Every year, my co-worker, Linda feeds our office to our very brim. Well, this year was a bittersweet experience. Linda retired last week but before she left, she cooked us one final feast. Well her husband did but does that really matter? They went all out, turkey, homemade dressing (a deluxe style stuffing), homemade gravy and garlic mashed potatoes. I’m drooling just thinking about it…and I didn’t have turkey this past Thanksgiving so it was perfection.

The delicious lupcheong dressing and turkey.

Look at that! He sliced up the turkey perfectly and separated the white and dark meat. I like the dark meat, how about you folks?

Dressing made from scratch? Yes, please.

Perfect mashed potatoes. I like my mashed potatoes smooth but these had great texture.

Gravy from the drippings, flavorful and not too salty at all.

Speaking of homemade, my other co-worker made cookies for everyone. They tasted great, sorry I didn’t get a picture of the cookies! It was two shortbread cookies drizzled with caramel. It was wrapped in parchment paper and tied up with twine, how rustic! It’s little things like this that warm the heart…

Here’s something I experimented as a Christmas Eve treat for my office. Chichi Dango Mochi with a chichi dango heart. I made a two layered mochi (green and white for christmas) and topped it with a red heart (or as red as I could get it). Chichi Dango definitely takes a bit of effort in making and cutting (oh the cutting!) but the effort was totally worth it. I’m so glad I got it to work!

Extra hearts? Thank god for Katakuriko. Aren’t these hearts the cutest? I can’t wait to experiment more with this mochi recipe, I bet it would sell well in a craft fair too! Ahhh…if anyone wants the recipe, let me know and I’ll try to post it up!