Bret and Calvin Visit Utah - Christmas Edition 2022

Last week Bret and Calvin visited Utah. We were excited to spend time with them and enjoyed a weekend full of early Christmas festivities. 

On Thursday night Alison and I arranged a Harmon's cooking class for our family. We decided to learn how to make empanadas. This class was with our favorite Harmon's chef, Chef Freyka. She is such a great chef and the little girls love her because she includes them throughout the class. By the end of the class Chef Freyka had Anna Holly rolling empanada discs like a pro. 

We made three types of empanadas Peruvian Empanadas de Carne, Cuban Meat Pie (Cubano-Sandwich Style), and Ecuadorian Empanadas de Viento. The Peruvian Empanadas de Carne recipe was the most involved. For these ones, we made the dough and the filling and we learned to roll the empanadas. Once we had prepared the empanadas we baked them. 

While our first empanadas were baking we learned how to make the next two. These were a little less involved. The Cuban Meat Pie (Cubano-Sandwich Style) used a pre-made puff pastry and we assembled all of the ingredients into the empanada and baked them. The Ecuadorian Empanadas de Viento required us to make a simple dough and then fill it with cheese and deep fry it until golden brown. All three types of empanadas were delicious

It was a fun night and we were glad we could do this activity as a family. 

On Friday Alison went skiing with some of her siblings. They went up to Brighton for twilight skiing. Alison told me she prefers twilight or night skiing because it is less crowded. It has been a long time since Alison last went skiing, but she picked it right back up. She had a fantastic time. 

On Saturday we had a big family party. We made a traditional holiday video with ham and a whole spread of food. After we were done eating we gathered around the Christmas tree to open gifts. Then we shared delicious chocolate peppermint cake and Salt and Straw Snickerdoodle ice cream for dessert.

It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but we were glad we got to spend some time with Bret, Calvin, and the whole family around the holidays.