Anyways, for Christmas this year, I went to spend some time with my mom and brother.  We don’t really have exciting Christmas traditions – just the usual – presents, dinner, etc.  I got some good stuff – mostly cooking things since I’m starting to learn how to cook, but also an awesome iPhone case that makes me love my phone even more.  Joey got some presents as well.  For all dog lovers, these are seriously the best toys ever: Hide-a-Bird.  Joey got one and won’t stop squeaking them – he clearly loves it and can’t get enough of it.  He also got this

Go Vols!  Mom also go him a UT dog collar.  He is all ready for football season now.

After Christmas, Adam and I went to the lights that Life University puts up every year.  It’s beautiful.  Check out these pictures:

Merry Christmas, everyone!  Hope 2010 is great for all of us!

Even the Huddle House is themed

We first stopped by a little German restaurant for some food.  Check out the cute little balcony we sat on.

But let’s be real, this is what Oktoberfest is all about.

Yeah – they’re pretty basic.  Pattern here.  I knitted it per the men’s size, with pretty much no changes.  I started on December 9, hoping for a Christmas completion.  I finished it on Christmas Eve – so not bad!  The yarn is Plymouth Baby Alpaca DK.  They’re warm!

So here’s to the final FO of 2009.  It hasn’t been a productive knitting year, but here’s hoping it gets better next year.

Asian Noodle Salad (Link to recipe)

This was a huge success.  It’s really easy to make – the only cooking being the pasta.  Otherwise, it’s just lots of slicing and dicing.  It was hard for me simply because I was doing it at my boyfriend’s place, and his kitchen is just like any other bachelor kitchen – aka insufficient.  I’ve since rectified it a little bit, but at the time, I was slicing and dicing on a plate with a steak knife.  We won’t talk about how difficult that was, especially when I was trying to cut up cabbage.  I’m surprised I didn’t cut myself at all.  Maybe the steak knife was too dull…

Anyways, the boyfriend loved it.  I loved it.  It’s crisp, delicious, and refreshing.  I made it in August, so it was perfect for the summer.  The dressing is very flavorful without being too heavy.  We both ate 2 large plates of it, but still didn’t come out bloated.  I’ll definitely be making it again.

Pasta with Eggplant (Link to recipe)

This was pretty tasty.  It’s easy to make, but it does take time.  Cutting up all the eggplants and salting them was a lot of work, and it might just prevent me from making them again.

Bacon Onion Cheddar Biscuits (Link to recipe)

Yum yum yum yum yum.  It was so yummy I forgot to take pictures of the finished product.  Frying the bacon took a while, but it’s completely worth it.  I’ll eat this at all times of the day – in fact, mostly I just need to come up with an excuse to eat another one .

I’ve made quite a few of her other recipes so far.  A List: Baked Lemon Pasta, Pico de Gallo & Guacamole, Penne a la Betsy, Fig’s Cheese Muffins, Perfect Pancakes, and Baba Ghanoush.  I didn’t take pictures of any of these, but they were all delicious and you should try them.

Meet Joey.

He is a wonderful 1-year-old Chow/Spaniel mix I adopted from the Dekalb County Animal Shelter.  He is the fluffiest and cuddliest dog ever.

This year, neither of us were that excited about yarn.  I don’t knit that much anymore (as is probably evident by the lack of FOs on this blog), so I feel like I already have enough yarn to last me at least 10 years.  I was mostly looking for roving, since I just don’t have that much (OK… I have 5 lbs… which is probably a few year’s worth of spinning at my speed, but I digress).   For some reason, I just felt like there wasn’t a whole lot of interesting stuff there this year.  I came home with 2 things:

6 oz of BFL from River’s Edge Weaving Studio.  Beautifully dyed, plus I absolutely adore spinning my last BFL.

8 oz of natural brown alpaca from Little Barn.  Do you see the price tag?  Seriously, how could I not buy it at this price.  It’s nice and soft too, just like alpaca should be.

After SAFF, my friend and I went to a Laughing Seed, a vegetarian restaurant in downtown Asheville.  The food was seriously delicious.  I ordered the Tempecado sandwich, and my friend ordered the Dragon Plate.  I was going to take pictures, but alas, the food looked and tasted so good that it was devoured before I had a chance.  If you’re ever in the area, don’t miss this place!

The cupcakes are super delicious.  We tinted some marzipan pink to make the roses on top.  I’m not a vegan, but vegan cupcakes taste just as good as regular ones, if not better.  They make me feel less blah even after I eat way too many.  I’m definitely a big fan.

A few weeks later, I felt compelled to make the Green Tea cupcakes again, but a non-vegan version this time.  This is the recipe I used.

In theory, the icing should have turned out thick like the picture, but I messed something up and it didn’t, so I just used it as a glaze.  I had some Baker’s white chocolate, so I shaved some to put on top as garnish.  That was my first time working with chocolate, and I struggled with it melting until I realized I needed to put it in the freezer every so often to cool it back down.  I think it was a great success, plus the white looks so pretty on the green!