Merry Christmas!

And a recipe to share for the season!  Super easy, but looks much more impressive!

Peppermint Bark

 

Ingredients

• 12 ounces (about 2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped, or chocolate chips.  Milk chocolate or dark chocolate can also be used.
• 12 ounces (about 2 cups) white chocolate, chopped, or white chocolate chips
• 1 bag peppermint hard candies (you could also use candy canes)
• 1/2 tsp peppermint extract

Directions

1. Coarsely crush the peppermint candies.  The method we usually use is to place the candy canes in a tightly sealed, large Ziploc bag, then use a rolling pin or meat tenderizer to roll/smash the candy canes until they are the desired size.  Another method is to unwrap the peppermints and place them in a food processor. Pulse on/off several times for 5-10 seconds each, until the candies have been crushed into small pieces.
2. Prepare a cookie sheet by covering it with smooth aluminum foil or waxed paper.
3. Melt the dark chocolate.  Use a double boiler or a bowl over a pan of boiling water.  Be sure to stir constantly.  You could also use the microwave: microwave in medium, microwave-safe bowl on Medium-high (70 percent) power for 1 minute; stir. Microwave at additional 10- to 20-second intervals, stirring until smooth.  Be careful if you're using the microwave though, as it's very easy (and smelly!) to burn the chocolate.
4. Pour the chocolate onto the prepared cookie sheet and use a spatula or knife to spread it to an even thickness.  Remember, the thicker the chocolate, the harder it is to bite into once it's set, so you don't want it too thick!  The chocolate does not have to reach all sides of the sheet, as it will be broken up later anyhow. 
5. Place the tray in the refrigerator to firm up while you prepare the white chocolate.
6. While the dark chocolate hardens, melt the white chocolate, again in the double boiler or bowl-and-pot set-up. Stir in the peppermint extract.  Optional: stir in some of the smaller candy bits, reserving about a quarter of the mixture to put on top.
7. Remove the tray from the refrigerator and spread the white chocolate in an even layer over the dark chocolate.
8. While the white chocolate is still wet, sprinkle the remaining candy pieces evenly over the entire surface. Press down very lightly to make sure that they stick. Place the tray back in the refrigerator to set.  This usually takes at least 30 minutes.
9. Once the peppermint bark bark is completely set, break into small, uneven pieces by hand.
10. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Here you see the finished candy as it looks on the tray.  You break it apart like English toffee or peanut brittle.

You can see the layers of  the candy a little bit better here.  Sorry it's a little blurry, though.  I don't have a great super-zoom sort of lens on my simple point-and-shoot camera.

 

Some thoughts, notes, and variations:

• The amounts of chocolate are just estimates.  More or less chocolate won't really make a difference in the final product - just means you have more or less of a given layer (not one of those recipes where you can't use egg replacer instead of eggs, for example).  In the batch pictured, we used 18 oz. white chocolate (3 6-oz boxes of Baker's White Chocolate) and 16 oz semi-sweet (2 8-oz boxes of Baker's Semi-sweet Chocolate).  Why?  Because that's what the commissary had :)
• Always use good quality chocolate.  Besides tasting better as an end product, the layers will set better and not peel apart.
• It is common to see peppermint bark made with only one chocolate layer (usually white chocolate) and the candies. I like the layers, but if you don't, feel free to omit it.  Alternatively, if you don't like white chocolate, it is acceptable to just use the semi-sweet.
• If you are mixing in candy pieces into the white chocolate layer, you want the larger pieces on the top, as they are more decorative, and the smaller pieces mixed in.  Here is a great idea to accomplish that:.  Use a strainer with the candy, so that the smaller pieces are mixed into the chocolate and the larger pieces are caught in the strainer to set bet aside and used on the top.
• Rita Heikenfeld at AboutEating.com had an interesting variation on how to make the bottom layer.  I'd always made it by melting each layer in a double boiler, but she starts out by melting a layer of chocolate chips in the oven on a low setting, smoothing it, then letting it set in the fridge as usual.  Interesting!  I wonder how much time it saves...
• If you take the finished tray of candy out of the fridge and let it sit for a few minutes, it will soften enough to be MUCH easier to cut apart!

Enjoy!  And Merry Christmas!

Z is for...

Zimmerman sweater!  As in Elizabeth Zimmerman, grandmother of popularizing knitting.

This is the blue striped sweater that I made for Mom.  Twice, actually!  She liked it so much that when it stretched out over years of wear, she asked me to remake it.  I was happy to oblige.  Surprisingly, despite how often she wears it, I do not have any pictures of her actually in it.  So you'll have to deal with me struggling to take a picture of myself - see the little thinking wrinkle at my eyebrows?  :)

I really like the EPS (EZ's Percentage System) for making a sweater. I used the math for sleeves for my alterations to Cumulus in November, for example.  I didn't start as narrow as she does in her standard sweater (I don't think I ever do, as I don't like tight cuffs), but since I knew the final number of stitches I needed for the top of the sleeve according to the pattern, I used the EPS math for the increases to give me a sleeve line that I liked!

