Polled it: Chocolate or Cheese???

If you could live with one forever, but not the other, which would it be?

I love cheese and choose it to be my forever friend!	2 (66%)
Chocolate is there for me!	1 (33%)
I can't decide, I would have to end it all!	0 (0%)
I am a freak who does not like anything that tastes good.	0 (0%)

Votes : 3

Okay, cheese wins...duh!
Cheese is more versatile and it was decided by Flea and I that even the basest of cheeses have a place. You can make a grilled cheese sandwich with cheese that is both fancy and shmancy OR you can use american cheese slices. Cheez whiz, I 'll eat it, triple cream Brie from France, bring it on!
Cheese, cheese, cheese!



(scroll down to see the results from the Kissa vs Mr Biscuits poll)

Baked it: holiday cookies

Finally I get to do holiday baking!!! This year I focused on 3 types of cookies. The first was a shortbread with 3 different add ins (one was cranberry and orange, one chocolate chips, one peanut-butter chips--and one plain). This recipe was super easy, especially because of the handy dandy kitchen aid mixer. I will probably not do the peanut butter chips next year, it was blah. The others were really good. I made the dough last weekend. I could have made it up to 3 months ago and kept it in the freezer. (if I ever do make cookie dough that far ahead, punch me).

The second was butterscotch bark. Graham crackers drowned in a butter and brown sugar mixture, baked until "bubbly" and covered in toasted coconut, pecans, chocolate chips, peanutbutter chips and sometimes dried cherries (on the ones without peanut butter chips). [the pic for this really did not look innerrestin']

The last cookies were gingerbread men, women, hearts and stars. I decorated these with royal icing (some appropriately, some inappropriately---got to blow off holiday stress somehow). The royal icing was a first. It was easy. I made it with meringue powder since the egg white kind is not good for certain people...cookies are supposed to be nice, not deadly! The first batch....kinda burnt (so if you think..."gee my cookie tastes kind of burnt", it probably is, what do you expect, it is a free cookie). The second batch turned out much better.If any one has a spicier gingerbread cookie recipe out there I am interested.
If you are wondering "where are my damn cookies?" I gave to people I happened to know I would see. If you want cookies next year, then you should say "hey, I am coming over to pick up my damn cookies" around mid-December next year. If you don't want cookies then steer clear of me for the next holiday season!

Read it: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Yeah, I am still on my classics reading jag. I l-o-v-e-d Jane Eyre. I found it to be very readable for a classic, moreso than Pride and Prejudice and just as entertaining. I think the dialogue wasn't as clever as it was in P&P but that is ok. Jane Eyre is a compelling character and Charlotte Bronte is an excellent story teller. I think I remember reading Wuthering Heights back in high school or college, I will probably read it again soon. If you are thinking about reading The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, I really think I would consider reading Jane Eyre first or at least a really good synopsis (sorry Karen!)
Next I am going to read a couple of contemporary novels and then onto The House of Seven Gables by Nathanial Hawthorne.

Petted it: Poll-who is cuter under the tree?

Kissa?


or


Mr Biscuits?


The final score:

Kissa	4 66%)
Mr Biscuits	2 (33%)

Votes so far: 6
Jerry voted twice for Kissa (shame on you!)
People who voted for Mr B were apparently only voting for the underdog...er....undercat...whatever.
He drinks the tree water. Not so cute now!

Ate it: Azitra

Thanks to Jade and Nigel, Jerry and I enjoyed a delicious meal at Azitra, an upscale Indian retaurant in Raleigh. We had a great time going the whole 9 yards with drinks and appetizers etc. I had a Snakecharmer which was basically a ginger margarita. For dinner Jerry had the Lamb Rogan Josh and I had the Chicken Tikki Masala. The chicken was awesome, it was very tender and the sauce was really good (I wish it was a soup). We also had the peshwari nan which is like the usual nan but with cherries and coconut. It was great in combination with the chicken.
The ambiance was also really nice complete with sitar player (he even played a few Christmas songs, every one of which Jerry thought was Feliz Navidad). I worked all day and was too tired to change into something more appropriate. Luckily it was dimly lit!
*Also while we were there a guy walked in who was dressed as a wizard, Jerry said it was Dumbledore. Who knows...I was hoping there was some sort of Harry Potter meet up going on...but no one else, just the lone wizard.

Watched it: The Astronaut's Wife

We watched this 1999 flick the other night. It was pretty good. It is like a sci-fi Rosemary's Baby. Both Johnny Depp and Charlize Theron are really pretty, almost disturbingly so. In fact, sometimes I feel like they have the same haircut. So if you see it on tv watch it. It is enjoyable. I thought it was going to be a drama or romantic comedy but it is really suspenseful.

Decorated it: Christmas 2007

We bought our tree today. We get it the same place every year (like Karen and Chris and Jill before she moved to D-town), the Citgo by the fairgrounds. I like their trees because they have a decent selection of small trees. We keep our tree on a table top because it is less stressful with 2 dogs and 2 cats. The tree is perfect. It was 20 bucks, just the right size and in really good shape.


This is our first Christmas in our new house and the first Christmas in a while that I have not been in school! I will definately enjoy decorating and look forward to doing more Christmas baking this year.

Putting the tree up was very unstressful. Everything worked and we did not have to make any adjustments to the tree....a Christmas miracle!