Holiday Highlights

Happy Sunday all!  We have thoroughly been enjoying our “Christmas Vacation” and all the fun we have had celebrating with family and friends.  The festivities kicked off on Friday with a delicious work luncheon along with celebrating my Dad’s 70th birthday and continue through Christmas Day.  I wanted to pop in and share a few of my favorite Holiday moments with you all so far.

I think things should settle down and get back to normal with my dailies, new recipes, tracking, working out etc. this next week.  I am incredibly excited for the Healthy Holiday Christmas Dinner I am preparing for everyone Christmas day….then again, I also cannot wait to make this Day After Christmas Navy Bean and Ham Soup.

Despite the crazy rainy weather we have been having, each day we have had amazing sunrises to wake up to every morning.

Friday kicked off the holiday celebrations with a work lunch at Norman Rose Tavern in downtown Napa. 

I am so completely in love with this restaurant ~ it’s a quaint pub that serves up both delicious comfort food and daily specials that are made with local, fresh ingredients. I like that their menu also has a mix of healthy items too.

We started with the Franks’ Frito Burgers topped with Pepper Jack Cheese and Avocado Relish.  How awesome would it be to just have this plate show up as your meal?! I love sliders lol….

The homemade was soft and melted in your mouth with the crunch of “fritos” in the burger.  These burgers were fantastic….They were juicy, crunchy, cheesy and that avocado relish was an excellent finishing touch.

I am totally re-creating this soup of the day ~ Sweet Potato Peanut Soup topped with crunchy peanuts and sweet ham.  It had so many layers of herbs and spices ~ the peanuts added a nice crunchy while the ham added the perfect saltiness to go with the sweet potatoes.

I chose the Tavern Chopped Chicken Salad for my entrée to continue the salty, crunchy, sweet deliciousness of the day.  I could order this salad ever single time I go there.

Mixed greens topped with apples, grapes, dried berries, walnuts, smoky cheddar and grilled chicken.  I had the Chipotle Yogurt Dressing served up on the side.

I didn’t snap everyone’s food, but, I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the Grilled Pork Chop that was topped with apple, fig jam and served over smoky navy beans and swiss chard.  It really was as good as it looks.

Part two of Friday’s celebrations included my Dad’s 70th Birthday Party.  It was held at Visconti’s, a local, family owned Italian restaurant we have gone to for over 20 years.

I pretty much always order the same thing because I love it ~ the last time I had this dish was celebrating my Mom’s birthday a few years back (back when my pictures were awful.lol)

I started with a simply side salad with the creamy Italian House dressing on the side.

And managed to NOT eat the entire basket of garlic bread.  I am so glad we had a bunch of people to share it with or I could’ve easily done that.

This dish is called Linguine con Gamberi & Asparagus ~ it’s amazing because they slow roast garlic in olive oil, then, add sweet shrimp, crush asparagus and a little parsley. 

My niece ended up reading all the cards to him (our card joked with him by thanking him for planting the old Red Wood Trees that have been in the forest for years )

The Husband thought it would be funny to wrap his present by putting a board in the box and writing a message on it.

It says “Happy Birthday Dad!” Your presents still in the car ~ Love Jay & Danica

It was awesome because he always “guesses” whatever is in the box….except this time.  His real present was one of those little rolly things that measures distances.

Last night we celebrated Christmas with our friends ~ some of our most favorite people in the world at Amici’s East Coast Pizzeria.

I totally geeked out when I saw our wine (Geyser Peak) being served on their menu.  I have look at every single wine list when we are out to see if there are any of our Accolade Wines listed lol.

We shared the Artichoke Panzanella Salad to start. What’s not to love about a salad that comes with big, hunking croutons, crispy veggies and marinated artichoke hearts.

Then, because we could not decide, we ordered two types of pizzas to share.  I cannot decide which is my favorite but I am pretty sure we were all like mmmm, this is so good with every slice.

The Milano aka what I call the BACON Pizza because it tastes just like that.

Mozzarella, Provolone, Roasted Yukon Gold Potatoes, Bacon, Slow Roasted Garlic, Red and Green Onions, and Crushed Red Pepper Flakes plus Tomato Sauce

The slow roasted garlic and yukon potatoes might be my favorite new pizza additions….this could totally be a breakfast pizza too.

The Philly ~ Spicy Italian Sausage, Peppers and Caramelized Onions.

Topped with crushed red pepper flakes for extra heat!  I really like how thin their crust is, yet, it totally has that great doughy texture too.

We had planned walking around Candy Cane Lane & Lollipop Circle to walk off our dinner, but, with the rain, we decided to drive.  I love that the entire neighborhood gets into the spirit of decorating and the two streets span about a mile or two.

We finished the night with a trip to Fenton’s since the guys said they earned dessert looking at all those Christmas lights lol.

Can you believe this is the “petite” sundae with only one scoop of ice cream.  I only managed to eat about half of this but could’ve totally licked that homemade caramel off the plate.

I have almost “survived” all the holiday celebrations….one more to go today at my Mom’s (she said she is putting healthy stuff out for us!).  I have enjoyed every single bite of it all, but, I am definitely ready to get back in my groove.

Tomorrow I am finishing up The Husband’s Christmas present shopping (I know I am bad LOL), then, wrapping and making Mushroom & Barley Risotto with Shrimp for dinner.

Catch up with you all later!