Izzie!, originally uploaded by krisalis903.

What better way to celebrate Christmas than spend it with an adorable dog like Izzie!

Ok, day 2. By now I still wasn’t adjusted to Pacific time. In fact, I was sporting a mild headache most of the day probably because I was still waking up at 5 a.m. Also, I had experimented with a different sleep number the night before and learned that 30 was my real sleep number, not 45. So, on to the session summaries…

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Proscuitto-Wrapped Figs Stuffed with Blue Cheese and Drizzled with Honey, originally uploaded by krisalis903.

I saw Tyler Florence make this on one of his shows several years ago back when I was a poor college student in Denton. For some reason, I remembered that recipe probably because it seemed so "gourmet" and sounded like such a complex mixture of flavors that it intrigued me.

So last week I was at my favorite asian market and I saw they had brown turkey figs on sale for 2.99 a container.

And seeing as how I’m near an affluent part of north Dallas, picking up proscuitto and blue cheese from my grocery store is as easy as finding ham and cheddar.

This appetizer was very easy to make–so simple and with very few ingredients. What did it taste like?

It really was very good though. The second you pop it into your mouth, you get the saltiness of the proscuitto followed by the sweetness of the fig and honey, and finally finish with the tanginess of the blue cheese.

It was a complex mixture of intriguing flavors

Tyler Florence’s Proscuitto-Roasted Figs

40 small fresh mission figs
4 ounces manchego or blue cheese
20 prosciutto slices, halved
1/3 cup honey
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Make a small slit in the side of each fig and stuff a raisin-size piece of cheese in the opening. Wrap a piece of prosciutto around each fig to enclose it. Stand the figs on a baking sheet. Bake until the prosciutto melts slightly and forms a skin around the figs, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter. Drizzle with honey and season with lots of pepper. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Scrapbook.com was having a 40% off sale on the Fiskars Threading Water border punch last week so I jumped at the chance to own this hot new scrapbook punch. At the same time, I decided to get the Fiskars Lacy Days of Summer border punch since I wanted to get that one anyway.

The punches are a little awkward to use at first, but once you do a couple test punches you start to get the hang of it (view the finished layout using the Threading Water border punch). Also if you don’t already have a self-healing cutting mat, now would be the time to get one especially if you want to get one of these border punches. And if you’re wondering how a border punch like this works, you can actually see a demo video of the punch here at Scrapbook.com.