Alice in Regularland |

It is without contest my most favorite time of the year.

There is something magical that happens around Christmas. The lights on everything makes the whole city beautiful. The decorations in the house are a constant reminder of the impending glorious day. The parties where you grow closer to the ones you love. The delicious food that seems to be in endless supply. The traditions that bring families closer together. The movies and music that are only on at this time. Even people become nicer, laugh more, are more giving and compassionate.

There truly is a spirit of Christmas that only happens during this season that brings joy to peoples hearts.

My family, (mom), started a new tradition this year. A holiday Murder Mystery Party! It was such a blast and everyone really got into the game, even wearing costumes from the era, 1950's, and playing their parts to a "T". We had so much fun stepping outside of the norm and pretending to be someone else for a night. I cant wait to do it again next year.

My girlfriend Jen and I and a few other girls all decided it would be a great idea to go down to the beach and go black friday shopping at the outlets. So we met up at 10:30 and drove the almost 2 hours down to the beach and prepared to save some serious cash.

Upon arrival it was very exciting to find out that the sales did not disappoint at all. With deals like 50% off everything in Banana Republic and JCrew, an extra 20% off of the 50% off of Coach and buy one get one deals everywhere else we shopped till we dropped. Literally. Because the deals were so great it seemed like the entire state was there which meant we spent 8 and a half hours shopping/waiting in line. The lines were out the door and sometimes took well over an hour.

I was delirious and close to throwing up from fatigue but  in the end it was worth it. I finished almost all of my Christmas shopping and spent about half as much as I would have if I had not taken advantage of the sales so I'm happy.

Since I have no pics from this terribly tiresome experience here are some from Johns Birthday a few months ago. lol

I want to try to remember the point of Thanksgiving this which is simply to be thankful. So here are five things that I am thankful for on this Thanksgiving.

1) My boyfriend. He is strong and supportive when I need it and loving and funny when I need that too. I forever gratefull to have him in my life.

2) My parents. They have graciously taken me back into their home and we have had the wonderful opportunity to live together and get to know one another as adults and friends.

3) My job. It is very tiresome and frusterating most of the time but in these hard economic times I know what a rareity it is to have a job at all. To have one that continues to be an educational experience almost everyday is even better.

4) My Heavenly Father. Whom I know blesses me far above and beyond what I am ever capable of comprehending.

5) Myself. My stammina and perserverance. My willingness to keep my eye on the prize and always remember that the end justifies the means. This road has not and will not be easy but I am confident it will be worth it.

Thank you to all. I love you and have a happy Thanksgiving.

ps. and tofurky!

Its sunny and beautiful today. Something that would not be if not for global warming. So I am happy to have it, even if it does mean killing off the planet.

What have I been up to?

1) I received my OFFICIAL letter welcoming me to the nursing program starting in January. This would have been exciting to me if I had known I was waiting said letter. As such, it ended up making me feel annoyed and stressed because all I saw was;   Dear Allison, This is your college. Pay us money. Thank you. Which reminded me I still owe them from the present semester I'm in. yay.

2) I received another even less exciting letter in the mail. It went something like this;  
Dear Allison, This is the government. You are being audited. Pay us money. Thank you.  

3) My car decided not shift therefore forcing me to fork out a truckload of money to fix it. Oh, and the check engine light is still not off.

4) It is almost Christmas. And therefore I am going into Christmas mode. But with all of the above events I am having a hard time feeling the spirit of the season. But I am presently establishing a plan of attack so that despite all of my wonderful newly acquired bills I am guaranteed to still feel like its Christmas.

5) I have been knitting and baking to distract me from the above. This is what I've been churning out. (This is actually quite pitiful considering it is only about 1/4 of the holiday knitting list that I had hoped to finish by now. Oh well)

I will say that despite all this complaining I really am in good spirits. John is wonderfully supportive of me. He has even tried to help me study for my tests which is comical listening to him trying to tackle a question like "Where is the prosencephalon section of the brain?"  And my parents are of course wonderful as well, being endlessly supportive and caring.

