Brrrrrr...

Most of my fellow Utahns will laugh at this, and I am sure some of you will be convinced that I am insane, but it's 55 degrees and I am freezing to death! No, there have been no blizzards, and only some minor rain, but when you're from a dry zone like the high desert (yes, Utah is desert country) the humidity of an LA winter literally goes straight to your bones! It's ridiculous! I must have missed the memo that moving to California would turn me into a total wuss when it comes to the cold. Gone are the days of shoveling my driveway while wearing flip flops (like an idiot), now I bundle up and rock Uggs when it dips below 65! On the bright side, I don't have to defrost my car, shovel snow, worry about getting hit by a snow plow and I don't need to worry about ruining my favorite shoes in muck and road salt... I shouldn't complain about the cold here, because it could be so much worse! I hope you're all warm and safe in blizzard country right now!

Boooooooooo...

I. Hate. The. Packers.

Jack's Bad Day

First Ryan looked like this...



Then Ryan looked like this...



Then Jack looked like this...



And Joe looked like this...



The End!

Party Hard with Bon Bons

Suzy and I decided to make the Oreo cookie bon bons last night... It was seriously hard not to eat them all as we made them they were so good!



We skipped putting the white chocolate morsels on top and just filled the holes with the excess chocolate (which didn't make them as pretty as they normally are, but they were still delicious!)... We didn't waste any of the chocolate we used for dipping, we used it to make almond clusters and other hand dipped treats :) So yummy! Now for those of you wondering why the post is called "Party Hard with Bon Bons", let me enlighten you...



Joe likes to wear his Luchadore mask while enjoying his bon bons with wine, This picture was too amazing not to share!

Mmm... Bon Bons!

So every Christmas I used to make Oreo Cookie Bon Bons...Tragically they were replaced with Buckeyes this year. But I am making up for not making them last Christmas by making them for Valentine's day this year! And to sweeten things up just a little more I am sharing the recipe with you! (FYI, I plan on sharing more recipes- Part of my 2011 resolution!)

Oreo Cookie Bon Bons a la Keira!

Ingredients:
1 Package of Oreo Cookies
1 Package of Cream Cheese
1-2 Bags of your choice of chocolate (I love using milk chocolate and white chocolate)
1 Package of white chocolate morsels or milk chocolate morsels (Optional)

Directions:
Process the Oreo cookies in your food processor until finely ground (You may need to split the cookies up and do this in a few batches). Remove the mixture from the food processor and place in a bowl with cream cheese and combine together by hand. Yes, this will get messy, but it's totally worth it, I promise you!

After the cream cheese and cookie mixture is completely combined, roll the mixture into little balls and place into freezer until completely frozen (I usually keep them in there overnight). When working your balls (wow that sounds dirty), make sure you're not making them too big- Bite sized balls (no pun intended) work best as these tasty treats tend to be very rich!

After the bon bons have been frozen through melt the chocolate of your choice in a double boiler (Sometimes I add a square of paraffin wax to the chocolate as it's melting. The wax helps the bon bons set nicely. You can also use a table spoon or two of vegetable shortening as well. Or you can skip using either, they'll still be just as yummy!)

Once your chocolate is done melting you can start dipping your balls (yeah, I am all kinds of dirty today)! Now I used to use tooth picks for this, but recently I experimented with wooden skewers and found out they worked even better and were much less of a mess!

Set up a cookie sheet covered with wax paper close to where you will be dipping the bon bons.

Place the skewer into one of the bon bons and dip into the chocolate until completely covered. Tap the skewer on the side of the double boiler until the are no more "gobs" of chocolate on the bon bon. (This usually takes around 10 taps.)

Place your bon bon on the wax sheet and use another skewer or toothpick to help get the bon bon off your skewer. There will be a hole in the top of your bon bon where the skewer came out (duh). This is where the optional white or milk chocolate morsels come into play. You can either use one of the morsels to cover up the hole, or you can wait until the bon bons are cooled and drizzle a chocolate heart over the hole. If you dipped your bon bons into the white chocolate you would use milk chocolate to drizzle the heart, or white chocolate if you used milk chocolate (you get the picture). If you are pressed for time and just want to get them done quickly the morsels work great and look just as cute!

Repeat this process until your cookie sheet is full of bon bons, then refrigerate until they have set- Then you can transfer them to the container of your choice (you will still have to keep them refrigerated until you serve them though).

FYI- If some of your un-dipped bon bons soften while you are in the dipping process, you may need to put them back in the freezer to harden them up and make them easier to dip, otherwise they will slip off the skewer when you're dipping them.

Some other fun variations on this recipe: You can use the bon bon mixture to wrap around fresh strawberries or raspberries for fruit bon bons, or you can be adventurous and inject a fruit filling into them before you freeze them!

Enjoy!

Bad?

Yes, I am bad... At updating my blog on a regular basis! I know, I sound like a broken record! One of my New Year's resolutions was to be better about updating my blog... And in the tradition of breaking resolutions I have been awful at it so far!

So happy be-lated New Year everyone! Ryan and me spent New Year's in Disneyland... With 22,000 other people! It was totally insane, but I am glad we did it, it was definitely a memory I will cherish... My first New Year's living in California!




I also got some super awesome new HOT PINK Minnie Mouse ears covered in sequins!



This is a terrible picture, I was looking at a "Hidden Mickey" on the ceiling when Ryan snapped the picture lol So the downside of going to Disneyland with 22,000 people is all the kids and their germs :( Ryan and me got wicked cases of strep and the flu... it was a pretty brutal way to spend the first few weeks of our New Years. But we recovered in time for a pretty epic boys night at our house...



I am not quite sure what is going on here, but they thought it was pretty funny... Ok more than funny, they had me in stitches until about 3 am!

So on to some more recent stuff... We went to Griffith's park last weekend to enjoy the sunny weather and check out the observatory... It was absolutely gorgeous, I just wish it was clear enough to get a good view of the city...




Way too much smog (ewwww...) to really see it, but we did get a pretty awesome view of the Hollywood sign, and this really creepy bust of James dean!



We also went into the observatory to check out the massive telescope... Very cool!





After we explored around the observatory for a while we headed over to the other side of the park where the abandoned zoo was.



That's Johnny taking a picture of me while I was crawling around one of the old lion cages! Ryan got in on the antics as well by climbing into an old primate cage...



This place was pretty awesome, we plan on going back and exploring more now that we know there's an old abandoned zoo in the middle of the park... So expect more pictures of those antics soon! So I guess that's it for now, I will try to keep my resolution err... I guess I should say resurrect my resolution and post more soon!