Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas to everyone! Mike and I had a nice visit to Michigan for a good dose of real winter weather. It was great to visit all of our friends and family up there. We returned to Chucktown a few days before Christmas and are enjoying these few weeks of being less busy than normal.
Other things that have happened recently:

-We visited Jigar and Lawren and baby Jake on our way up to Michigan. Whenever I get to see new babies, I just can't get over how tiny they are. Anyhow, they all seem to be doing well, and it was fun to see them.
-We also got to see lots of babies (and their parents) in Ann Arbor. All are doing well, and seem to be developing personalities of their own.
-We've been cooking a lot. Mike and I each got cookbooks for Christmas, and they are the good kind of cookbooks - the kind where you can actually see yourself cooking the recipes. I got "Mexican Everyday" by Rick Bayless and Mike got "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" by Mark Bittman. We heartily recommend both books. Also, I got copies of some old family recipes and made my favorite Swedish Christmas rice for the first time.
-Christmas cookies were baked. Including some teensy little tiny ones.
-I've stocked up on wrapping paper for next year, but so far have managed to resist buying any clearance Christmas candy (despite several close calls).

Hope everyone has a healthy and happy new year!!!!

I'll have the chicken caesar salad, arrrrrr!

I can't believe it's December already!!
Tonight, Mike and I finally drove out to Daniel Island to try a place we've been really excited about. It's called Queen Anne's Revenge, and it is a pirate-themed restaurant. I was imagining it to be kind of like the waiting-in-line area of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyworld, only with seating and food. Which was actually pretty much what it was like - I was quite satisfied. The food was good, and the only disappointment was that the servers don't wear eyepatches, or say ARRRRRR or do anything pirate-y like that.
I made Mike pose for a picture with me, just so I would have something to post on the blog.


And just to show you what the place looks like, here are some pictures of the interior:

We also got our first Christmas tree yesterday. Our strategy was to go with a small-ish (real)tree and a very sturdy tree stand. I think it turned out pretty well, and it hasn't fallen over yet!

Back to the grind...

August was a busy month. We moved to our new spacious apartment which unfortunately is by the train tracks. I like to think we live on the wrong side of the tracks since it gives us a little edginess but I'm sure we don't. On our side of the track is a golf course subdivision.

After moving, I had to deal with finals and finishing up all the unfinished projects from the summer semester. Fortunately, it wasn't too bad. My incentive for finishing the semester was the fact that we were going to Disney World for the week break I had between summer and fall semesters. (That's us with Pooh at the Crystal Palace)

Disney was fun. We did all the parks: Animal Kingdom, Epcot, MGM, Magic Kingdom, Blizzard Beach, and Typhoon Lagoon. We stayed at a Disney resort so we got to take advantage of Extra Magic Hours which allowed us to go to some of the parks before everyone else and stay in the other parks longer than everyone else. Becky was stunned by how much you could get done at the parks if you arrived at the park right when they open (and this isn't counting Extra Magic Hours). At least at Disney, the early bird does get the worm.

This was our first time at Animal Kingdom. The park was impressive. The Africa section really gave you the feeling of being in an African outpost except there weren't many black people there. So, it was like Africa if Africa was only populated by white tourists in loud clothes eating smoked turkey legs. Expedition Everest was cool with lots of spinning in the dark backwards.

I hadn't been to Epcot in awhile, but Mission Space is definitely the bee's knees. I don't know why anyone would do the ride without the spinning option, but there it was at 10pm, a super long line for the lame-o version of the ride. Sure, if you have problems with motion sickness maybe the non-spinning option is best. Anyway, I also got to play with the Wii and ride on a Segway at Epcot. Apparently, I was the only person in my family who hadn't played the Wii and I had to drive to Orlando to do it. Yes. I, too, am lame.

But now, we're back in Charleston. School has already started and work's been pretty busy. We're switching to a computerized charting system next week. That's about it. Go Cats!

