A few months ago I bought my first french coffee press. A lime green Bodum.


Let me tell you... the coffee you brew in a french press is the richest boldest best tasting coffee ever! I go to Starbucks to get a bag of their Pike Place Roast, which they grind for free for a french press. (or any other coffee machine you own.)


I've used drip machines over the years, but the french press brewing method comes closest to tasting like you got your cup of coffee straight from a Starbucks Barista! It's very fresh, rich and bold tasting coffee. I love it! Plus it's an easy/affordable way to get my gourmet coffee fix at home!

And it's so easy to do. You heat some water, while the water is heating you put your scoops of coffee grinds into your french press. Then you pour the hot water directly into the pot with the grinds and you let it sit for about 5 minutes. Then you press down on the plunger of the french press and tada! Fresh hot coffee! The metal screen/strainer keeps any grinds from getting into your cup when you pour.

How do you brew your coffee?

(I got my french press at Target for $19.99 but Amazon.com is also selling the same model for the same price!)



(I do use Amazon Associates, but not because I've made any money- because I haven't! lol! But I like that I can show a picture/link with a product when I'm blogging. Plus I do recommend Amazon.com for their low prices. That or Ebay!)

I hope everyone had a nice holiday! I had off from work on Friday so Thursday night I baked butter thumbprint cookies using this recipe. I made some with strawberry preserves and others with milk & dark chocolate Hershey kisses. The strawberry preserve ones turned out amazing! I want to make more sometime with strawberry and raspberry preserves.

My Anniversary & Christmas gifts arrived from my husband. He sent me a Hello Kitty wallet. I wanted one from a cheap stall in the Philippines but he got me a nice one from the Sanrio store over there. A little stuffed mouse and a jade bangle, but unfortunately my pretty bangle doesn't fit. :(


Decorated the rat cages this year for Christmas with some Dollar Store decorations. (All of the pictures are here.)

(The ratties got yogurt raisins and yogies for Christmas!)

Christmas eve I stopped up to visit my cousin Jessica & drop of Christmas gifts. Christmas Day went with the family to the Chinese Buffet. This was the first year we did that and I think we're going to every year now. We had a light dinner exchanged gifts and watched movies on Netflix. I signed up for the free 30 day trial but I think I'm going to keep it because it's only $7.99 a month and I don't really watch TV at all so it's nice to be able to watch movies on my laptop. Plus we can stream through the PS3 to our TV.

My parents got the cat and dog Santa outfits for Christmas. My Dad's dog was excited about it but our cat Tansy was pissed!

Tansy

Homer

Ivy (She's a big squish hehe!)

I got lot's of stuffed animals for Christmas, haha. I've always wanted sock monkey's! And I got a Panda Pillow Pet and a "Pillow Pet". Hehe! I also got a Kangaroo Keeper for my purse and some supersized Dr. Pepper lip balms. Ooooh and a huge bag of Starbucks ground Christmas Blend Coffee! (The best!)


Don't forget to enter my Holiday Giveaway! Deadline is December 31st, 2010!

May not have work tomorrow. A snow blizzard started this afternoon and it's supposed to snow into Monday. We may be getting 8-12 inches of snow. I really hope they close work because so far the trains are delayed by almost 40 minutes and some bus service has been suspended. The mayor of Philadelphia declared a snow emergency that will last until 1pm Monday. Let's hope this is the only major snow storm we get!

My cousin Jessica & I went to see The Nutcracker at the Philadelphia Academy of Music today!

We woke up quite early and hit Starbuck's before our train downtown. Finally tried the Gingerbread Latte. (Still love the Peppermint Mocha though!) Our train stopped at Suburban Station.

We had an idea of how to get to the Academy and there was a "map" on our printable tickets so we set off down 16th street. After we walked about 2 blocks we thought it might be better to stop in a nearby hotel and make sure we were going the right way. The security guard pointed us in the direction we wanted to go. After a little while we were still a bit confused we weren't running into the street we needed. We stopped in the The Art Institute of Philadelphia to ask at the front desk. The lady there gave us much better directions! We were only about 3 blocks away from Broad street! It was freezing out today too! Only around 36F! (2.22C).

The ballet was great! It was 2 hours long with an intermission. Everything was beautiful- photography wasn't allowed during the show but I got some pictures of the theater during intermission. The chandelier was gorgeous! It would actually raise up into the ceiling during the show and lower during intermission.

