Urp

Mmmm. I was watching Bizarre Foods last night, and it was making me hungry. Sounds strange, I know, but the episodes I was watching, he was in Asia. I love Asian foods--Japanese, Chinese (of all varieties), Thai, Korean.... Yeah. Lesson one in food allergies: You don't get allergic to things you're never exposed to.

Ahem. So, anyway. I was jonzin' for some potstickers. I mean, seriously jonzin'. Today, my father, my wonderful, wonderful father, went to the local German butcher shop, where they very kindly (and for, I'm sure, adequate financial renumeration) took a pork shoulder and ground it up. Et voila:

Be chill. That's balsamic vinegar in the bowl. Granted, it's been a while since I last had soy sauce, but it's a very similar taste. A little sweet and not salty enough, but close.

I gorged.


Dooooo do. Dooooooo do. Doo do doo do dooo do doooo do.....

After sharing my pork bounty (and store bought wonton wrappers totally rock) with Msr. Le Sharkie there, I decided to post. Heh. What you don't see in that picture above is the glass of elderberry mead I've been drinking. Lucky you.

Tonight I had to attend church services. Be the only singer for the English speaking service (well, there's a second, but she's very pregnant, so I can't just assume anything) and you will go to church more than you've ever done in your life. Anyway, we have a very pretty church. And, having a large number of Hispanic members, we tend to decorate for the holidays like you wouldn't believe. Never let it be said that Hispanic craftsmen are unskilled:

Our creche. I don't know what that 'rock' is made of, but there's a small side altar underneath all that. The blue robed shepherd is at about the level of the altar, Mary, Joseph and Sweet Baby Jesus are on top of the tabernacle. Oh, but look!

Pig! Would there really be pigs in a pen for domesticated animals in Judea in the first centuries BCE/CE? Or any other era? I doubt it. I think it's safe to say the Middle Eastern pork industry is...not sizeable. But he's kind of cute, anyway. They've also added a cardinal (which I didn't get a close up of, owing to there's a Wise Man in the way of a clear shot) and another bird that looks much more like a wren than any Middle Eastern bird. Then again, I've never been, so I'm not sure what sort of bird they have. Maybe they even have cardinals in Bethlehem.

These are our windows (the upper rows--there's a whole 'nother set under those arches at the bottom). I feel there will be fair isle pattern modeled after those windows. Just have to decide what I'm going to make of them. And then find yarn that has the same/similar colors (which will be hard, as the glass is variegated, even within the same colors). Ah, but very pretty!

I don't celebrate the new year on this date (I know it's a calendar thing, I just don't think mid-winter is really the time to celebrate a new beginning), so I'll be off to bed soon. Happy new year to them as what celebrates tonight. Slan.

In 2009, may your milk never curdle, your hens always lay and your husband remember your anniversary. ;-)