Today is run to the store and buy enough food to last till Sunday. The food is mainly for Christamas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after. I have a whole menu planned, but several items are sort of iffy. Do you think I can find passion fruit this time of year? I want to make some muffins from one of my Donna Hay cookbooks that are wrapped in parchment, but the recipe calls for 1/3 cup of passion fruit pulp. I know I could probably omit the pulp, or replace it with something, but I have not advanced that far in the art of baking and cooking to know what I could replace it with, so I have a backup Christmas morning muffin type thing hanging in the wings.
And also..even though I bought a GIANT stock pot big enough for the glorious duck,...I think we may be switching tactics and doing some beef tenderloin instead. Damn you Ina Garten and your yummy stuff. And by the way, for anyone wanting Ina's Roasted Duck recipe, it's in her new book Barefoot in Paris. (which I am totally in love with) I also have to clean my oven to prepare for high heat roasting so I don't smoke us out. I am really looking forward to that, let me tell you.
And finally...I am SO happy, so very very very very happy. I can't wait!
I am done with Christmas shopping and mailing! And as of today I am officially on VACATION! I wish I could talk about what I gave this year, but everyone who I am giving to reads this so....I'll have to wait until after Christmas. I have had a TON of fun this year buying gifts for my loved ones...too much fun.
I bought some AMAZING paper at a store downtown called Scarlet Impress. I bought the Map of France, and the Map of Paris (scroll down) and I can't imagine doing anything with them because they are so beautiful. Come to think of it,...there are several sheets of that paper I would like to have. I quite like the skeleton/chart as well.
There are extremely cool Knit Wit related items at the Cafe Press shop Amy set up. I think my favorite is the baseball jersey. Last minute gifts!
I am also very very excited that Kim has decided to start a blog. Finally!
Today I am going to have coffee with my friend Karan, and then it's a run to the craft store. I have had my book idea get the "go ahead" AND have been asked to write/ illustrate another. TWO books! Christmas came early to Erica.
Oh..what else? We have been approved for financing and can officially look for a new home. I have been jealously watching friends and colleagues purchase home these past few years while we got out of debt, cleaned our credit, and saved like crazy. Now it's finally our turn and I feel surprising laissez-faire about the whole thing. I am sure that will change once we actually start looking INSIDE of houses.
We got an early Christmas present from my parents this weekend when the UPS man delivered a fancy new Kitchen Aid mixer! Both my brother and I got one because mom had one while we were growing up and how can you not love a Kitchen Aid mixer!? I had to rearrange the counter in order to find a home for it and I have already broken it in with a batch of sugar cookies. Now I can realistically lust after the ice cream maker attachment!
I am really loving a few things I have seen around my normal haunts lately. Items of note:
Superhero Journals Gift Ideas- truly fabulous. Miniature Paintings by the lady miss susie- I have to do this someday, they are so charming. Richard Scary link provided by I Like- One of my all time favorites from my youth. The other day I was trying to remember what kind of books I had when I was little and the only ones I could think of where Richard Scary and a fairy tale book I had. I am sure I had more but they obviously weren't as memorable.
And finally...Iron Chef America with commentary by Alton Brown. YES.
Please, please, please, please, please let this not be a total let down. Remember that horrible version they tried with William Shatner? I hated that one...with the commentators in those stupid bright yellow Howard Cosell jackets.
A new banner is coming, I promise. I have been so uninspired and creatively bored lately that it's become a total chore. Whine, whine, whine...! I am so happy about the forums on the illustration friday site, however, it's a nice sense of community.
I am currently channeling my angst into cleaning up the spare room/office to make it more enjoyable and more like a studio or personal space to create. I want to get these Vika Artur trestles and a hollow core door to make a super snazzy, extra long desk. I really don't have a dedicated space to create. Usually I do whatever I am doing on a TV tray in the living room in front of the TV. That gets old. Especially when I have to drag out my paints, brushes, paper, and another TV tray to hold it all. I invariably end up bumping a tray and spill something all over my ivory couch. Sometimes even the thought of dragging all of that stuff out is too overwhelming that I give up before I begin. So..new office/desk set up is a immediate goal for 2005. I also REAALLY need a bookshelf. It's gonna be cool. Eventually.
