Happy Boxing Day, everyone!

We had my family (My mom, dad, and brother) over to our house for dinner on Christmas Eve. I decided that I wanted the evening to be more than a simple dinner and a movie, so I tried to find what I thought might be the most interactive and fun meal. Fondue!

I went to Harmons around noon on Christmas Eve, which was basically as soon as a realized that the snow was starting to stick ans wasn’t letting up any time soon. I wasn’t sure what kind of crowd there would be at the store. Large, but generally genial. The employees in the produce section seemed grumpy, as seems to be traditional there, but the people at the butcher counter, the deli, the bakery, and the cheese counter all seemed to be having a good time. There were Christmas carols playing and I heard lots of people saying Merry Christmas to each other. Even with a shortage running on quite a few products no one seemed to too stressed or rude. That shopping trip was actually one of my favorite holiday things I’ve done this year.

The first course was the cheese fondue, served alongside the salad, because the rest of my family is mentally American and doesn’t get that salad should be a course in and of itself. The salad was a strawberry and feta salad with a blush wine vinaigrette.

The fondue was the XXX recipe from the Melting Pot Cookbook. Since I am pretty sensitive to alcohol (and I mean that not the sense that I am a lightweight, though probably true, but the sense that I can feel it burning in my throat when it hasn’t been properly cooked off) I defied the recipe and mixed the cherry liqueur and wine together and cooked them for a few minutes to make sure the alcohol was well and truly gone. This didn’t seem to have any deleterious effect on the final product.

I added a little butterkäse to the cheese mixture for it’s smooth texture and mild flavor. The other cheeses were a blend of emmenthal (or, as the cheesemonger kept calling it emmentaler), and gruyere. I heart both of those Swiss cheeses. Please, if I may? You can buy any old cheese you want for everyday use. But for the holidays, and doubly for holiday fondue, I implore you. Buy good cheese. Go someplace with a cheesemonger, spend the extra few bucks, and buy the stuff that they cut off of a wheel. Shrinkwrapped cheese is not a holiday food.*

I might have gotten a little over enthusiastic when it comes to the dippables, but I figured each and every one would make a good leftover. In no particular order…. pretzel sticks, green apples, red apples, Lil’ Smokies, salami (Musica by Creminelli, try it if you get the chance,) ham cubes, green grapes, bread cubes, and potato chunks (steamed).

After the fondue we were all a bit stuffed, so we decided to watch a movie and then have dessert. Did you know that it’s the 20th anniversary of Muppets Christmas Carol? It’s probably my favorite Christmas movie ever.

When I mentioned to my next door neighbor, Brittany, that I was doing fondue for diner she offered her chocolate fountain. I’d never used a chocolate fountain before. Well, that’s not true. There’s a buffet in Wendover that has one. But I’d never run one. It’s pretty fun. The machine’s manual indicated that I needed to use a minimum of 8 cups of chocolate, so I mixed two bags of milk chocolate chips with one bag of semi-sweet and one bag of “bittersweet” (60%). The dippables were: strawberries, apples, grapes, pretzel sticks (yes, I carried a few things over from the cheese), Oreos, Butter Wafers, and marshmallows (vanilla, made at Harmons, incredible.) it was a lot of fun. It turns out that if your table isn’t 100% level the chocolate will sometimes not sheet totally evenly, but there was still plenty of chocolate flowing.

In the end the meal was declared fun by all, and that was about the nicest thing I could have heard.

*More on the value of qualified food merchants to come in my first blog post about our trip to Europe. Yay!

Have you heard of SuperBetter? It’s an online game that is designed to improve your life by developing/strengthening four areas, emotional, physical, social, and mental. It was created by Jane McGonigal, a game designer, who designed it to help her recover from a brain injury.

Today a colleague pointed out her TED talk, which I really enjoyed.