Every meal is a deal

It's Friday night, and Mike and I decided to go out to dinner. There is a deli/Italian restaurant down the street from us that I had never tried, so we decided to check it out tonight. Their sign out front advertises "Freshest food in town!" and "Every meal is a deal". We ordered and were happily munching on our calamari and bread, when the waitress brought our entrees to the table. I looked down at my lasagna and noticed, to my dismay, that the lasagna had fuzzy mold growing on it. We flagged the waitress over and showed her, she apologized and took it back to the kitchen. I briefly began mulling over whether I wanted to chance it with a replacement lasagna, or whether I wanted something else...

And then the waitress brings the lasagna back, sets it down in front of me, and tells me that the chef says "it's just the meat," as if that is how meat is supposed to be. We were stunned. It took me a minute to process the fact that they actually expected me to eat moldy lasagna. Eventually, after I clarified that I had no intention of eating that lasagna, they got me some spaghetti (without meat, given that apparently their meat comes with fur).

I'm not that mad. But it was pretty funny. That was definitely not how I expected that to go.
That definitely takes some chutzpah, to bring back the same moldy lasagna.

So.... definitely avoid Nathan's Bella Napoli, on Ashley River Rd in West Ashley.

Tragedies

Last night, Mike and I went out to dinner. As we drove to the restaurant, we noticed a huge cloud of smoke rising from down the street, and emergency vehicles kept flying past us. We figured that there was a fire somewhere nearby. This morning, we learned that 9 firefighters were killed in that fire. It's a terrible loss for our community.

Two weeks ago, an aircraft carrying a University of Michigan transplant team crashed. Six people were killed, including Richard Chenault, who lived across the street from my parents. He was a father, a nurse, a high school cross-country coach, and he worked tirelessly to promote organ donation.

The world needs more people like these. You can read profiles of the U of M crash victims here.
You can read profiles of the Charleston firefighters here.

Night Shift

Last Thursday and Friday night, I worked my first night shifts at the hospital (12 hour shifts from 7p to 7a). They're definitely a different beast from day shifts. The floor's much quieter at night, but unfortunately that doesn't translate to being less busy. It's been a rough few days trying to trick my circadian rhythms. Friday was really rough because I couldn't sleep during the day. It didn't help that I got on the wrong bus and ended up on James Island. Anyway, I was really struggling near the end of that shift. Fortunately, I was so exhausted Saturday morning that all I could do was sleep. Unfortunately, Becky had convinced me to run the Riverdog's Run Forrest Run 5K later that afternoon. A) I really could have used the sleep. B) I'm not really the running type though I've been trying real hard lately to put some miles on my shoes. But I ran (ok, I walked some of it) the 5K in less than 37 minutes, which meant I got to finish at home plate with high fives from the Riverdogs, the Bubba Gump shrimp mascot, Charlie the Riverdog (I think he was there), and a Forrest Gump impersonator. Of course, Becky totally lapped me finishing at least 15 minutes ahead of me. We stayed for the game which included a golf umbrella give away (almost as dangerous as bat day). By the time we got home, I was already asleep again. I've another night shift tonight and two more this weekend. Then, I'll be officially off orientation which I'm greeting with some dread and relief. It'll be nice to finally be on my own, but it definitely has been nice and comforting to work with someone with way more experience.

Last weekend.

Last weekend, Mike and I both had the weekend off. We had considered going away for the weekend, but in the end decided to stay here and have a "vacation" at home.

Friday night, we went to opening day for the Charleston Battery, our local USL soccer team. They play in their own stadium on Daniel Island, which is actually pretty cool. They have a decent selection of food and beverages, you get to sit really close to the action (the front row seats are only about 10 feet from the edge of the playing field), and the seats are comfortable and reasonably priced. My only complaint is that the game ended in a 0-0 tie, so we never got to see any actual goals scored. However, we did score some free beers, so I guess I can be satisfied with that.

Saturday we went shopping and ate out at Al di La, a restaurant I had been wanting to try for a while. It was very very good. I had gnocchi and Mike ordered duck. We also tried the bruschetta (which was sooooo good), and the chocolate-almond custard for dessert (which was also fantastic).

