Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful New Year’s eve and are enjoying the first day of 2012.

Isaac and I rang in the new year with lots of friends and family last night. Everyone hung out at our place and walked to Carytown when it was time for the ball to rise. They might drop the ball in NYC, but we raise it up here in RVA.

I made a few things for our friends to munch on while waiting for midnight to arrive. The spread included a round of baked brie with homemade peach chutney, Sabra hummus with veggies, pita chips and my new favorite cookie, vegan/gluten free gingersnaps. I’ll be posting the recipe for the snaps soon.

We had friends from far and wide come to celebrate including Kath and Matt who were on their way home from Jamaica.

It was super fun to have people over since we were still in celebratory mode from this weekend’s engagement. Champagne was a must!

After seeing the ball rise, people came back to our place and continued the party until the wee hours of the morning. The bad news – I didn’t get to sleep until 4 AM and I’m tired today. The good news – no hangover!  I switched from sparkling wine to water at midnight and felt wonderful this morning. Looks like my eat clean challenge for the month of January, which includes no alcohol, is already paying off.

Once everyone woke up a group of us headed to Pescados for brunch. It was my first time visiting Pescados and I must say that I will definitely be going back. The food was amazing and the service was prompt and friendly. Everything I tasted was fresh and deliciously seasoned.

To start, Laurel and I spilt a salad of mixed greens, mango, goat cheese, onion, pine nuts and avocado served with a mango dressing.

For my entree, I went with the daily special of mahi-mahi with black eyed peas, stewed tomatoes, and collard greens. I loved that they had this dish on the menu today because it featured several foods that are said to bring good luck for the New Year. I’m going to be planning a wedding this year, which means I need all the luck I can get.

Beyond the luck factor, this dish was delicious. The fish was tender and lightly seasoned and it paired wonderfully with the beans, tomatoes and greens.

I was pretty full from brunch and wasn’t planning to get dessert (I am doing an Eat Clean challenge after all), BUT our friend ordered the avocado tart and I couldn’t resist trying a few bites. So worth it! The crust was made with dried coconut and the avocado filling tasted like a creamy key lime pie flavor. It was heavenly and I savored each bite!

Here’s the whole gang!

If you’re local to Richmond or ever come to visit – definitely check out Pescados. I promise you won’t regret it.

A couple things to note before I go -

• Don’t forget to check out the Eat Clean Diet Cookbook 2 Giveaway. You have until tomorrow night to enter.
• I’ll be sharing more details about my 28 day Eat Clean Challenge soon!
• I can’t stop smiling or looking at my left hand. It almost seems surreal to be starting 2012 as an engaged woman.

Celebrating the New Year is always exciting but this year is even more special because I’ll be doing so with my fiancé…

Isaac proposed to me yesterday!

I said YES!

We’ve been together for seven years and although that may seem like a long time, it’s felt really short. We been through a lot together – college graduations, trips, moves, new jobs, moving in with one another and getting a puppy. But in the end, I’m not sure any of that is as exciting as getting engaged and knowing for certain I am going to be spending the rest of my life with my best friend.

He did a great job picking out the perfect ring. I honestly can’t stop smiling and I couldn’t wait any longer to share the news.

More details to come soon. For now, Happy New Year to you! Have fun celebrating.

I hope each of you had an amazing Christmas Day with your family and friends.

Isaac and I hung around Richmond for Christmas eve and checked out a few of the houses on the Tacky Light Tour.

I’ve always loved houses decorated for Christmas, even if they are a little tacky.

Olive and I got a picture with the owner of the house above. He stands outside all night greeting people that come by to the see the house – such a jolly fella!

Once we were home we made Black Pepper tempeh (sooo good!!) from Heidi Swanson’s new book, Super Natural Every Day: Well-loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen, watched Home Alone 2 and opened one present each (my childhood tradition).

We woke up a little later than planned on Christmas morning, opened a few presents and then traveled to Fredericksburg to spend time with my family. Lots of hugs, gifts, an ample amount of food and plenty of laughs – it was a lovely day!

Here’s one of my favorite presents from Isaac.

The funny part is that I opened the “e” mug first and was so confused. I looked at Isaac and said, “Well, what does the ‘e’ stand for?” He just shrugged and I continued with, “I really like the pattern but I would have liked a ‘b’ more. Maybe I can exchange it.” I went to open the next one and it was the “b” – I was excited but still didn’t get what was going on. I opened the last box and as soon as I saw the ‘f’ I knew what he did. So cute!!

Sticking with the EBF theme, I brought Millet Muffins for Christmas brunch – another winning recipe from Super Natural Every Day. I’m already in love with this cookbook!

After traveling to and from Frederickbsurg I was wiped out. <– I actually think I was in sugar coma from all the sweets I ate. Isaac convinced me to take Olive for a walk since we hadn’t had much physical exercise throughout the day. We walked for about 20 minutes while sipping hot cocoa and enjoying the decorations around our neighborhood. It was a great way to end a fabulous Christmas day.

Post walk I was ready to snuggle up next to the fire for a bit and head to bed. I have been slacking on my sleep and ended up sleeping 10.5 glorious hours last night. Despite all the sleep, I was still tired today. Around 3:00 I cuddled up on the couch and slept for over 2 hours with my workout gear on. I’m still determined to make it to the gym tonight so I better go do that! There’s no better time than now to get back on track, right?

Oh and don’t forget, there’s still time to enter the Tosca Reno Eat Clean Cookbook 2 giveaway.

Happy Christmas eve!

As my gift to you I’m giving away two copies of the Eat Clean Diet Cookbook 2 by Tosca Reno! I love Tosca and have reviewed many of her books, including this one. Check out my review here.

You may remember seeing two of my favorite recipes from this cookbook before…

The Cherry Protein Pop’ems, a great snack for before or after a hard workout.

And more recently featured, the Vanishing Party Nuts. <– Definitely the most addicting roasted nuts I’ve ever had!

Of course there are many more tasty (and clean) recipes in the cookbook. To enter to win simply leave a comment telling me if you’ve read any of Tosca’s Eat Clean books or made any of her recipes before. Maybe you’re a big Tosca fan like me or perhaps this is your first time hearing about the Eat Clean Diet. Either way, let me know in the comments below!
For any extra entry you can do one of the following:

• Become a fan of Eating Bird Food on Facebook and leave a comment on this post to let me know you’ve done so.
• Tweet “All I want for Christmas is to win @toscareno’s Eat Clean Diet Cookbook 2 from @eatingbirdfood http://wp.me/pDCSr-2KI” and leave a comment on this post to let me know you’ve done so.
• Share this giveaway via Facebook (just click the little Facebook button at the bottom of this post) and tag @EatingBirdFood, @toscareno and @eatcleandiet. Leave a comment on this post to let me know you’ve done so.

Okay, it’s bed time for me – the sooner I fall asleep the sooner santa will come.

Not all of these photos were taken on my iphone, but most were. Here’s what went down…

The sun shined.

The boys fished.

The girls crafted.

Or read.

We celebrated Hanukkah

and exchanged gifts.

I received some lovely things from Isaac’s family.

So excited about all of them!!

We celebrated more.

Then we came home…

To make the fact we had to leave the beach a bit brighter, upon arrival home I was greeted with a LOVE drop (AKA a box of delicious granola) from the lovely crew over at Love Grown Foods. Merry Christmas to me.

As you can see, I already dug into Cocoa Goodness. <-- It's my favorite flavor!

Can you believe tomorrow is Christmas eve?!? Ready or not here it comes.