SII Christmas (Continued)

I found my camera cord! Hoorah! As promised, here are some photos from our fabulous SII Christmas party.

Annie, Kyle, and Tahoma

Pretty presents under the tree

Jenny, our very own SII reindeer

Julia, Fr. Sean, and Brenna

Barbara serves up the best hot cider!

MMMMMMeatballs.

Caroler cupcakes. Aren't they cute?

Me and Irene.

Deirdre explains the rules for white elephant.

Sarah has a happy banana.

Candace has a great idea!

Don't mess with Scott. He has a chalice (and a tie).

An SII Christmas

First of all, please allow me to apologize for the lack of pictures in this post. I took dozens of pictures on Tuesday but my camera cord has inexplicably disappeared, so I can't upload my pictures until I find it. With that said, I'll try to be as descriptive as I can without boring you to tears.
  
Now then, let's play a game called Two Truths and a Lie. Ready? Here we go.

a) We had our SII Christmas party this week.
b) We had tons of food, ugly sweaters, and a white elephant gift exchange.
c) It's finals week so people don't want to party.

So, which two are true? If you brilliantly answered a and b, congratulations! You have just won a spiritual pat on the back from me. There. It just happened. Did you miss it?

In all seriousness, we did have a seriously good time. Barbara as always did a fantastic job coordinating everything, especially the lovely eats. The event included a table cloth, party plates, hot cider and all. People were kind enough to contribute their own goodies: cookies, chips, crackers, cheese, caroler cupcakes, celery (basically any food you can think of that begins with the letter "c").

I also fulfilled a lifelong dream of participating in an official Ugly Sweater Party. I've always wanted to go to a party wearing something ugly (on purpose). Finally the pointing, stares, and laughter directed at me was something I actually welcomed-- rather than the usual sweat-inducing, face-flushing embarrassment of an unintentional fashion faux pas. Just kidding guys.... Haha.... No really, it's ok to laugh. Some people decorated their own sweaters, some dressed up as reindeer, Kyle even had this awesome one with vintage golfers depicted on it. Classy! I donned (get it?) a particularly atrocious acrylic yarn item that belonged to my mom in the 80s. In fact, it was her maternity sweater she wore the Christmas she was pregnant with me. Thus in a sense, this was the second time I was in that sweater. Hahaha!!! Well. Enough of that.

We also had a wonderful white elephant gift exchange, facilitated by the vocally gifted Deirdre. Gifts ranged from school spirited socks and a light bulb to toy guns and a framed photo of our patron saint. Everyone gets an A+ for creativity. I remember participating one year in a white elephant gift exchange and someone had wrapped a half-used bottle of hot sauce from the cafeteria. Boo. This year, everyone put thought and effort into it. Yay!

Thank you to everyone who participated and helped coordinate this year's SII Christmas. From our crazy family to yours (crazy or not): Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa and in a few weeks, Happy New Year!

SII Thanksgiving

We had a lovely SII Thanksgiving dinner in The Handlery Room. Not to brag, but it's pretty fancy. It was a great evening of friends, food, and fun.

Bob Ross Night

Watercolor, brushes, and a silky smooth voice that makes you want to pour your sensitive soul out onto a blank canvas. It can only mean one thing: It's Bob Ross Night at SII!

Our very own Deirdre Long took charge of our long-awaited fine arts night. Armed with our color palettes, multi-sized brushes and a Youtube video of the painting guru himself, we set out to paint a dreamy mountain lake landscape. I think the results speak for themselves.

Photo by Deirdre Long

Murder Most Foul

Tuesday night was our second annual Murder Mystery Night: Hawaiian Vacation Edition hosted by the masters of suspense, our very own Eddie Danger Harrison and Julia "Don't Even Try It" Pender. A whole group of students gathered for a special evening of fun, sleuthing, and... murder! SII-ers ran around Kalmanovitz Hall to look for clues that would help solve the murder. Did they succeed? Of course.

The victim.

The plotter.

The suspects.

Murdered.

The accusations.

The revealing.

Galleons and Globalization

Last week had the good fortune of getting a private tour of the Thatcher Gallery's latest exhibit Galleons and Globalization, led by the very knowledgeable and always entertaining Fr. Tom Lucas, SJ. He is an art and architecture professor as well as the director of the Thatcher Gallery. Click here for a video of Fr. Lucas presenting on Galleons and Globalization.

Fr. Lucas spent several years carefully organizing the current exhibit, which explores the relationship of the Spanish Pacific Empire and the resulting intercultural exchange between California, Mexico and the Pacific Orient. Through the 125 plus thoughtfully chosen items in the gallery, we saw how sea commerce in the 16th through 19th centuries became the vehicle for developing a rich cultural exchange.

Fr. Tom Lucas explaining how important silk was to the Spanish traders.

Beautiful tabernacles borrowed from California missions.

Items included Ming Dynasty china recovered from sunken ships, original tabernacles recovered from the old California missions, and priceless ivory depictions of the life of Christ. The Thatcher Gallery borrowed these rare artifacts from several international museums, organizations, and private collections. The result is breathtaking!

Definitely stop by the Thatcher Gallery in Gleeson Library for a chance to see the collection for yourself. The exhibit runs through December 17.

SII Iron Chef

Last week we had the greatest cook-off the city has ever seen! Sharp blades flashed as chefs quickly diced a crate of fresh tomatoes, and the smell of melting cheese and chopped onions wafted through the air as a dozen anxious hearts beat in time with the countdown timer: 3-2-1! It was our first ever SII Iron Chef Microwave Challenge!

The rules:
Each participant can bring one ingredient to the cook-off and everyone will form two teams. Each team can utilize the ingredients the team members brought, as well as a list of secret ingredients provided by SII. The teams have 30 minutes to create a fabulous dish with only the ingredients they have and using only the microwave. Ready? Go!

The outcome:
People flocked to the Phelan kitchen to participate in the Iron Chef Challenge and everyone eventually collaborated to create one super dish! Manny created a superb chicken cordon bleu for the main dish, Dylan used his mad chopping skills to dice fresh tomatoes for salsa, Sarah and RJ threw together 3 different cheeses for the quesadillas, and the result was....

The SII Iron Chef's Choice: West Meets Southwest Special!

A delicious helping of chicken cordon bleu 

with a side of three-cheese quesadillas and house-made salsa

The oh-so-special secret ingredients!

Manny came prepared with his specialty: chicken cordon bleu!

Don't mess with Dylan and his measuring spoon.

Freshly baked cookies by Chris (who was only using the oven because he's a guest judge).

The cheese masters at work.

Yours truly with the healing powers of  Kikoman.

The executive chef team at SII.

Excellent photo angle of a master chef at work.

Tomatoes are good for you.

So are quesadillas!

Chris with his crazy face and plate of our West Meets Southwest Special.