Christmas in Kansas

It is that time of the year again. I don't know how it happened! Where did this year go!??!?!
Here in Kansas we have been saving up -so we decided to wait till the after-season specials to buy Xmas decorations. But that didn't stop the Xmas spirit because, well, it cannot be stopped! Yesterday at some point in the morning, while talking to my little sister A, I felt a burst of excitement when I remembered mom had given Q and I a beautiful angel last Xmas. I rushed downstairs to look for it in the basement. I found it in a box labeled "Xmas," of course, and discovered it wasn't the only thing there! There were a few more ornaments, mostly gifts from our very first Xmas as a married couple, and so the Xmas decoration craze began. Mom's angel saved our Christmas spirit this year.
Well, Q was working that morning, but he gave us the internet radio tip, and A and I turned on the Xmas station and went to work. We made little paper bows to decorate everything! We put gift wrap in our picture frames! We made a Christmas tree with some veil from the wedding! We jumped and danced and laughed uncontrollably! Q came home soon after, and he got us some egg-nog and made us some wonderful dinner. We watched "A Charlie Brown's Christmas" and ate Q's spaghetti (no one makes it better than him!)
We had quite a wonderful, Xmas-y day :)

Carrot cake!

My little sister A and I went a little crazy on Wednesday and made a carrot cake from scratch. The frosting was amazing! The rest of the cake is still under deliberation: A thinks it was not spongy enough; I think it was fine. Q has refrained from commenting much. LoL. Either way, it was fun. Or at the very least, funny. Look, a pic of me looking like I have an invisible hand. Hahaha! Yay for cooking!

3-day Extravaganza

Had a wonderful, relaxing weekend. I had to skip work on Friday, which made for a long weekend.. and Q and I were so tired from a hectic, crazy week, that we decided not to do laundry, or clean, or do anything productive... instead, we cooked, ate, went to downtown L, ate, came back, and ate some more (and did some other unmentionable stuff as well.. heehee). We just had such a great time! It was relaxing and lazy and cozy. And it was crazy and exciting and mindblowing! We had so much fun I had no time to blog. We ended up with a mess! But we don't care. It was perfect. A little vacation right at home.

Among our many (big and little) excitements of the weekend was our cooking adventure: potstickers (or gyoza). We have them all the time, but always at a restaurant or with our take-out. I'd been meaning to make them for a while, so there was great fear and anticipation. LoL. We made the wrappers from scratch, stuffed them, and fried them... and they were absolutely perfect! We even got the right blend for the sauce from an Asian cooking blog (email me for the link). We had them with ramen -I always get a watery mouth from watching Miyasaki's characters eating from their bowls. I felt like I was the 7 year old in Ponyo. YUM. Now we just need to get the special bowls with the lids and we'll be set!! Well, here's a pic of our little culinary accomplishment. Que rico!!


Today we saw Qs parents and had a great meal at Esquina. Q and I tried out the restaurant for the first time this weekend (part of our 3-day extravaganza) and loved it. Second time was not a disappointment. Can't wait for Thanksgiving dinner with the Ms! I still have work tomorrow, but after that I will only have a week left at BB, then I will be free! Yaaaay!!! Very excited to go back to my calligraphy business :)
Happy holidays everyone!