Belated Christmas dinner photos

Nothing like doing a Christmas-related post a month late. Just thought I'd recap this past year's crazy meal:

APPETIZERS & DRINKS: baked brie w/apples and caramelized onions, wensleydale cheese, Maine pumpkin bread, honey corn bread muffins, pasta salad, rice krispy treats, sparkling apple cider, sangria

VEGGIES: Willy's stir-fried cabbage special, green & yellow beans w/mushrooms, corn niblets, Caesar salad

SIDES: homemade stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn chowder

ENTREES: roast, turkey, ham, phyllo-wrapped salmon, Vietnamese cold noodles

DESSERTS: apple pie a la mode, ricotta cheese pie w/chocolate sauce, mini cheesecakes, mini brownies, chocolate pots

I know I'm forgetting some stuff, but you get the jist :)

My First Knitting Swatch

LOL, I finally got around to learning how to knit and this is what I created after watching a few minutes of a video I borrowed from the library. Aww, my first stockinette stitch :P

Two observations about knitting:

(1) It's super confusing that a stitch itself is called a knit stitch or a purl stitch (and as far as I can tell those are really the only two "stitches" in knitting and every pattern is based on these two basics--kinda fascinating in itself to this newbie), but the product of creating these stitches in succession is also called a "stitch," i.e. garter stitch is repeating knit or purl stitches over and over again across multiple rows and stockinette stitch is what results when you alternate rows of knit stitches with rows of purl stitches. What the heck?

(2) Knitting is more complicated to learn than crochet, IMHO. It's harder to fix mistakes, more manipulation of the yarn is required, and it's not as fast as crocheting. All that said, I'm enjoying adding it to my crafting arsenal because the final products often have a more orderly look to them than crochet and it's just cool to learn something new.

Congrats to Mommy Sabrina and Daddy Ryan!

I am so excited for my friends Sabrina & Ryan! Their baby boy Elliot arrived today, a day before his scheduled C-section, and mama, daddy, and baby are all doing well. I'm a tad bit jealous that Willy gets to meet Elliot tonight and I'm stuck in rainy (albeit 50+ degree) Boston, but I did have a chance to chat with the thrilled parents, which was nice.

I've been trying to get out to both NorCal and SoCal for months to visit with friends and their babies. Hopefully that won't be put off for too much longer.

Welcome to the world, Elliot!

Merry Day After Christmas!

We had a great time yesterday hosting 19 people at our house (including the two of us). This is the third year in a row that we've hosted and I think we've got the hang of it now (re: we've figured out how to coordinate cooking for and feeding 19 hungry mouths :)).

So many aspects of the day to cover, but this post is dedicated to the gifts I made and haven't been able to post about for the last two months. I had a goal to finish three afghans and one tote bag to give away. I started in September and actually did manage to finish all three afghans but changed the tote bag to a smaller toiletry-sized bag because I realized the tote wasn't really the recipient's style. It was really cool watching everyone open their gifts because they were so excited about the hand-made aspect; really, it was the best set of reactions a crafter could hope for!

Afghan #1 went to my aunt and uncle. This was the hardest one to do because I made it HUUUUGE (68" x 63"!) and the herringbone-style stitch had me stumped for a while. Once I figured it out though it was just a matter of sticking to it until I finished. This one took about a month to complete, and that was with nearly non-stop crocheting because I had a lot of time on my hands.

Afghan #2 went to my cousins. It was funny because this was actually the last one to get opened and before they opened it my cousin kept asking me, "Can we get in the queue for the next one?" This one worked up a lot faster (less than two weeks for a 60" x 58"), partly because it was done in a bulky yarn and partly because I understood the pattern better after having done a similar stitch in the first afghan.

And the last afghan went to another aunt & uncle. This one I wish I'd made a little bigger, but I added a border to make up for it (or at least try to make up for it--I still wish I had just made it wider to start with). It ended up at about 45" x 65" and also took about two weeks to finish.

Finally, here's the little bobble bag I made for my mom and gave to her as a stocking stuffer. I didn't do a great job of sewing the zipper on as it was the first time I've ever worked with a zipper, but it works. I want to learn how to line this with fabric, too.

