Mal and I finally finished our Christmas shopping last night (along with the rest of the South Shore)! The Derby Street Shoppes were a madhouse! It seemed like everyone waited until the last minute to do their shopping!
Somehow, Mal and I managed to hit a few stores and buy what we needed in about 45 minutes. Booyah.
After finding gifts for everyone on our list, we found ourselves at the Rustic Kitchen once again. I celebrated our holiday shopping success with a dirty martini! 
For dinner, Mal and I shared an order of the Parmsean Truffle Fries, which, sadly, were just so-so.
The flavor of the Parmsean was excellent (nice and bold), but the truffle oil was really lacking. I could barely taste it. The fries were also kind of mushy. Boo.
However, the Butternut Squash Mezzaluna that I ordered for my entree totally made up for the sub-par fries! Holy delicious! I was so happy that I ordered it!
It was butternut squash-filled ravioli with big chunks of roasted butternut squash, baby spinach, and dried cranberries. Seriously, yum.
After dinner, we drove out to Funny Farm to meet up with some friends.
A good part of the evening focused on two of my favorite things: beer and pugs.
Pug party!
Gearing up for our 15 mile run! 😯
32 Comments
Awe, Murphy has a friend. Pst…Murp is way cuter!
Looks like a fun Christmas Eve Eve. I hope you have a very fun Christmas as well. 🙂
Merry Christmas! I hate mushy fries -i feel like they are only worth it if they are nice and crispy
That mezzaluna does sound divine. And I’m impressed! 45 minutes in a mad-house shopping environment to finish up? That’s some good work! Haha!
Hope your run goes great…Merry Christmas eve!!
Lacking truffle oil and mushy fries…ugh, not so good. Glad the rest of the meal was great, but most of all, glad you had time with your friends and fam, and pugs, and are celebrating w/ your loved ones 🙂
Your sugaraholic post yesterday inspired me to post and refine my own thoughts on things in my post today. Thank you 🙂
Man I feel like Derby Street is ALWAYS a madhouse so I can’t even imagine how it was last night! Glad you finished everything up!
If you like truffle oil and are ever in Chicago you need to try Graham Elliot. They have truffle popcorn which is to die forrrr!
The butternut squash dish looks so good! Good luck on the run, and have a very Merry Christmas!
Love Rustic! And Derby… your din looks great!
Enjoy the run, and Merry Christmas!
The ravioli looks so good!! Glad you are all done shopping, great reason to celebrate.
Have a great run.
Merry Christmas Eve!!
Way to go finishing up shopping! 45 minutes is a quick trip!
So, I noticed the growler of Berkshire Brewing Co. beer. Have you ever gone on the brewery tour? I did about 5 years ago, it was fun! (Sadly, it’s a hike…but worth it if you’re ever out in Deerfield.)
@Di: I haven’t, but I really want to!
Ha, in the picture with the other pug sitting in the lap looking down at Murphy it looks like he’s scowling at him!
PS: I just ordered my first ever eggnog latte from Starbucks. I wasn’t sure I actually liked eggnog anymore, but you influenced my decision… and I love it! Why hadn’t I tried this earlier in the season?!
The old pug face is the sweetest! My little guy has the white fur face now too. 🙂
Ugh… I have to go shopping today… yikes. I’m a little scared!
The pugs are too cute! Pug Party! 🙂
I just got home from finishing up some shopping. Nothing like the last minute rush to rev up your holiday spirit!!!
Love the pug party!
Pug party! Yay! Good luck with the 15 miler!
Merry Christmas! Good luck with your sugar-reduction…You will feel the difference 🙂
It must be the angle, because the woman holding the pug looks quite similar to you!
Beautiful pics, good luck on the run! Merry Christmas!
Last minute shopping lol…I JUST finished my Christmas shopping! With 10 hours to spare. 😉
wow that butternut squash ravioli looks AMAZING! i had a similar dish when we went out the other night with pumpkin and cinnamon spice pecans that was great, but it doesn’t look as fabulous as your meal!
Wow! You guys are power shoppers! Kudos to you!
Good luck on your run!!
15 miles today? Crazy!!! Good luck!
Butternut squash & cranberries = Festive Bliss!
Martinis sound like the perfect way to recover from hectic holiday shopping. 😉
Hope you had a good run today!
Love the Christmassy feel of cranberries in a savoury pasta meal. Yum!
aww!! cute pictures…what a exciting day of the year…we cant wait till its christmas….
Merry christmas !!!!
Love the senior pug! I had one who made it to 16 – completely deaf and blind, and another to 13 – completely incontinent and wore diapers 😉 But they ALWAYS have the “pug attitude”. Seeing an older pug will give Murphy something to look forward to 🙂