old man winter

This was the scene at my parents' house in northern Virginia this morning.

We had planned to drive there on Friday, but our path through southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia was supposed to get up to 20 inches of snow. I believe it. So yeah, camping out in Lexington (where we're getting some "wintry mix") until it calms down a bit.

Quite exciting for someone who hasn't seen any real snow in years.

fiesta latina de navidad (and stuff about tv, naturally)

Our congregation at church includes a Spanish-speaking group of members, and they hosted a Christmas party last night. We signed up to bring dessert, so I made a tres leches cake (recipe from Vivian's fave Pioneer Woman) and some Aztec chocolate bark (introduced to me by Jane, who was kind enough to share some with the office last year).

I ended up having to make dos tres leches because I forgot about the first one burning in the oven while I was preoccupied swatting moths that have taken up residence in our apartment. The second cake turned out fabulously, though, and the Aztec chocolate went over well with party-goers not wary about foods combining chocolate and spicy ground chile. It's really quite easy to make and addictively tasty—I highly recommend it if you're in the market for a different kind of holiday treat. Not to fear if you don't have a double-boiler in which to melt the chocolate—I don't have one either, so I just melted the chocolate in a stainless steel bowl set over a pot of boiling water.

I was also happy to get my fill of pozole and mole negro at the party. It was delicious.

In a couple of television related notes:

Golden Globe nominations out today (or yesterday, rather, since I am posting this well over midnight). No John Noble? I know that no one watches Fringe, but COME ON! Walter Bishop is one of the most delightful, complex characters on television and John Noble does a crazy good job bringing him to life. Just as one example, in last week's episode, the change that came over Walter when all the parts of his brain were reconnected: holy smokes. I am disappointed, HFP, though I guess it wouldn't be the first time.

Ben Folds, aka my one true hero during my college years: as Stephen Colbert would ask, great reality show judge or greatest reality show judge? He's one of the judges on the new NBC a cappella competition The Sing-Off (HT: Leeshy), and yes, it's weird to see him there, but after all the 'Hofs, Paula Abduls, and Randy Jacksons that have been foisted upon us on other reality shows, it's pretty incredible to hear a knowledgeable musician give spot-on assessments in complete, coherent sentences and not be a jerk about it. Also, so much for a Mormons vs. Beelzebubs final. Heh. Nota for the win!

holiday gift tags winner

 Random.org has spoken, and the winner is . . .

FLEM! So much for that "randomness will never allow #1 to be chosen" stuff. I've already got your mailing address so I'll be sending out your goods tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone who participated in my little contest even though I wasn't giving away anything cool (like free Xboxes, for instance). It was entertaining to read about your favorite Christmas gifts, too.

To answer Gretta's question, I created the designs using Adobe Illustrator and printed out the tags on my trusty inkjet printer. Maybe next year I'll have more time and attempt the screenprinting method on my Gocco!

i'm not crying, it's just been raining on my face

Oh man, no third season for the Flight of the Conchords. Sad to see it go, but like Arrested Development, at least the show gets to end while it's still on top.

top chef season 6 finale

We just finished watching the Top Chef finale.

I've been a fan of Kevin and rooting for him all season long—the guy has a heart of gold and how can you argue with his four quickfire wins, five elimination wins, passion for local and sustainable cooking, and not to mention his MAGNIFICENT BIG ASS RED BEARD.  While I'm disappointed that he didn't win the whole thing, I really can't say that Michael wasn't deserving since the Volts really brought it, too. However:

I know it's not a reality show without stupid curveballs (knife-draw for sous chefs, mystery box, and surprise fourth course), but with the caliber of chefs in the top three I would've rather watched them cook the meals of their lives without all of the twists and turns.

About those sous chefs: Bryan got lucky. Poor Kevin was totally screwed the second he pulled out the knife with Preeti's name on it. As TJ said, even he could chop vegetables better and faster than her.

Inviting the moms to the table then giving them the boot after the first course: um, rude? Also weird and awkward.

Padma telling Kevin "you are not Top Chef": seriously, what was the point of that? Unnecessarily cruel and humiliating.

It would've been nice to see Bryan collect some cash since he didn't win any quickfires. Maybe I'm not remembering correctly, but it seemed that the way the finale was edited showed Bryan winning two courses vs. Michael winning one. So there I was trying to recover from Kevin's loss and thinking that it really seemed that Bryan was going to win and feeling that I would be fine with that, too . . . and they give it to Michael? So misleading.

If Kevin doesn't win fan favorite, I will eat my hat.

holiday gift tags + giveaway

When I woke up today I felt inspired to design a set of holiday gift tags to adorn my Christmas packages this year. About six hours into it I was kind of convinced that I was wasting my time because they would probably turn out horribly, but I'm actually really pleased with the result.

TJ says I should sell them, but I think I'll just give them away.

So: up for grabs is a set of 8 holiday gift tags printed on nice and heavy cream-colored paper. All you have to do is tell me about the best gift you've ever gotten for Christmas. Post your answer in the comments by next Sunday evening, and I will choose a random winner using random.org.

(My favorite gift? It's hard to say . . . but last year I got a really nice set of Gingher scissors from TJ's mom. Those things are amazing and I'm not sure how I ever functioned without them.)

Thanks for playing!

new blog banner + lovelydesign

Of course, it's not technically winter nor is it 2010 yet, but it feels like winter (there's a 20% chance of light snow in the morning—say what?!) and I figure we're close enough to the new year . . . so here it is.

The blue, gray, and red pattern that I used comes from the super-talented Sharilyn of the aptly-named Lovely Design blog. You can also find tons of great handmade products for sale at her website—I particularly love, love, love the address files she makes.

Isn't it fantastic? I'd like for it to be not sold out anymore.