Sunset

Sunset
Originally uploaded by sashton

I've been absent from my blog for a long time. Part of it is due to getting caught up in facebook, part of it is busy-ness, and part of it is out of town-ness. I will post photos from my trip to Ireland soon - probably after the craziness that is St. Patrick's Day.

I will be taking another trip in 47 days to the British Virigin Islands. I cannot wait (as indicated by my precise countdown)! I have been browsing Flickr for photos other people have taken, and I found this gorgeous sunset. This was taken in January this year. If it was so beautiful then, I can't imagine what it will be like in April.

I'm so excited!

Ouchless Giving

As 2008 rolls to a close, I've been thinking about what I've done for myself and what I've done for others. I think this year I have donated to charities more than I have done before (which isn't saying much), but giving money isn't the only way to help out, especially if you're experience hard times economically. The Ideal Bite had a great tip on being charitable without giving money. Options include Free Rice (now with options other than vocab) among other charitable organizations. If you've got a couple of free minutes, take a look at the list and click away!

Wassail

Tomorrow is my dad's birthday. As I am the only child living close to my parents now (my sister and brother are in Uni in various cities), I will have the privilege of attending a Madrigal dinner with my parents tonight as part of his birthday gift.

I'm not really sure what a Madrigal dinner entails. (although with my minimal googling skills, I did find the website) We have to be there at 7 tonight for a Wassail Reception. I'm not quite sure what wassail is, even though I know the carol "Here we are a wassailing". I guess I'll be learning some new things tonight!

Vanoce

Though I'm happy to be home in the states a year and a half after leaving Prague, I miss living in Europe for a variety of reasons:


I miss Christmas markets with gift and food vendors and Svařak and Glühwein.


Old Town Square in Prague


Dresden Christmas Market


I miss good friends and times of celebration.




I even miss the Christmas carp (Kapri) vendors. A tiny bit.






I'm super excited to visit Prague and my good friends in February.

Mid-America Oireachtas 2008

Oireachtas 08 007
Originally uploaded by elizabethw

You're looking at the 2008 Mid-America Regional Champions in the adult ceili competition! We worked hard for this, and it finally paid off :)

Cocktails and Cumbia

Cocktails and Cumbia is a great event that Studio Zumba Ohio puts on for its patrons. It's a girls night out with wine tastings, food, friends, and of course, lots of zumba. There's an all male instructor-led class, demonstrations and instruction from specialists (belly dancing from Hanife and samba from Renata), and lots of laughter. The last Cocktails and Cumbia was held on 15 November 2008. I'm so happy I was able to go!



Gabriel Piriz, leading a class.




The male instructors following Hanife's belly dance lesson.




More belly dancing

Steamy Kitchen

Jaden of the Steamy Kitchen does wonderful things with modern Asian cooking. I love reading her posts (and now do so on a regular basis once I figured out RSS feeds!), but have yet to try any of her recipes. This will change in the future - I need to plan ahead and block out time in my busy schedule. She did a great post on honing your kitchen knives to keep them in top shape. This post will definitely come in handy. She's also doing an awesome giveaway - three knives from New West Knifeworks.

I want these knives. They are gorgeous. I'm gonna have to start saving for some of them.

Make sure you check out the Steamy Kitchen for a chance to win one of the knives, and stick around for Jaden's recipes!

Quiz

This is a very interesting and informative quiz on what 100-calorie snacks actually look like. It's also really helpful if you want to pack your own 100-calorie snacks instead of shelling out $$ for pre-packaged stuff.

Thanks, Women's Health Magazine!

Kitchen Experiment Part Deux

pacman cupcakes
Originally uploaded by hello naomi

After my failed experiment yesterday of pumpkin soup, I tried roasting the pumpkin seeds I had retrieved (quite messily) from the two little pumpkins. I used a recipe found on one of my fave food blogs, Simply Recipes. While the roasted seeds came out tasty, the experiment was a semi-failure because I did not keep a close eye on the oven (which is wonky anyway) and half the seeds burned. :(

One of my other fave food blogs, Cake Wrecks, usually shows cakes that are wrecks, as the title says. On Sundays, though, Jen showcases the outstanding works of art a talented cake decorator can create. This week, she linked to these awesome cupcakes by Hello Naomi on Flickr. If only I had that talent - these are wonderful!

Kitchen Experiment

I tried a new recipe today. I've recently discovered my love of Thai food. Almost every Saturday I go to the 2nd Street Market downtown after a morning of Zumba for lunch or breakfast if I make it early enough, and order from The Little Thai House. I usually go for their Red Curry Chicken (it's divine), but this morning I had an omlette with vegetables which was oh, so yummy.

Since I've been in the mood for Thai food, I decided to try a recipe I found for Thai-spiced Pumpkin soup. I bought small pumpkins from the market, hunted down red curry paste, and roasted my pumpkins today. They were great fresh from the oven (I couldn't resist a little taste), but my soup is not so tasty. Maybe it's too thick, maybe I should have added more red curry paste, maybe I just don't like the combination of pumpkin, coconut milk, and red curry. Whatever the case may be, I have made an important discovery: Not every kitchen experiment turns out the way you anticipate. Even with this setback, I don't think I'm done experimenting in the kitchen just yet.