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!