That was it for Xmas '09! I'll definitely have to get around to making that tote bag as I've wanted to do it forever and now I actually have the yarn to make two of them so I'd better get on it. Who wants one? :)

Merry Christmas Eve! My fingers are about to fall off :P

Whew, it's been a whirlwind of holiday prep the last couple of days! We're hosting again this year for a crowd of somewhere between 17 and 21 people. I never did post the ginormous menu I made last year (5 entrees alone, never mind the bazillion sides, desserts, appetizers, etc.), but I think my family felt bad for me after seeing everything I made because this year they all volunteered to bring big dishes rather than just sides like they did last year. Or they just hated the food I made last year :P

Anyway, even though I'm only contributing one main dish--a phyllo-wrapped salmon--I've been prepping and cooking for the last two days. Willy has been doing a great job on errand and cleaning duty, freeing me up to focus on working in the kitchen.

I actually made my first items a few days ago, molasses sugar cookies which I gave to the neighbors (they're sooooo good!). Yesterday I made pumpkin bread and chocolate pots, and cleaned and chopped a lot of veggies in preparation for tomorrow. Today I made corn chowder, honey corn bread, stuffing, two apples pies, rice krispy treats, and sangria. Tomorrow I'll do mashed potatoes, pasta salad, baked brie (which will be served with a Wensleydale cheese too), Vietnamese cold noodles, sugar snap peas, and yu choy (had to have something traditionally Chinese for Grandpa). Oh, and the phyllo-wrapped salmon of course :)

So what's the family bringing? A roast, a ham, a turkey, mini cheesecakes, mini brownies, green & yellow beans w/mushrooms, kimchi pancakes, and probably more. Yeah, we eat a lot when we get together.

My hands are feeling the effects of constant dish and hand washing, but otherwise things have been pretty painless this year. I can't wait to see everyone tomorrow and start the celebration!

Aaaaand now it's snowing

2-4" predicted. 2 days after we had weather in the high 60s. See where the saying, "If you don't like the weather in New England, just wait a minute" comes from?

Ah. global warming

I don't know how anyone can argue that global warming isn't a very real phenomenon. We had temps in the high 60s today...in December...in Boston. I'll admit though that I loved every second of it :) Got to walk around with no coat on and we even took the motorcycle out to dinner. Good times!

Yankee tournaments are cursed for me

Played in my first Yankee tournament today in two years, a Women's C- so I got to ease back into things. Except for the part where I went after the bad set, the setter ran across my path, and I landed on her foot after hitting and rolled my ankle. The same ankle I rolled a few months ago and couldn't walk on for days. Sweet.

But good news! After doing the RICE thing for about 45 minutes I found that I could walk on it. So I slapped on the active ankle and played the rest of the day, slightly gimpy but better than leaving the team with a ghost for the remaining four games out of eight. And guess what? We won! Yes, I rock for playing on a rolled ankle ;) (either that or I'm just stupid--it's definitely debatable)

What a lucky girl I am

My birthday was on Monday but I've been celebrating since last Friday :) Documenting how lucky I am is going to take a little while and a lot of pictures, so here we go (apologies in advance for the bad low-light pics)....

Friday 10/23/2009

Last year a good friend got me a gift card to a restaurant in Cambridge called Salts. We didn't get around to using it until this year so Willy took me there for my birthday. I don't know how we've never heard of this place before but my friend knows I love duck and found this place because they're known for their lavendar honey glazed whole roasted duck for two. You actually have to reserve it in advance if you want to make sure to get it; they only have a few ducks per night and they often sell out. The people seated at the table next to us were disappointed they couldn't have one after they saw ours come out and tried more than once to buy our leftovers :)

Anyway, dinner was amazing. Seriously, I was in heaven and it's sort of silly how happy a good meal makes me. The duck was delicious--slightly sweet, great flavor, moist, yummy! And the stuffing and veggies on the side were great too. They bring the whole duck to your table and then carve it up and plate it for you. It's so much food we only ate half of it for dinner so we got another half for dinner a couple of nights later--yum x2!

