Last Post for 2007

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday. Mine was busy, as always, with lots of Paul's family coming in for visits. My plan for today is to spend the whole day in my pajamas until it's time to go out for New Year's. Yay!

I got some yarn for Christmas. Some Tempted from my mom:

And this, which I wrapped up for Paul. It's sock yarn that I had dyed in Philadelphia Eagles colors for him from Knitting Like Crazy:

Paul was a little confused at opening it until I explained.

Ooh, I also got Photoshop, which I only just installed yesterday. I am looking forward to figuring out how to use it, it seems kind of confusing right off the bat though.

Everyone have a happy, safe New Year's Eve, and I'll see you back here next year for more yarny fun!

Happy Christmas

Here's to a great holiday and a very Yarny New Year!

Back!

Power came back on this morning. Thank God.

Thanks for all the sympathy on my last post. It's been a crazy stressful week, but things could always have been worse. We lost some trees and the entire contents of our refrigerator and freezer, but at least everyone is safe, and things should slowly start returning to normal.

Hopefully I'll get to some knitting content in the coming week!

**Edited to Add: Ok, I just signed onto Bloglines, and I have nearly 800 new entries. That blows my mind. I probably won't be commenting much, just trying to catch up. Just know I adore all of you and think all your projects are awesome!

Powerless

There's been a catastrophic ice storm in Tulsa. Lost power the night of Sunday, December 9th. Today is Saturday, December 15th. I still have no power at my house and am staying with the in-laws. Eddie, Oliver, and Annie are being boarded. Elly is with my parents. The electric company says our power won't be restored until Monday night.

I have been to depressed the whole week to do any knitting. Was finally dragged out today by my husband to start Christmas shopping, but would prefer to skip Christmas altogether this year. This has been the worst holiday season ever, and I just want to go home.

My Cake

In the interest of full disclosure, I do not cook. Ever. When Paul was in San Antonio last weekend for the Big 12 Championship game, I made him go stock up on macaroni and cheese and frozen pizza for me to eat while he was gone. Paul is the cook in the family, and it's a darn good thing.

I do, however, have three majorly yummy recipes that I trot out for parties, entertaining, bring-a-snack-to-work days, etc. These items are as follows:

1. Spicy Nuts. Very simple, very flavorful. Adapted from a well-known chef's published recipe. Everyone loves them--except my dad, who says they are a waste of good old plain mixed nuts.

2. Bruschetta. This recipe is of my own devising, based on truly amazing concoction of my favorite local Italian restaurant, Ti Amo. I asked them once about their recipe, and they refused to give me specifics (which I totally understand), but they did tell me it has 23 ingredients. Years and years of trying to duplicate the flavor, and I am still only up to between 9 and 13 ingredients in my version. My version is still pretty damn tasty though.

3. French butter cake. Published in a cookbook by the same chef as #1, this is a simple, four-ingredient cake with the taste and consistency of shortbread. I am making it tonight for my Bunko group's holiday party tomorrow night.

Obviously a well-used page.


All the ingredients whirrling in the mixer...


...turns into a sticky mess.


And then it's spread in the cake pan and marked with fork lines, then gets popped in the oven. Yum! The cake is still baking and Project Runway is about to begin, so you may see a photo of the finished product next post.


My policy on these extraordinary recipes is that I do not share them. With anyone. My sister-in-law begged me for my recipe for spicy nuts for years, and I steadfastly refused. The day before she left Tulsa to move to Michigan, I wrote it down for her. I have so few things to work with, I don't want any competition!

I'm sure at least one of my many astute readers will figure out my source material for Numbers 1 and 2. All I ask is that you keep it to yourself and hope we don't show up at the same potluck!

As for knitting, I am working on the same old projects. Sadly, I found out that 2 of the 3 Malabrigo hat recipients...don't wear hats. So I have two extras and that makes me sad.

I started some Go With The Flow socks in the Yarntini Pomtini I won in a blog contest. I absolutely love this yarn. It's the best.

Hats

How much do I love the Foliage pattern? A lot. I made the worsted weight version for myself. Don't laugh--it's really hard to take a photo of yourself wearing a hat.

And three of the bulky weight version for Christmas presents.

All in wonderful, lovely, luscious Malabrigo.

Thanks for all the nice comments about my Christmas decorations. Turns out my sister was right--the pink Santa really was originally pink. I asked my mom. I hate it when my sister is right!