Early December

December is actually lovely here. We've had a few truly cold days with temps in the 20s and 30s (which, I suppose, only goes to show that "cold days" is a relative term), but most days have been crisp and beautiful.

Most days. That day I coerced my knitting friends into joining a marathon relay around White Rock Lake in Dallas? That day? That day it was 40 degrees and raining. Also, my birthday. While standing around in running clothes in the cold rain waiting for the baton (and runner) to arrive was unpleasant, the run itself wasn't too bad. It was wet (so much so that my digital watch became waterlogged and no longer works), it was cold, it was slippery - but it was also oddly life-affirming and just my kind of crazy. But it was COLD. Here's a picture of me about an hour after the race, getting ready to eat breakfast. I think I had all the warm, dry clothes on that I'd brought, plus anything additional I'd managed to scavenge up from the car. I swear I'm not really that puffy!

 As an aside, Natalie has taken to calling umbrellas "rainbrellas".

But other days have been really nice. Here are a few pictures from the park near our house.

 

A really nice day? The day Mike cooked me a special dinner for my birthday.
We started with bruschetta two ways.

Then, carrot risotto:

Followed by Quelez Palace Cod:

And we wrapped up with chocolate souffle.

It was all amazingly delicious.

Aaaand, back to the star of this blog: here's the elfin child all dressed up to go on a walk. She's wearing a handknit sweater, made by Mike's grandmother.

Here's the kitty cat doing her various kitty cat things around the house.

She looks sweet - and she is, she so is. But she also definitely has her moments. Like, the other day at breakfast, she was screaming about both wanting to eat her pear and to get down from her high chair. I told her that I couldn't understand her, so she would need to use her regular voice. Her reply? "No! I want to use my cwying voice." Well, okay then. Glad we got that settled.

We also went to a very lovely holiday party last weekend. I hadn't done a big baking project in a while, so I went crazy with a bûche de Noel. I made chocolate sponge cake. I used the whipped cream filling that accompanied the cake recipe, and added about 2 teaspoons of peppermint extract to it. I then topped it with the Cook's Illustrated chocolate ganache (I don't read this blog, but the recipe is there).

And here's Natalie in her holiday best:

This is likely our last post of 2011, so we wish you all happy holidays and a happy new year, and we'll catch you in 2012. Don't use your cwying voice too much!