Autumn came to the mountains in late August, and they have been brilliantly yellow and red for a while, which has been stunning, but slow to come down to the valley. I’m not complaining. We drove up to Oktoberfest twice this year, and even though we didn’t attend any festivities the first time, the drive was brilliant. The second time we did play, and it was wonderful, but I should have known autumn was really coming. The wind was such that we couldn’t ride the chairlift, and within a few days it snowed. (At Snowbird.)

Today I woke up and noticed that it was not only rainy, but suddenly the ivy in the neighbors’ yards has turned a brilliant red. It’s actually rained all day, and while I realize it sounds crazy to many, that’s really strange for us. Even though it’s cold I’ve opened all the windows to let the fresh air in, and I made a huge pot of stew. All that’s left today is to dig into my knitting and it will be the perfect cozy autumn day.

Kaffe Fassett is a madman. My next door neighbor, MadQuilterBritt, is a huge fan of his, so when I shamlessly adopted her hobby, I paid extra attention to his fabrics and quilting books. They generally range from “vibrant” to “eye-achingly busy.”

One of my favorite Kaffe fabric designs

I was looking at one of his books at Elaine’s Quilt Block and one of the quilting mavens stopped and we started chatting. She told me that Kaffe (pronounced Kayf) himself had taught a class at the shop. He had guided the students in choosing their fabrics, and she said thte quilts that came out of the were beautiful. She also said that since then there has been considerable difficulty creating attractive all-Kaffe quilts.

I bring this up because, as well as designing fabric and quilt designs, Kaffe has designed knitwear, needlepoint, and at one point, a line of yarn for Regia. After hemming and hawing for a few months I picked up 50 gram balls, and have always had the intention of making them into fingerless gloves. Now that the weather has (deliciously) started to cool, it seemed like time for a pair, and this yarn came to mind immediately. I spent hours on Ravelry looking for just the right patterns. I wanted something more than a simple slit for the thumb, and I didn’t want anything so complicated I couldn’t knit in the car. I wasn’t finding quite what I wanted, so eventually I decided to go ahead and cast on 60 stitches and knit in a 2×2 rib. Just around the time I got to the thumb I had another Ravelry pattern-searching session, and I happened upon Jacoby.

Jacoby was perfect. Simple, attractive, and easy. So, without further ado…

Mike used to rock climb a fair amount, but then life caught up, and then he met this amazing girl, and, to make a long story short (too late!) it’s been a while. Tuesday night he decided he was going for the second time this year, and unlike the first time, I couldn’t think of any good reason not to go. I pulled back my hair, put on my best yoga capris, and packed three pairs of shoes… because what do I know about rock climbing and which shoes work for it? Turns out you rent climbing shoes with your harness. Who knew?

I am not so much known for my physical prowess, a least since I stopped dancing when I was 12. But everyone (Mike and the internet) kept telling me that climbing is more a matter of legs than arms. I figure that my legs generally support my weight, and even sometimes agree to let me do things like running and yoga, so I figured I’d give them a shot. My arms would come along for… I don’t know. People (the internet) were so fixated on the legs I didn’t know what to do with my arms, but I figured they’d pretty much automatically get in on the not-falling thing.

I won’t burden you with the details of my technique, as I’m not sure I have one, but I can tell you that I did the easiest run three times. The first time I got up about halfway, the next time 2/3, and then 4 holds from the top. I would very much have liked to do those last four holds, but my left hand wouldn’t hold on to things anymore. Apparently the technical term for this condition is “stupid hands.”

I told my friend Marielle that I would do a post with some of my photos from the Cowichan Cultural Center… err, Centre (Canada) over a month ago. (If you would like to read more about the development of the Cowichan Sweater, the Wikipedia article is useful.)

The Cowichan started knitting right after sheep were introduced to Vancouver Island. The available sheep had downy coats with short wool, and they spun it into what we would now consider a bulky yarn. Though the Wiki only mentions knitting with the wool, at the museum they also mentioned goat and dog furs.

A flyer from a spinning wheel made from a foot-treadled sewing machine. Since Mike's hands are bigger than mine I asked him to put one in the photo for context.