Philadelphia Academy of Music:






After the show we headed back to Suburban Station to catch the 1:35pm train because my other cousin Chrissy, Jessica's sister was visiting from Georgia with her husband and we wanted to meet them for an early dinner.

On the way back- City Hall in the distance:


Oooh we saw Tiffany & Co. on Walnut Street, but we didn't have time to go in and browse. I sooo want something from Tiffany's someday from their $100 & under section online, hehe.



We also saw Love Park across from Suburban Station but didn't get to visit this time around.


After we got back on the train we headed up to see my cousin & her husband. We went out to Chili's for dinner. Had a really long but nice day! And fun getting to play tourist in my own city again, lol!

Our work campus finally made the big downtown move. We are near 30th Street Station now. (Patty- all your NYC tourist stories- I have one! We were walking along & some guy was telling his wife or female friend, "Yeah they got rid of 30th Street Station years ago!" What the?! Obviously he hasn't been to Philadelphia in years because I've been through there every day this week for work!)

I am not liking commuting so far but I don't really have a choice. Driving home in Center City Philadelphia traffic would probably take longer than the hour I'm on the train. My biggest peeve is the train being late to or from work. Or switching tracks at the last minute. I guess eventually I'll get used to it. It's just I've been spoiled. I've been driving since I was 16, I've never really taken public transportation. My commute to work for the past 8 years was only a 10-15min drive! So having to commute an hour each way every day is something that's going to take awhile to get used to.

In other news- my back is so much better! The 1 week of bed rest and steroid's made everything heal up quickly. I'm still a bit stiff in the mornings and at night but I'm pretty back to my old self. And all the walking with commuting now has definitely healed & strengthened my back. I'm just happy to not be in pain anymore. I'm stubborn about going to doctors and I usually wait much longer than I should before I will go.

And because it's my 1 year anniversary tomorrow and Christmas is next week! I wanted to do a Holiday Giveaway for all my blog readers!

I will be giving away 2 Bath & Body Works products. Twisted Peppermint Handibac lotion and Winter Candy Apple Pocketbac Gel, 1 sample sized package of Starbuck's ground Christmas Blend coffee (I am in LOVE with this coffee people, it is so bold & rich!) and also a cute Christmasy pen!


This giveaway is open internationally & also to family & friends. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment telling me:

What is your favorite Christmas food, candy or drink?

For extra entries:

-Follow my blog on Google Friend Connect. (You can find the 'Followers' link under 'Contents' on the right hand sidebar. If you follow already you automatically get an extra entry if you answer the mandatory question). 

-Follow me on Twitter: @tunaynamahal82 (Include your user name in the comments. If you follow me already you automatically get an extra entry if you answer the mandatory question).

-Tweet about this giveaway (Include your link in the comments).

Giveaway Ends: December 31st, 2010.12AM EST.

And yes, I am pushing the Twitter thing. Why? Because if it helped me win a giveaway it might help you too. ;-)

I was so excited when one of our Rat Chatter Forum members posted about Starbuck's selling a stuffed mouse for Christmas! They also have a mouse mug! They are so cute and not too expensive either! I ordered both for $2.99 shipping!

Huxley Writer Mouse: ($7.95)












Writer Mouse Mug: ($6.95)













In other news, I got called back to work and started on Monday. That has to be the shortest furlough ever! (Only 6 weeks- usually we are furloughed for at least 3 months.) The good news is, our move to the new down town campus has been pushed back to December 13th! So no one hour commutes on the train for awhile! It's so eerily empty at our current campus because so many departments are already at the new building down town.

In bad news... I pulled my lower back cleaning the rat cages last Monday. I went to lift the boys cage to clean the pan underneath and forgot to bend my knees when I sat the cage down on the floor. I pulled it good too. It was extremely painful last week. This week it is slowly getting better but as the day progresses it starts to hurt more. I've been taking a memory foam travel pillow to work to put behind my back because our office chairs are awful. I also got a memory foam topper for $30 from Big Lot's which this morning when I woke up I wasn't in too much pain at all. I also slept more soundly, I noticed I wasn't tossing and turning like usual. I guess the memory foam relieves pressure.

F.B. & I have been married for 11 months today. ♥