, all in one spot for a photo – which was quite entertaining (see the photo above). I included a series of these photos in the album. We do love being able to host everyone at our place.

Last weekend we had the pleasure of having a visit with Molly who has just finished her sophomore year at Brown. She hopped on a bus in Providence and we met up in Boston and had a delicious Sunday brunch at Hamersley’s in the South End. It was fun to catch up and hear about all she has been up to and what she has planned for the summer. After brunch we took a walk in Boston Common. It was a short visit, but lovely to have the time together.

For Aaron’s birthday, I surprised him with a weekend trip to New York City. As an additional surprise I asked his mom to join us and meet us there. Unfortunately due to weather on Friday night, her flight was canceled, but she was able to get on an early flight Saturday morning and arrived to surprise Aaron before we went out to brunch. We did lots of good eating while in New York. On Friday night, Aaron and I returned to Artisanal, a bistro we’ve been to before that has fantastic cheeses. Then on Saturday we had brunch at Sarge’s, a Jewish deli and dinner at Mario Batali’s Babbo (Babbo was Aaron’s final surprise. Getting a reservation at this place was quite a challenge). Finally, on Sunday we had a yummy pancake brunch at a Sarabeth’s. While in New York, we did do things other than eat: we walked around the city, visited the Empire State Building and Central Park. Check out the album of photos from our weekend. It was a very successful weekend (if I do say so myself), and a seamless birthday surprise. Hmmm, what will I do for next year?

Aaron and I rang in 2011 with a dinner at Amy and Joe’s. Joe scored some lobsters (which Aaron was quite excited about) from a client and Amy made a delicious tortellini soup. We played cars and games with Justin and Brian, had a good meal and passed from 2010 to 2011 with a giant pot of chocolate fondue. Not a bad way to end a year :)

During the week between Christmas and New Year’s, James, Chrissy and Alice, who spent Christmas with Chrissy’s family came home for a visit. Aaron and I hosted a true family dinner with all 13 members present and accounted for. We served a fajita dinner and skillet pineapple over vanilla ice cream for dessert. After dinner we opened Christmas presents. It was great to have the whole family together. Above is the first photo of the next generation of cousins. Click on the image to see the other photos from the get together.

The day after Christmas, Aaron and I hosted a holiday brunch at our house. Mom, Dad, Amy, Joe, Justin, Brian, Peter and Maria joined us. As snow fell we dined on Aaron’s latkes, tomatoes stuffed with sausage, pumpkin gingerbread, bagels, muffins, fruit, egg casserole, etc. There was no shortage of food. Mom and Dad and Peter and Maria headed home (hopefully well fed) mid-afternoon, but Amy and Joe and their boys stayed on for dinner and some rock band. Justin on the drums, Aaron on guitar and Joe on the keytar! It was a fun day – check out the photos.

Aaron and I spent another great Thanksgiving holiday with his family in Washington DC. We had a great stay full of our usual traditions – making pizza dough centerpieces, seeing lots of movies (Harry Potter, The Kids are Alright and Social Network), and playing games. There was plenty of food and family. And we had a great time catching up and simply spending time together.

In early October, Aaron and I along with Amy, Joe and their boys made our annual return to the Topsfield Fair for a fun autumn night of food, rides and people watching. We made sure to hit up all our favorites – the corn dog stand, the Polish food cart and of course fried dough. We saw all sorts of farm animals and agricultural achievements from award winning green beans to this year’s biggest pumpkin which weighed in at 1,675 pounds. Click on the photo of Justin above to see the album from the fair.