For my friend Michele's 29h birthday (which she is NOT excited about at all I might add) I promised her cupcakes she we both have to work that day. So after much, much deliberation I decided at the last minute to make Red Velvet Cupcakes. Because I know she loves them and really, who doesn't love cream cheese icing.

At first I was going to go the cheater route and buy a box of red velvet mix but still home make the icing because I don't think the canned kinds are "cream cheesy" enough. But after a some research I learned there really is not a very good ready-to-go red velvet mix available so I did the next best thing and doctored up a cake mix.

I also knew that I wanted to stuff them. I LOVE stuffed cupcakes I cant remember the last time I didn't stuff a cupcake. I don't think an attribute of a cupcake should be low fat, healthy, light or otherwise. It is quite litterally a cake in a cup and therefore I want it to tast as such, a rich delicious single sized cake. So anyay, being that the nature of red velvet is chocolate albeit hard to tell most times, I put chocolate ganache in the middle.

Verdict:
The cupcakes themselves are bright red and really moist. I was disapointed that they fell after cooling. Im pretty sure that it was because the batter was pretty dense and I kept playing with the liquid ratio so it got a little over beaten. That and I think my oven could have been about 25 degrees hotter. But they are still good.

The Ganache was a splendid idea and I'm very happy I did it. It really brings out the cocoa flavor in the cake. Plus its a rich gooey surprise in the middle.

My only, and I do mean only, complaint about cream cheese icing is that it is softer than regular icing and therefore harder to get it to keep its form. Which is why the store bought kind is so much more sweet than homemade becuase the added sugar helps it stiffen up. That being said, the icing is in a word, fantastic.

Semi-Homemade Red Velvet Cake

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix. I used Betty Crocker Butter Recipe Yellow.
1 Box chocolate pudding - the cook and serve kind
1 stick butter
1 cup buttermilk. If you don't have this you can add 1 tbls lemon juice to regular milk.
3 eggs
1 tbls red food coloring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the wet ingredients first, then add the dry somewhat slowly. (to avoid a dust storm!) This will produce a thick cake batter. Line your cupcake tin with baking cups and fill to a little over 3/4 full. (I find it easiest to use a ladel to do this). Put them in the oven and bake for 17 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completly before frosting.

yeilds appox 2 dozen

Chocolate Ganache

1/2 cup heavy cream
8 oz semi sweet chocolate chips.

Using a double broiler,  (This can be achieved by placing a glass bowl atop a pot of boiling water) pour in chocolate chips. Contiuously stir as they begin to melt to avoid scalding. When chips are about halfway melted pour in cream. Continue to stir until the chips have full melted and blended with the cream to form a smooth shiny chocolate mixture. Place in the refrigerator until cool, about an hour. Using a baking injector (I use a hostpital food syringe which is great becuase it has measurement markings all the way down) push it into the center of the cupcakes and twirl around a bit to make the hole inside a little bigger (not the one at the top) and fill with desired amount. Repeat till done.

Cream Cheese Icing - I doubled this recipe because I like a lot of icing
2 packages cream cheese softened to room temperature
10 tbls butter
4 cups confectioners sugar
4 tsps vanilla extract

Mix wet ingredients together until smooth. Slowly add in sugar. Beat until smooth.

I'm in the mood for a big bulky cowl and I happen to have a skien of some Lion Brand Thick and Quick in cream left from when I made my Wrenna. I was looking for something simple and bulky that was like the big beautiful cowls made by Fringe which I adore..  And I found the My Kind of Cowl pattern on Ravelry. I looked at it and said to myself "Yes. This is just what I was looking for. Super easy and simple. Why I could probably finish in a hour or so."