I was sure I had a photo of the orifice, but I suddenly can’t find it. But trust me, it was large. You can see someone spinning on this type of wheel and the hugeness of the orifice here.

Most Cowichan knitters start with smaller projects like mittens and socks. Here you can see samples of some of the smaller projects. You’ll notice that everything is worked in a natural color yarn.

There would be the warmest socks ever.

While those pieces are beautiful, the items that really put Cowichan knitting on the map are the sweaters. Either pullovers or cardigans, they feature Fair Isle designs in natural colors. They are traditionally knit on eight double point needles, and feature a shawl collar. Here is my best photo of part of the sweater collection at the museum.

They are truly stunning. I found myself staring at them and admiring them the same way I look at at VanGogh.

My start at Hawaiian quilting came from… Hawaii! Yeah, I dedicated a whole afternoon to shopping. I went to Kamuki Dry Goods, which was a funny shop. It very much brings to mind what I imagine quilt shops looked like in the 70s. That said they had more Kona Cotton colors than I’ve ever seen anywhere, and I did get my hands on 4 patterns, three 22 inch square ones and one that even now seems like a big 44″ folly. I got two 22″ pieces in greens, and ed and bone-colored 44″ pieces.

The goods from Kamuki Dry Goods.

I know that Hawaiian quilting designs are supposed to have a spiritual aspect and strong symbolism, but I didn’t really have a guide, so I picked what I found pretty and decided to assign my own symbolism.

Here is the beginning of the Angels Trumpet pattern, basted down in white. You will notice that this is none of the fabric I got in Hawaii. Coupon at Joanns. 'Nuff said.

Seriously, this playing catch up, this thing where I tell myself “I really want to post this thing I did today, but I have to finish blogging Hawaii! And then Christmas! And the 2011 review, and then 2012…” By this point I’m feeling a little overwhelmed and nauseated and have to sit down and NOT blog until the feeling passes. It’s weird how much of this logic is floating around in our heads. I remember once going to a Bishop I had and telling him that I wanted a temple recommend, but I was quite upset because it would probably take me a few months to catch up on the tithing I had somehow been forgetting to pay. He looked and me and smiled kindly and said “Well, how about this. Why don’t you just way your tithing from here on out?” It was like a giant light bulb went on. I could just start where I am.

So here I am. Today’s work in of the from-home variety. I’m trying to update another three blogs, and my brain stopped about ten minutes ago. In a few more minutes I’ll probably go work on some quilting. I have a bunch of vintage sheets around. I bought them for a different project, but when I saw the Giant Vintage Star Quilt on In Color Order I decided I could spare some squares for it. After cutting the squares from the sheets I decided that I really needed some plain yellow for the background color. I just haven’t picked a shade yet. Any suggestions? (The suggestion doesn’t need to be a yellow.)

The Vintage sheet squares

It could be cool. You can't deny that it could be very, very cool.

Here is my favorite thing I’ve seen on Pinterest today:

As I tend to forget this kind of thing, I’m writing it here. This post’s events begin on Sunday, November 13, 2011. There. Whew. Sunday we did three things.

Beach!

We went to the Swap meet, where we both utterly failed to take any photos. It was fun, but quite hot. We spent about half of the circuit looking for some shave ice. (Why isn’t it called “shaved ice” in Hawaii?) And we met up with Mike’s colleagues and had dinner. Later I will show you the thing I made from the thing I got at the Swap Meet, but today is not that day.
The next day Mike got up and got ready for work. I lounged in bed for an extra half an hour and then got up intending to walk on the beach. Just as I was watching my first episode of The Colbert Report in ages I got a call from Mike saying that Ben, the producer, had said that it was the best day for me to hang out with them, and that I should meet them in the lobby in 5 minutes. Super excited at the thought of spending  the day with Mike, and with our friend Tom, and maybe getting to show the client that I can be awesome, I took the shortest shower of my life.