Sunday we drove out to Edisto Beach. One of the nicest things about living here in Charleston is that we are so close to the beach. Usually, when we want to go to the beach, we drive to Folly Beach. However, this time we decided to try heading a little further out to Edisto. The drive was very interesting. Edisto definitely feels and is more rural. The beach area we went to felt kind of like something out of Jurassic Park. When we followed the signs directing us to Edisto's "Business District," it turned out to be about one block, with a souvenir shop, a surf shop, and an ice cream/video rental shop.

It was a very relaxing weekend.

Update

Well, it's been a while since I've posted anything here, so I'm just going to summarize what we've been up to lately.

On March 31, I completed the Cooper River Bridge Run, a large 10k run here in Charleston. This was my second 10k race ever, the first having been 12 years ago (and boy does that make me feel old). I'd been training for it since early January, and my goal was to finish in under an hour from the time I crossed the starting line (a.k.a. "chip time"). Not only did I beat that goal by 4 minutes, but I also finished in under an hour from when the starting gun went off (a.k.a. "gun time"), which meant that my official time, as printed in the newspaper, was 59:58. I was pretty happy, but had to deal with some big-time soreness for about 4 days afterwards.
Also, on a related note, congrats to Eulynn, who finished the Cherry Blossom 10-miler the next day.

My sister and my mom came to visit for a few days. They did a ton of shopping and went to the beach. It was fun to see them, and I think they enjoyed escaping the chilly April weather in Michigan.

Mike and I went to Opening Day for the Riverdogs, our local minor-league baseball team. It was a pretty uneventful game, with almost as many errors as hits. And this weekend is the Ballpark Festival of Beers!

Oscar Picks

Eulynn sent me an email, reminding me that it's time for Oscar predictions.

As per my usual methods, I've seen very few of the movies involved. (To put this into a positive light, I could say that I am untainted by emotional attachments to the films.) So I don't know if I can even come up with a "Should win" list.

As usual, I reserve the right to change my picks up until the show starts.

Best picture - This is, as usual, the toughest choice. I just can't make up my mind. This may be one of my last minute desperation decisions.
Best actor - Easy. I had this pick made months ago: Forest Whitaker.
Best actress - Second year in a row of breaking the "Always pick Judi Dench" rule: Helen Mirren.
Supporting actor - I'll take Eddie Murphy.
Supporting actress - Jennifer Hudson.
Director - I'm really struggling over whether to choose Clint Eastwood or Martin Scorsese. I'm currently leaning towards Scorsese, but it's a really tough call. Underestimating Eastwood's popularity has burned me before, but they may also want to finally give Scorsese his due.
Adapted screenplay - The Departed.
Original screenplay - I'm still trying to choose between Babel, Little Miss Sunshine, and The Queen.
Animated feature - Cars.
Documentary feature - An Inconvenient Truth.

Bonus prediction: Al Gore is NOT running for president.

This one's for you, Brad!

Especially since you seem to be our only reader.






I actually finished this a couple of days ago, but didn't post a picture because I was waiting to get some googly eyes to put on it. Mike didn't want me to get googly eyes, because he was afraid I'd go all Amy Sedaris on him, and start putting googly eyes on everything.
Which, I confess, is exactly why I was so excited about getting a pack of googly eyes.

So anyhow, my trilobite is finally finished. Wierdly, it turns out that someone had already posted a pattern for a trilobite. I didn't know this when I started knitting mine, but I think that my own rendition actually isn't too bad.

Give 'em the boot, the roots the radicals

Last week, Becky found an idea on this blog to have a weekly theme dinner night. I was game. I haven't cooked much since we got married. In fact, I'm not sure I've done any. But I figured the theme night would give me a challenge and motivation to get back in the kitchen. So, we made a list of possible themes, put them in a bag, and pulled one for last week. I pulled root vegetables. I had a week to come up with a menu that featured root vegetables. After a little cookbook searching, I came up with the following menu for Sunday night's dinner: quick-braised root vegetables with hoisin (courtesy of Mark Bittman's "Best Recipes in the World") served with brown rice, carrot walnut layer cake, and, of course, root beer.