But, after reading the very simple and slight instructions I realized two things; 1) I don't know how to do a provisional cast on. And, 2)  I don't know how to graft. Which I know is other wise known as the Kitchener Stitch. A stitch I have read about many times but never attempted due to its complexity. So after watching this video on provisional cast on. Followed by this video on the Kitchener stitch. I'm off to make my seeming very simple cowl. And hopefully it will turn out like this.....

I am feeling (knitwise) like I'm in a slump. But for the first time its not so much because I am uninspired. Which is normally what happens. No, its because I have all these things that I need to knit that I kinda don't want to.

The heap of sheep scarf for my mom, that I have officially decided is going to have to be a Christmas present, is not only not very cute, mostly because of the heap of sheep, but its terribly repetitive. However I would expect this to be the case with any scarf given the length needed.

The sweet haze (new and final name) I'm bored with. Like most people get with a big project where again, you do the same repetitive stitch a lot. But part of me is still excited to wear it, even though I think it makes my arms look kinda fat but we'll see.

But seriously, its getting cold and I want to make cute hats and cardigans and mittens and I cant do any of them cause when I finish the scarf I need to do my Christmas knitting. So... thats that.

Here are the new pictures of my Wrenna. I wore it today and reminded me how much I like it.
And in conclusion, The Office wedding episode? So much better than I imagined. Thats all Im saying.

Au Revoir

Its October 1st.

I know. I think its weird too.

Not looking forward to the siberian-eske cold weather that I know is coming.

Picked back up my "cloudy embrace" sweater. Decided that I definitely need to rename it. I think I'll put a poll up. Which will be funny because I know no one reads my blog. But I will anyway.

Need a fun weekend with John. Maybe Linvilla Orchards and then an evening in Philadelphia.

Obsessed with TV fall line-up. Flash forward, Grey's, Glee, Vampire Diaries, Mercy, Trauma, Modern Family, Office, House. Its only worth noting becuase I am a serial movie watcher due to my constantly shifting work schedule and therefore my inability to keep up with any show that is episodic.

J'adore.

Its my moms birthday today. Happy Birthday mom! So I thought it would be sweet to cook her dinner and desert since I have the day off. Plus I have been looking for an excuse to try making this desert I saw on Giada.  I was craving something southwest so I decided to layer a roasted poblano pepper, with pan fried polenta topped with pinto beans, pea shoots, roasted corn and fresh salsa and a side of anjo chilli green beans and wild rice. And for desert chocolate purses. Sounds good right?

No. No. No. No.

Dont get me wrong it wasn't awful but, it wasn't great either. The pinto beans were bland, the poblanos were too small, the polenta didnt crisp and the pea shoots were too bitter to use at all. Unless I served a plated dinner, there was really no way to stack the ingredients so I put them into a casserole dish and tried to layer it there but then it looked like a casserole so I decided to just make it a casserole so I threw it in the oven for 20 mins, and threw some cheese on top. The green beans shrunk up so much it was barely enough for one person so I went back to the store (at this point I had already been to two), and picked up a bag of brocolli. The rice was sub-par really nothing special.

                                        (a real chocolate purse. and the source of my inspiration)

The chocolate purses were the only thing that turned out good. Even those were almost too rich too eat a whole serving. But I was proud none the less since I had no recipe to work with just a list of ingredients with no amounts. If your wondering they are not a purse made of chocolate they are infact some flourless chocolate cake layered nutella and hazelnuts all wrapped up in a beautiful phyllo dough package. My biggest mistake there was that I accidently picked up puff pastry instead of phyllo dough therefore making a ginormous hazelnut chocolate turnover than a purse.

Here's the capper... my dad and I are standing around hungry and waiting for my mom to come home, who was now 2 hours late when she finally walks in she declares "I cant eat that, its my alkaline day."

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!?

