31-days - No alcohol?!?

Yep, it's true! I have made it 31 days - the entire month of January without so much as a glass of wine. OK, so I've tasted a couple of beers (truly, just a couple of tastes) but I've had nothing to actually drink. I'm in training for Las Vegas! Six more days, then the SuperBowl (and face it, the SuperBowl without some kind of drink borders on treason) and we're off!

I have been baking lately, though. Tried my hand at a caramel pot de creme (not as difficult as I anticipated), chocolate chip espresso shortbread (I prefer just your plain shortbread) and then baked the last of the giant Mocha Jack chocolate chip cookies I had in the freezer. This week I think I need to restock the frozen chocolate chip cookie supply in the freezer.

Next Sunday, we'll host a small SuperBowl party - all meat chili with chips, guac, dip and chex mix - that ought to be enough to keep the few of us happy. Then it's off to Las Vegas, Disneyland and the beach. Mr. Hinkelgruber figured out that I'll be gone for half of the month of February. I guess if there's a month to be gone, the only the month of January would be better!

Well, almost one year!

I thought it might be fun to just wait until it had been a full year to begin posting again, then realized I would be out of town on February 15, 2016 - so, this will have to be  close enough to a year being away.

What all has happened? Oh, a lot - and since this isn't a holiday "Get you all caught up on our lives" blog, let's just say 2015 was primarily good (we probably had some bumps along the way, but since I can't remember them, they must have been minor or I'm just getting too old to remember) and Mr. Hinkelgruber and I are happy and healthy.

I'll try to do better with posting the menus - but just like posting to the blog - no guarantees there, either. But, that said, Happy New Year, and Happy Eating!