The holidays are ending

I always get a little sad near the end of break. On the first day, it feels like there's so much time to do all the things I want to do. Sometime halfway through, I get this sinking feeling when I realize it'll be ending soon. I'm not having a ball back home in Alabama but...I'm not looking forward to studying yet, and I have to pep talk myself out of this mild depression so I can make the most of the remaining break. I have so much to look forward to back in Columbus, right?

The main project was to help cook for our holiday party, and I'm glad that I managed to get a good deal of cooking and baking in. I don't have specific New Years resolutions, but being healthy is always a priority so maybe I won't be tempted to make so many sweets in the 2014 since I got a lot of it out of system.

Apps and side dishes, mostly featuring things with names I don't know. I helped with the prep for many of these, but the only thing I was in charge of here was the salad.

Mains: mom's salmon and my secret ribs whose recipe I cannot disclose. They were crazy popular.

Dessert spread: macarons by me, fancy looking cake from Costco, cactus sugar cookies (but they look like a plate of hands) from my sister who is a little strange... and I made a tiramisu which is not pictured here.

My proudest recent accomplishment was improving my macaron technique. When I first started making them, I could only get about half of them to look somewhat decent, and in this batch only two of them failed! They're still a pain to make though...I'd refrain from buying them much myself but they're still nice to get as presents ;)

And lastly my tiramisu, garnished with sliced strawberries so that it looks more bougie than it already is.

In addition to everything I've made for the party, I also made scones/ brownies/ cupcakes in the past couple of weeks, and I'm planning on making a quiche or two before I leave so...ya. It might've been a tad overboard.

And finally, my favorite homemade food porn from 2013...

 This tart

 This lamb dish

 This chocolate pb cake

And this fruit cake because I think it could be art :) Happy new year!