It turns out it was a great day to be with the guys. We had one interview, but everything else was B-roll, which meant driving all around Oahu getting pretty pictures. I love that kind of thing. I was mostly with Mike and Tom, who are fabulous company. Here we are getting footage of various stuff.

Mike and Tom make videos

Mike and Shannon enjoy filmmaking and the color orange

Tom "tapes" the Iolani Palace

Tom and Ben set up for our interview

Mike and Tom get footage of the Chinaman's Hat

Hawaii has very dramatic clouds

We did one interview with the the founder of the Puakea Foundation, Uncle Bobby. Uncle Bobby teaches traditional Hawaiian Koa canoes building to children and teenagers. During the interview, which happened in the He’eia State Park. Someone there sets out cat food for the local feral cats, so there were dozens of them around. I decided to start my eventual cat army with this one.

Kitty the First. And my cute Tom's Shoes.

Here are a few other photos I took during the day.

The tent where the canoes are built.

Beach! Again!

Honolulu's City Hall

One side note. I had jokingly told myself that since I was going to the place where Hawaii 5-0 is filmed, I would make it a goal to see Daniel Dae Kim while we were in Honolulu. First thing in the morning we drove to the area where the Iolani Palace, the Hawaiian Supreme Court building, and the Kamehameha Statue are. As we were pulling around the building what should wee see but Hawaii 5-0 filming. And as we were across the street filming, who should I see? Yep. Not too shabby for a joke goal.

Our second day in Hawaii we took the chance to wander around Waikiki and then hit the beach. We walked to Duke’s, and on the way enjoyed walking past the designer boutiques. I got my photo taken in front of the most interesting of them (to me.)

We had brunch at Duke’s, which had the dual advantages of having a view of the ocean and a brunch buffet, brunch buffet’s being one of our very favorite things.

Buffet! POG!

We walked through the International Marketplace and looked at kitsch. We searched for a bathing suit for Mike and ended up obtaining two bathing suits, 4 sarongs, and 2 towels. And we made a new friend…

After the bird poked at my glasses lenses it decided to go for the lips.

After the first of 5 trips to the ABC Store during out trip we got sunscreen and we grabbed the bus for the beach. We decided to go to Hanauma Bay. It was the only beach we had heard of with an entrance fee, but we had seen it on our tour the day before and it was the archetypal beach in my mind. White sand, palm trees growing on the beach, clear water, waves in the distance and a protected area with gentle bobbing over a reef with fish.

Hanauma Bay

Mike had never been snorkeling, and I liked teh idea of a beach with lockers right on the beach and a beach that was maintained and didn’t allow smoking. Snorkeling is startlingly aerobic. To enter this beach you pay a cover charge preservation fee and then watch a brief movie on preservation, and not touching (ruining) the reef, and not feeding the fish, and FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE NOT LETTING THE FISH TOUCH YOU. Because of this we spent the entire time we we snorkeling sucking in our stomachs as hard as we could as we went over the reef or saw a fish headed in anything that could be construed as being our direction. It was an effective film emotionally. At one point I couldn’t clear my mask and had to put a foot down, so as to not drown. My foot brushed the coral twice and I felt the rest of the day feeling kind of guilty. I had to keep telling myself that if I had drowned my whole body would have sunk onto the reef and that would have caused even more damage.

I’ll spare you the photos of us in bathing suits, but here I am in a nice, modest towel.

My new towel!

Post snorkeling sarong wearing and hugging

We took the bus back and walked back to the beach. We walked up and down while the sun set and then went to a sushi restaurant called Doraku, which we quite liked.

Sarong wearing during sushi

After the sushi we went to a mall food court and found a shave ice place. I can remember little of where it was or what it was called, but it was lovely. Mike had something called lilikoi that was sweet and salty. I like the sweet-salty thing usually, but my brain had a hard time with it. We walked around Waikiki enjoying our shave ice and checking out the paramilitary scene that was Waikiki during APEC.