Alsace Pizza

If I had ever gotten around to blogging about our trip to Europe last year, you would already know a bit about what this is, but I never did. (someday I will finish the digital photo book and figure out a way to share it online).

There is a region in France called Alsace, that is German speaking and produces a lot of wine. This pizza is something we experienced while staying at the chalet with my Aunt & Uncle and their friends in Switzerland. It was so tasty that I was inspired to try making it here after we got back (thanks to some pizza crusts that I got through work). So I set out to find a recipe, since my memory of how to make it was pretty vague. I found this lovely blog that listed some good instructions.

This is what it looks like before it goes in the oven.

This is after it's baked.

And this is sliced and ready to eat with a green salad. So tasty!

diving back into the world of sewing

A good long while ago my Mom told me she was going to get rid of her sewing machine because she bought a new one. I intercepted it's path to the MCC Store and arranged to have it come live with me instead.

Now it's been sitting there for a very long time. Michael keeps thinking that I'll use it to mend his clothes or something, but thus far that has not happened.

After our trip to BC, where we stayed with my friend Colleen who is a sewer, I was inspired to get this machine out, dust it off and make something. Sewing after all is much better than knitting when you require a last minute gift (I don't know of anything that I can knit and complete in an hour, although I have knit a baby hat on the way to the hospital, but that was a 2 hour drive).

I decided to start with a little project for a baby shower at work. Sewing is also convenient because there are two fabric stores that are less than a 5 minute walk from my work.

This is my very first rag quilt. Here are all the cut squares ready to be sewn.

Squares where the layers have been sewn together and are laid out ready for me to sew them together.

(please don't ask me how long it took me to figure out the layout for this, even though I was following a web tutorial)

Sewing the squares into strips.

Look ma! I did it!

Final step involved a lot of cutting (so much that I got a little blister on my thumb) and then some time in the washing machine for a final result that looked like this:

Easy-peasy. Probably took me a total of 3 hours to make. Awesome! And it was a big hit at the shower.

Michael's first pair of hand knit socks!

Ok, so Michael has been hesitant to let me knit for him, in case he ends up not liking it or wearing it (he's scared that I might get mad at him, which is probably not an unreasonable thing to fear). I knit him matching mitts, scarf and toque when we were dating and he only wears the mitts, and I do give him a hard time about that.

He is even more scared of letting me knit socks, because he might get a hole in them the first time he wears them or something equally disastrous.

In Germany last year, he found some sock yarn that he liked, so I said I would buy it make him a pair of socks out of it. He reluctantly agreed.

This is the finished product. I even managed to find an embellishment to keep myself interested and him from feeling emasculated.

Pretty nice looking socks, eh?

And Michael found out that hand knit socks really are awesome and comfortable! (I also promised not to get mad at him when they wear out.)

Park on Eagle Mountain

On another day, we hung out with my cousin Sylvia and her husband Paul. They have three kids, Dawson, Eve and Cadence (sorry no pictures of Cadence, she just slept in the stroller while we were at the park).

The lovely view from the park, which is up on Eagle Mountain, a housing development in Abbotsford, what a spectacular view!

Eve enjoying the swing, Dawson wandering around.

Sylvia and I chatting and trying to stay warm. Again, thanks for hanging out with us Paul & Sylvia, we had fun!

ice skating inside

While we were in BC we decided to gather up some friends and go to a public skate. It's been ages since I did this! Michael and I have skated outdoors on the river in Manitoba, but never on an indoor rink.

My cousin Heidi took her son Sam out for his first ice skate adventure.

That's me, hanging with friends and their kids. I finally got to test drive the new skates I got for Christmas (so nice to have some designed for wide feet!).

So, friends, it was great to see you at the skating. Thanks for coming out!

Vancouver Game Farm

Michael and I got to spend the day with my cousin H & her husband C and their son, S. We went to Fort Langley for lunch and found a playground.

Then we headed to Vancouver Game Farm for the afternoon. I have not been there for a very long time. It was good fun!

