This holiday season I seem to be getting things right. I’m not blogging very much, and sadly not reading blogs hardly at all, but I’m spending more time on Facebook with friends (at least the night owl ones-lol) and *gasp* have even managed to spend time with friends face to face. Like, I could actually reach out and touch them. I forgot there was more to friendship than “liking” their statuses and pictures. LOL! And I’m very thankful for the time spent with them…
I mentioned Margo on Monday and I pretty much mention her any time Moroccan cuisine comes up (like here), and you can check out my all-time favorite picture of her and Danielle in their glorious hippy high school days here. Anyway, Margo and Ali held a game night at their house and I brought some fun to the party in the form of toot and Twinkies.
Toot is a Persian confection made with marzipan that is fashioned to look like mulberries, or toot, with little pistachio pieces for stems. Yes, toot means mulberries! Why, what did you think it meant? ;) (You can read more about it and get the recipe here.)
My sister won the toot from the bake sale fundraiser for Suzie* and I ended up paying for it, so Azita shipped it to me. And of course I just had to have a toot party because, hello, who in the world as ever had a toot party? Come on now, it had to happen.
A friend says Dennis looks like Alton Brown with his glasses. I can see it!
*Quick Suzie update for those who’ve been asking: We raised $1669 in total which has helped her pay down her outlandish medical bills from her initial hospital stay. She is doing much better and is putting off her gallbladder surgery as long as possible since she already owes so much to the hospital, and is taking photography jobs in the meantime. Thankfully she’s able to eat real food again and not just grass and cardboard-lol. Thanks to all who helped!*
We also brought Twinkies because after Hostess went out of business and all their products were quickly bought up by panicked consumers, we were lucky enough to find some at a Walmart Marketplace recently. So we said a fond farewell to this bastion of American snacking during our game night with this final box. RIP Twinkies.
Ali told us that back home in Morocco they called mulberries “toota” and if a girl was pretty, you could say she was toota. How cute! I guess that’s the Moroccan equivalent to us calling a girl a “peach.” :)
There were board games but as we often do, we fell back on our favorite game-charades. We even had a little foodie action going on when Jimmy took his turn (fun fact: Jimmy used to be a professional chef himself!):
I’ll leave you with this important public service announcement.
Veronica's Cornucopia 
I have tried 6 times to unsubscribe from this. How do I get off this email list ? Please !
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Leigh, I understand what you’re going through. I find myself often laughing uncontrollably when I get Veronica’s emails every morning. This causes quite the disruption to those sleeping. Plus, it’s so annoying to see all those awesome baked goods. I find myself compelled to go into the kitchen and attempt to duplicate her awesome treats. Ever since I’ve been recieving her emails I’ve spent way more time in the kitchen and gained like 10 lbs. It’s simply appalling.
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Debbi, that is freaking hilarious!! Too funny!
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Thanks Debbi, lol. I think it’s actually a spam commenter b/c of the strange email address but I left it just in case it is a real person that really wants to unsubscribe. I often unsubscribe from blogs myself simply b/c I don’t have enough time for all of them and I delete the ones I haven’t made a connection with. No hard feelings for me if she doesn’t want to read.
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Hi Leigh, when you get an email update, go to the bottom where it says something like “unsubscribe” or “manage subscriptions.” If you have a wordpress account, you’ll have to probably log in and find my blog on the list of the ones you’re subscribed to and click the button beside it and select “delete” or something like that from a drop down box at the top. I’m going from memory, so not 100% sure. If you don’t have an account, it should be as simple as clicking “unsubscribe.”
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WOOT WOOT! What a fun post. Psyched to see the “toot” in action with your fun-loving gang. And a fitting farewell to Twinkies! (Tears: shedding as we speak!) Thank you for sharing! Next time I make a batch of toot I’ll time it around the Mulberry season in Kansas and come and hand deliver it. Yeah, that’s the ticket. (ps have no words for the sourpuss commenter above. Quelle buzz kill)
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Thanks Azita! I would love to see you here in Kansas! :)
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:)
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You had me close to tears and rolling. ROLLING :)
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Glad I could amuse this morning. :)
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I guessed Emeril before you said it!!! hee hee!! I love charades. It looks like you guys had fun with the toot and twinkies night. Your captions like “toot responsibly” had me cracking up girl!!
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Yes, I was being slow-lol. I wanted to ask that question before he did the “bam!” and it took my brain a second to catch up to present time. hehe! I love that photo of Danielle, she has the BEST expressions! Haha!
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sounds like fun! :)
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Yup, we had a blast. I got a lot more loud and annoying but chose a video where I was tame. lol
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there is so much I could say about toot and Twinkies…however it’s not consumable for the public (a little foodie pun thrown it though). I feel your pain about not being able to catch up on all the blog reading…thank goodness you don’t blog as often, it eases some of my guilt ;-)
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LOL Rhonda! Glad I can ease your guilt, I feel the same way! I’m sorry I haven’t visited lately, I will do so now.
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Haha…after getting to know you a little better these past couple months, I think a toot party is right up your alley! What cute little devils…I’m certain they’re yummy, too!
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Yes, unfortunately there is a 5 year old permanently residing inside me that finds these type of things utterly hilarious. lol
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Oh my gosh, I LOVE charades! Note to self: host a board games party with friends. :-)
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Yes! So much fun. :)
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Thanks for the Suzie update! So glad she’s doing better! Also, I love the word toot, even if I’ve never tried toot. :)
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Perhaps you’ve tried it as a verb? lol
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I’m so glad to see you’ve been having fun with friends in real life! So often we forget to do that, myself included!
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He definitely looks like Alton =) Love that I learned something new today and I promise to not toot and drive =)
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Oh your sister’s faces make me burst out laughing!! As do your captions. I want to come play charaders with you guys! And yes, I can so see Alton Brown in Dennis :)
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I know, she’s got the best faces! Girl we would have a blast!
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