What is an akaline day you ask? Apparently you can only eat fruits and vegetables. Why? because shes on some crazy diet for doctor for a week.
So all that work was for nothing.
My dad and I served ourselves a plate, slopped on a bunch of sour-cream which made the casserole thing pretty good and then gorged ourselves on too-rich-chocolate-purses.

Fantastic.

Spent the weekend doing nothing. Worked on my moms scarf. I hate that thing. Bobbles are driving me crazy. Cant wait till its done.

I REALLY should be studying right now. REALLY. I realized today that my test in patho is not next week like I hoped but in fact this Thursday and being that today is my only day off and I did not make this realization until about 5pm.... well you get the idea.

What did I do today? Pretty close to nothing. Woke up at 10, decent hour for me, showered, dressed, got ready (for nothing), put clothes in wash, paid some bills, ate lunch and then decided to go to the yarn store.

At the yarn store I picked up two skeins of Encore worsted, one in bright pink for Christy's Christmas present and one in a berry color for a future hat for myself which embarassingly took me over 2 hours to decide on. First I couldn't choose the right shade of pink for Christy, then I wanted to make a hat for myself but didn't know what color. At first I was thinking a cabernet one I saw but then was unsure becuase I don't look good in red. I really liked this really dark greenish teal tweed one that I found but it was too scratchy for a hat so I, put back the cabernet one and tried, with no avail, to find one like it. Then I went back to the cabernet. Then saw a shrug I liked got the pattern, spent a half an hour picking out yarn for it, settled on a pretty heathered celedon, then decided not to make the shrug so I put the yarn back. I wandered into the baby section, as I do everytime, and stared at the lush, soft yarns they have and once again had the urge to pick up a few skeins and knit a blanket or a cardigan for Sierra's babies and then remembered, like always, that I have no time to do that and walked away. I then found a beautiful shade of a dark blue-green in a dk alpaca, but I need a heavier weight than dk for a hat so I put back the cabernet, and wandered around some more trying to find a worsted that is the same shade, but didnt. So, I put the dk back and fell in love with another one of their colors, a warm honey camel, stared at it for a while, then remembered I don't have anything in mind to make with it so I put it back. Went back to the worsted and picked up, for the third time, the first color which I now decided is really more of a berry than cabernet, and then for lack of looking even more stupid, hurridly paid for my two measly skeins and left.

This was all quite silly and unecessary as I have 3 WIP's right now. The cloudy embrace sweater which I need to undo and redo the bind off becuase it is so tight I can barely fit it over myself. I'll probably just thread some elastic yarn through there to keep in line with the stretchyness of the rest of the sweater. It also still needs sleeves and the cowl neck. I have Christopher's scarf about 30% done. And the more it stares at me the more I hate it one, because I need/want to do it now that I have started it and I planned on giving it as a gift for Christmas and two, because in reality I don't even think he'll wear it. In fact as I'm writing this I'm considering frogging the whole thing and just making him a beanie. And I have my mom's scarf that I would really like to finish by the 21st, her birthday. She brought it from their trip to Vermont and said "Here you go, you can make me this scarf!" Eh.... thanks? Haha

Oh boy this is growing long. Gotta go!

I have this strange desire to be extremely productive and zero motivation to do anything at the same time.  Oh Well.

School is.... insulting really. This math class as of right now isnt even worth going to. I mean I litterally say through a lecture on how to add and subtract decimals. Are you serious? Am I not in college? Are there not prerequisites? Needless to say its frustrating.

My mom bought this great vegetarian cookbook last week. Every recipe has a picture. I love that. They all look amazingly good. My mouth was watering just looking at all of the delicious potential dinners I'm going to be making. It great cause its not a lot of meat substitute recipes or a bunch of pasta dishes. Very cultural food. I made a stir fry from it last night with bok choy, tofu and cashews. I have to say, I was pretty impressed with my self. ; ) 

I finally finished the body of my September Haze (temporary name) sweater. I started it a few months ago but I haven't been really excited about it so there wasn't a lot of motivation to finish. Anyway, my bind off was waaaay too tight and I can barely get it on so I'm going to have to redo it. I'm thinking it may just be best to use elastic thread. But now that the body is done I'm in the homestretch. Just need to do the neck and the sleeves.

