Hello 2010!

Happy New Year! 2010 was a year that always hung heavily in my mind because it was supposedly the year I’d graduate from college, but then I was an overachiever and decided, once it was already 2009, that THAT would be my graduation year.

So instead, I rang in 2010 as an unemployed college graduate. Join the club, right?

Aaanyway last night’s destination was what is becoming me and my home friends’ new favorite hangout, The Auld Shebeen.

The decor is adorable. It is like Christmas every day… in Ireland.

It was supposed to be a big group, but… oi, my friends. And I was all ready to stay in and feel sorry for myself and then my bestie Lydia FORCED me to go out and I’m so glad she did.

Anyway, we popped in a booth and got on some festive headgear. Look how adorable Lydia and Daynee are! … and oh em gee just noticed the creeper in the background of this picture, HAH!

It being a proper pub, your choices are basically beer or whiskey, or variations thereon. I went for my usual “pub drink”, hard cider :D Apple juice disguised as a manly alcoholic beverage. Love!

Daynee’s second round was definitely the highlight of the evening… she opted for Irish coffee, which came out looking quite adorable.

And then, obvi, at midnight, there was champagne.

Followed by MAD DANCING! I love to dance. And I love my New Years tiara. I am keeping it on all day. The cat was playing with the feather on top this morning, aw!

Following a cab ride home (while waiting we saw someone get arrested! Don’t drink and drive, kids) and a surprisingly comfy sleep in Lydia’s basement, I had one of my FAVORITE NOSTALGIC CHILDHOOD TREATS:

Blueberry (!) frozen waffle (!). With a bite out already. Pac man style.

We were also mesmerized by Lydia’s awesome holiday centerpiece:

I’d post lunch (which since “breakfast” was at 11- I slept in! I never sleep in!- I ate two hours later) but I ate LITERALLY the exact same thing as yesterday because it was sofa king good.

As for dinner…

:D

I love love love our Christmas party and really as much as I love it I love the LEFTOVERS even more! Ee!

So um we have KIND OF a LOT of cheese:

So going clockwise from the upper right corner we have smoked gouda, Jarlsberg, camembert, parmesan, MORE camembert, cheddar, MORE cheddar, goat cheese, and MORE goat cheese.

I love cheese :D So leftover cheese+ leftover ham= my faaaaaavorite leftovers meal that we make EVERY YEAR after our Christmas party.

I give you:

Macaroni, Ham, and Four Cheeses

The pasta:

12 oz pasta (macaroni is a bit of a misnomer since this time around I used an exciting Trader Joe’s purchase):

 

Delish! I’m not a whole grain nazi, but if you can make the substitution and not lose any flavor and get some fiber in, why not?

Cook the pasta  a few minutes shy of the package directions (for example, ours said boil 9-11 minutes, instead I boiled for 7). Put in a bowl.

The meat:

4 oz cooked ham, cut into bite sized pieces

Put ham in the bowl with the cooked pasta.

The white sauce:

1 tsp. olive oil

1/3 cup minced onion

2 T flour

1 clove garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 tsp dry mustard

salt and pepper, to taste

Heat olive oil over medium low heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until onion is tender. Then add flour and garlic and stir around for an additional minute. Slowly add in milk, stirring the whole time to prevent lumpage. Bring to a boil, and boil two minutes. Then add mustard, salt and pepper and…

The cheese!

Measured on my awesome kitchen scale:

2 oz cheddar, grated

2 oz Jarlsberg, grated

1 oz parmesan, grated

1 oz smoked Gouda, grated

Stir in cheese until it melts, and looks freakin’ gorgeous:

 

And pour into bowl with ham and pasta:

Pour into a greased 9 by 13 baking dish and bake in a 400* oven for 15-20 minutes. SO DELISH!

Serves six-ish? Meaning my mom and I demolished a third of it :D

Meanwhile, a salad, featuring more adorable pickled eggplants, including this heart shaped one:

 

Aw.

The salad featured the eggplants, Romaine, red onion, and orange dressing.

Apparently I am still lovin’ on the Christmas colors!

Big moment… pasta came out of oven… YUM!

  

Onto mah plate, into mah belly. This is my FIRST portion:

 

Yum!

I’m honestly a little freaked out by what the next year (well, and the rest of my life in general) is going to hold for me. But I’ll always have carbs!