The root vegetables were actually quite good. If you've never tried parsnips, I would highly recommend at least trying this root which is a good source of calcium, folate, potassium, and dietary fiber (according to the Publix flyer). The carrot cake was very dry, almost stale. I bought it at Earth Fare thinking they would have good prepared foods there. Well, I was wrong. Becky got Virgil's Root Beer and I got Boylan's Natural Root Beer. The Virgil's was very herbal, but the Boylan's was very vanilla-y which made it taste more cream soda than root beer.

Next week: Foods that start with "C"

Knit-a-long

I've been on a real knitting tear lately. I've always knitted mittens as a hobby, but lately I've been pulling off much more complicated and larger-scale projects. There are just so many cool knitting patterns and ideas out there!

I've also gotten involved in a new group that is getting together to provide knitting instruction and supplies to cancer patients. Our first knitting circle was tonight, and although there weren't many people, it was a start. I think this is a pretty cool idea, so I hope that the group takes off.

I promise not to turn this into a knitting blog, but here are a few of the items I've knitted lately:

A trio of sea creatures.

On the left is Nautie, the nautilus (pattern is from Knitty). In the middle is Larry the lobster (a pattern I made up as I went along (!)). On the right is Sheldon the turtle (pattern is from Knitty as well). The coolest thing about Sheldon is that his shell is a separate piece, so he can come completely out of his shell.

In a similar vein, I made this baby hat. It was inspired by this pattern, but I made mine differently, because I thought I could make it look a little more frog-like. I would like to make the matching booties, but this particular yarn is a real hassle to work with, so it's one of the projects that I keep on putting off.

I made these chemo caps for a member of our church. The left one is a crochet design I made up, with a crocheted flower pin attached. The right one is basically this Knitty pattern, but with the top done in k4-p1 ribbing rather than stockinette. And please excuse the appalling bathroom wallpaper.

These are three of the ballband warshrags I made. I found the pattern in Mason Dixon Knitting , but you can also find the pattern inside the ballband of Peaches & Creme yarn (which is what I used).

I'm not the only one who's been knitting. Here is Mike's felted belt. He used a pattern from Knitting with Balls, a book about men and knitting, which was a gift from Eulynn (it's written by a friend of hers). Thanks, Eulynn!

And last, but not least, an assortment of mittens and hats for Grandma's mitten tree next year.

Daily Double

Note to all Jeopardy! contestants:

If you are appearing on the show, and you don't have any entertaining anecdotes to relate during the "Meet the contestants" portion of the show, you should go ahead and make something up. Because there's nothing more pathetic than a contestant who can't even come up with ONE interesting story from their life.
And also, as a viewer, I always root for the contestant with the best anecdote. Because if your first appearance's anecdote is lame, that means we'll be treated to successively lamer anecdotes each day thereafter, until you finally lose.

Here is one guy's tale of his Jeopardy! appearance.

Lowcountry living

Today, the local weather forecast included a salute to "People working outside." Because apparently, with the temperature only reaching the "mid-upper 50s", continuing to work outside qualifies you as some kind of hero.

I've had a couple of years to adjust to the southern climate, but winters here in Charleston are even warmer than Atlanta. It's camellia season here, so that means that the trees around our apartment are in bloom. In January. My northerner brain is having a difficult time wrapping itself around this phenomenon. Fortunately, the weather looks promising for the Lowcountry Oyster Festival this weekend. However, it's BYO knife and glove, so I need to figure out where I can get those...

As I write this, the Charleston City Council is considering a proposal that would ban smoking in nearly all workplaces. I really hope they pass it... whenever we go back to Atlanta, I am reminded of how nice it is to be able to go out to a bar and not come home reeking of smoke. Plus, it's a step in the right direction. It still drives me nuts that motorcyclists in SC are not required to wear helmets.

Well, I'm off to check out the Oscar nominations and to get ready for the State of the Union.