This is good as I had delusions of grandeur and was planning on giving everyone a knitted gift for christmas and as of yet, I have one and a half people done out of seven. Ouch.

I have been really wanting to take a photog class. I want to learn to use a camera better and use photshop. I don't have plans of going pro but I would love to be able to produce some really stellar shots. Gotta look into that....

Au Revoir

  

Blog is getting remodeled. It needs, well something totally different basically. Mostly so that I will want to get on here and actually do it. So thats what I will be doing over the next few days and hope to have finished by the end of the week.

But before that I've got to go make these chocolate cupcakes with oreo frosting for Ari. Whom I will very much miss but I know is going on to bigger and better things.

My knitting has improved quite a lot since my last post. My purse that I was working on turn out great. Well, that is until I ruined it. In my boredom I stupidly decided to felt the purse to give it more structure. It also would have been my first time felting. And actually the bag would have turned out really cute IF IT HADN'T BEEN MADE OUT OF ACRYLIC YARN! Seriously when I finally pulled the thing out of the wash I looked at it and knew exactly what I had done and all I could think to myself was "idiot!"



But since the purse project I've knit up a great little cardigan which is a little too small. I've started a pair of socks and am about halfway through a lovley clutch which I'm very excited about since I made the pattern myself. I'm also designing a knitting bag for myself becuase I a) refuse to pay the outrageous prices for the ones that I like and b) don't want some overly femine or granny patterend fabric on mine. (Pics of all to come very soon)



On a personal note, John got a job in Conchahocken, PA and is now living in Media which I am absolutly thrilled with. Media is just a doll of a town. Its a "walking" town so there are a hundred cute little shops and restaurants all lined up for us to walk to whenever we want. Adorable! And we are planning a trip to Niagra Falls for my birthday/Memorial Day weekend which is going to be a blast.

I FINALLY got ranked for the nursing progam and am now going through the tedious process of getting my nursing folder together. So I'm off to get my criminal background check. Yay me right?

So I am new to the whole "world of knitting". I decided to pick it up last November when I needed something to do on my monthly plane rides to Arizona other than reading a book. I learned quickly that I cannot knit on a plane because it gives me serious motion sickness but that is really beside the point.  

I realize that most people are self taught knitters like myself. But I feel like I'm the slowest, most mistake making knitter of all time. I am what I would consider an advanced beginner. What I want to be is and advanced expert so that I can make all of those beautiful, delicate cardigans that I see so many knitters making, but that is most likely going to take FOREVER being that I don't have anything other than a bunch of youtube videos and books to teach me. So alas, I am still learning to cable which is proving to be the bane of my existence.  Because for whatever reason I am creating large gaps in my knitting after I cable. A problem that even after researching (because apparently this doesn't happen to anyone else) I was not able to solve.  

This problem, along with my abnormally slow learning curve does not however deter me from continuing on my quest to become better.  As my ultimate goal, as I have stated before, is to knit a beautiful, wearable, cardigan for myself. In fact to further motivate myself I even bought this beautiful hand painted dark navy and turquoise yarn that I plan on making said cardigan with.

                                    

 Last night I decided to face my fear again and once again try cabling. So I did a little research and picked my pattern. I like to pick smaller items as they are faster and I am already slow enough as it is. Probably another reason I haven’t started something involved like a cardigan. So I came across this cute free cable knit purse pattern on  http://www.nguyen-le.blogspot.com/. She is my idol btw, I would LOVE to be able to knit like her. All of her things are so gorgeous. You must check out her page.   

Ok I’m starting to ramble. 

So here is the beginning of what I hope to be a purse.                                                                                                                                                                        

 

 

I’ll keep you posted.