For appetizers we got the slow-cooked farm egg with chanterelle mushrooms, chorizo, and native corn and an avocado-wrapped king crab thingy. Both were excellent and so flavorful. My mouth is watering again just thinking about it. For desserts we got the chocolate parfait (so good!) and the mascapone-enriched cheesecake with corn bread ice cream (just OK).

The restaurant definitely pays attention to details. They not only decorated our table with confetti for my birthday, they actually lined up the separate little balloon and streamer pieces so they looked like balloons on a string. Yowza.

Saturday 10/24/2009

On Saturday the celebration continued, this time with my family. Everyone came over to our house to carve pumpkins during the day and we all went out for a sushi dinner afterwards. The gray day was perfect for staying indoors and we had a lot of fun. All the best pictures are on Willy's computer though so I need him to upload them to our shared drive before I can post any. The jack-o-lanterns turned out pretty cool, but you'll have to take my word for it for now.

After dinner we went back to our house for cake and coffee, and then I got some pretty awesome gifts. First was the new Fuji Finepix F70EXR point & shoot camera that came from my parents and Willy. I've been lugging around an old brick of a Canon that's circa 2002 or something. This guy has a ton of fancy-schmancy software built in and a 10x zoom. I still have to learn how to really use it, but I'm finally out of the digital camera Stone Ages.

Second, my sisters got me something that will let me continue exploring my crafty side. I asked for and got my very first sewing machine, a Brother CS6000i. No, I don't know how to use this either but I intend to learn :) I mean, c'mon, a girl my height really needs to learn how to hem her own pants at least! Too bad Catholic schools didn't have home ec.

The last gift was from my aunt and uncle, who got me a four pack of mini merlots. I was telling them recently that I rarely drink wine at home because Willy doesn't drink so it's a waste to open up a whole bottle just for me. I keep meaning to get those small bottles of wine for myself but never do, so they did it for me :) P.S., the 2008 Woodbridge Merlot is yummy!

Sunday 10/25/2009
We got some gorgeous fall weather on Sunday so Willy and I went to the famous Mt. Auburn Cemetary to check out the fall colors. It's a beautifully manicured space and I know it sounds like a weird place to take an outing, but I'm so glad we did. We spent probably 2 - 2.5 hours walking around and I got to try out my camera, which was fun. We took a leaf-peeping trip out to Western Mass a couple of weeks ago but were a little early for peak colors. Well this weekend was definitely peak. Gorgeous reds, yellows, oranges--stunning. Even the sky was a flawless, cloudless blue. I know it sounds cheesy, but I felt so calm, happy, and rejuvenated all at the same time after our visit.

Monday 10/26/2009

Willy took the day off from work just to hang out with me on my actual birthday. We didn't do anything big, just had a nice lunch together and later in the evening played in our regular volleyball league. It was a good, chill day. But I got one more surprise because Willy had yet another birthday present for me. The crazy boy got me a pair of tanzanite studs to replace ones I lost earlier this year! I don't have a pic yet, but they're lovely.

See what a lucky girl I am? I have an amazing hubby and family that I got to spend some quality time with and also got some pretty awesome gifts (I don't know what they're going to do for Christmas presents now because I pretty much got everything I want or need!). I also had a chance to catch up with a bunch of Cali friends over the phone. Crazy Miss Sabrina even wished me a happy birthday via text, e-mail, IM, FB, snail mail, and a phone call :)

Happy Birthday to me! I hope you all are as lucky as me!

Some amigurumi gifts

I made my friend a couple of amigurumi gifts recently to celebrate her birthday. Actually, I finished them more quickly than I thought I would so they sat around for three weeks before it was time to mail them out to her :P She was born in the year of the Rabbit so I made her a couple of cute bunny-themed things as well as a Gromit like the one I made for Willy earlier this year. I was actually going to make a third bunny but decided I didn't really like that particular pattern so I left it out.

Anyway, now that she's finally received the gifts I can post some pics. Happy Birthday again, S!