S enjoyed another playground there. Including this lovely slide: We had a great day! Thanks C & H & S!

trip to BC (hooray for seat sales)

We booked tickets to BC way back in the fall. Turns out that my Opa Friesen passed away just a few days before we flew out. We got to be there for the funeral, which was really good. It was nice to see the whole family together and get some time to hang out with cousins and aunts and uncles.

My Opa had apparently been stashing his change in a special account for the grandkids, so that when he passed away we would all get a chunk of money so that we could buy something to remember him by. He had a conversation with Oma one day, where he said that us grandkids would all have something to remember her by, something that she had made, a cross stitched wall hanging, a crocheted table cloth, hand knit socks and dish cloths, but he didn't make stuff, so how would his grandkids remember him. That's where the stashing change for his grandkids began.

I had to think for a while about what I would buy to remember Opa by, something permanent, not temporal. I couldn't really think of anything off the top of my head, but Michael had a great idea. Michael suggested buying artwork for the walls of our house. I thought this was brilliant, it's one of those things that I have always wanted to do, but just wasn't in our budget. Opa had a passion for photography, so it made sense to me. I did a little shopping in Mission and found this piece.

For some reason, it grabbed me. I think Opa would've liked it, the title is 'learning' which is something he loved. I haven't spent all of the remember me money yet, I'm still looking for something else to grab me, or possibly I'll frame a picture or two of my own.   

We stayed with friends for this trip to BC, which was really really nice. It meant a little more driving, but that was nice too, it gave Michael and I some alone time to chat about things that happened during the day. This is Michael reading in bed...he got a head lamp for me for Christmas, and he's taken to using it to read when I'm trying to sleep. (seems like one of those gifts he bought for me because he actually really wanted to use it himself!)

While we were in Abbotsford we got to see Dan & Jenn, our former tenants and current friends. It was great to see them again and even more awesome that we could do it at Afterthoughts, that is something about Abbotsford that I miss from time to time.

This is my Mom and Oma. We had a little mini Christmas with my family, even though it was January and my Oma joined us. Beautiful ladies, eh?

ketchup!

Michael and I went to the store and bought 16 large tins of ketchup. I don't know if I've ever felt that ridiculous in a grocery store ever before. I felt like one of those women with the shopping cart entirely full of milk. I always wonder what they could possible do with that much milk. I guess today I was the one everyone was wondering about. What on earth could I possible do with that much ketchup?

Convert it into honey, of course!

How you ask? Well, a local honey producer donated an entire pallet of honey to SM, and that is a lot of honey, more than the kitchen can store or use up in a reasonable amount of time. So, they put up a list of things they really needed and we could bring in these items as a trade for one of the pails (15kg) of honey. We chose ketchup off the list. All in all, a pretty sweet deal. Ha!

my first knitted baby blanket

And no, it wasn't for me. I knit this for a friend. After spending the first quarter of it struggling to get the pattern right and ripping back numerous times, I finally got my head wrapped around it and was able to speed through the second half. Absolutely beautiful, eh?

We had lunch with N&M at their place the day I delivered the finished blanket. Here Michael and I are having some cuddle time with Sofia.

Auntie sharing her cookies with Sofia.

K&P and Phoebe were also there for lunch.

Michael holding Phoebe. And me holding Phoebe.

Kids are so freaking cute!

Siloam Mission Staff Appreciation Event

Instead of a Christmas Party, Siloam Mission does a staff appreciation event in January (when the busy-ness of Christmas is over).

I am on the Celebrations Committee, and as a team we planned this event. Do you like the lovely place cards? Our graphic designer created those little symbols so the server would know which plate belongs where.

Michael and I dressed up and enjoying our awesome food!

Brendan & Erin (Brendand works in the Volunteer Services Department with me).

Brendan showing off the salmon dish.

  

Me & Erin (and a good shot of my new do).

  

Diane with baby Cassidy.

  

The table centre pieces. This was a collaborative effort between Delores and myself. Our whole party was a snow man theme, and these were the centre pieces.