Tomorrow night...

Lots of Lasts

The past couple weeks have been reminding me of all the fun... and interesting times I've had over the few years. Many of the things I do all of the time are or have already come to an end.
Last day of being a student at SDSU, last day working at HRLJ, last night in my Avalon apartment, last PB taco tuesday.... for now.

And so it began...

Merry Parisi Christmas

This year has been a very different kind of Christmas for my family. Growing up we've always had all of the lights, decorations, and a living room full of colorful boxes to open in the morning. This year we wanted to try something a little different--less presents and stress and more relaxing and enjoying each others company. It was wonderful. The four of us spend very little time together during the year and the time we spent together was much needed; Mom and I in the kitchen drinking wine and making Christmas dinner... Brian and Dad in the living room debating the origin of Earth... or the evolution of monkeys or something like that. I'm pretty sure I heard something about people on National Geographic clubbing baby seals. It was really very festive.

BriBri

Papa Parisi

Mama Parisi

Lucy

Scooter

<3 Christmas baking

Oreo Cheesecake

Last night I ventured into the world of cheesecake--Oreo cheesecake. It was more of a mess than I was hoping it would be. I was making it for Dana Tasco's birthday today but the end product wasn't pretty enough to be a birthday cake. Instead of using a springform pan, I used a muffin pan with cupcake liners to make mini cheesecakes. The next time I try a making a cheesecake, it will be pretty... hopefully.

Mine, unfortunately didn't look like these...

• 1 (18 ounce) package Oreo cookies, divided
• 4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup sour cream
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips (melted)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 24 cupcake tins with cupcake wrappers. 
2. Place half of an Oreo cookie (cream side up) at the bottom of each wrapper.
3. Beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. 
4. Add sour cream; mix well.
5. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until blended after each addition.
6. Chop remaining cookies and gently stir 1 1/2 cups of chopped cookies into cream cheese batter.
7. Spoon cream cheese mixture into cupcake tins. 
8. Bake at 350 F for 15-20 min.
9. Place in refrigerator for at least one hour until firm.
10. Drizzle with melted chocolate and crushed Oreos.