I do have to say I've some personal preferences, though, when it comes to her classic designs. For starters, as I mentioned above, I do not like cuffs as tight as she does.  If it has ribbing, it draws in enough for my personal tastes.  And I like my sleeves a little more closely fitting, so tend to start a little wider at the cuff, and then adjust the increases to what I want.  But, the EPS system certainly gives me the math to get to what I want.  I love having an easy starting point for customization!  :)

I haven't tried her other designs yet, but I'm hoping to make some Baby Surprise Jackets (from The Opinionated Knitter) next year (several babies expected next year in the Friends & Family world).  That design looks so interesting how it all folds together!  And the February Lady Jacket, very high on my queue, is an adult version of  her Baby Jacket on Two Needles (February in A Knitter's Almanac).  So perhaps more Zimmerman to come next year!

Literary silliness :)

Happy birthday Jane Austen!

Born 16 December 1775, so to celebrate, here's the link to some Regency fun. Found this some months ago, actually, but decided to share it today, in honor of her birthday. It's a dress up doll in Regency clothes, with a good dose of inspiration from Austen movies and series. Like a paper doll online, for those who haven't encountered them yet :) Kudos to savivi on DeviantArt for designing and sharing!

Y is for...

Yoga.

And no, I'm not talking about the "Knitting is the new Yoga" sort of nonsense, though that's what got me brainstorming for my Y.  I'm actually just talking about the abundance of knitted goodies for yogis that are out there.  Just search "yoga" in the Ravelry pattern database, and there are 4 pages of results!

Granted, a lot are variations on the same couple projects (really, how much gear do you need for yoga?) but it's amazing to see what ideas people come up with.  Yoga socks are a big one.  You know, the socks with no toes or heels, so that your feet stay warm, but can still grip the mat in poses.  The blue ones above are ones that I made, while the ones below here I received in a swap.  You can find cabled ones, lacy ones, ribbed ones, plain ones.  I loved these socks by Sarah Griffiths, with the Om on the sole. I think yoga socks make great starter socks.  You get a chance to get used to some techniques (working with DPNs or Magic Loop, for example), without worrying about the more complicated heels and toes.  And they are great one-skein-or-less, quick'n'easy sort of projects :)

And then there are the bags!  Some gorgeous designs for toting your stuff around. The one below is my own design, which I'm trying to write up (hopefully to be posted next year!).  There are several other bags that I like too.  I think my favorite is the Tree Pose Bag by Fiona Ellis (the cables look like a person in Tree Pose).  I also love the all-over cables of Namaste by Lisa Anderson and Kriya by Jennifer Fleury.  The lace in the Om Nava Shivaya by Miss Audrey is another one that caught my eye.

There are other yoga projects too, besides the major ones of socks and bags.  There are a large variety of wraps and sweaters, to keep you warm during meditations.  Even pillows, too, for meditations.  I think another of my favorites is the knit yoga mat.  Sounds pretty random, but they are good for 'hot yoga' classes.  They are knit in cotton so your sweaty hands don't slip on the mat.  I'm actually thinking of knitting one of those.  I try and do a little yoga after my runs, when I'm nice and sweaty of course, and I'd love to do those post-run stretching sessions on something a little more absorbent!

So yes, plenty of yoga and knitting overlap, without the trendy "Knitting is the New Yoga" nonsense.  :)

PS - I could have done Y is for Yarn, but I've already done that.  And my Ysolda Teague vest ya'll just saw in V is for Vest.  So this is what you get instead :)

Playing with the shinies :)

More stitch markers!

 

 

And another set from sale-bin Halloween earrings :)  Ghosts this time!

And another bookmark for a gift swap.  I swear, I'm probably using more O and K beads than the makers of that package reckoned on :)

I'm also starting to branch out from just stitch markers.  Dabbling with row counters (more on that in another post) and playing with jewelry some more.  I've posted pictures of a bracelets I've done, and a necklace, and here are two more.  I'm really very pleased with each of these, as they are both pretty close to what I was picturing in my head as I planned them!

The packaging said these were peridot-colored, but I disagree; they are a much prettier  color (am not a fan of my birthstone!).  I consider these as a nice, light, spring-time-y green, rather than the dull yellow-green that peridot usually is.  The necklace itself is done on wire with crimp beads.  I'm starting to get the hang of those! It takes a little practice, but I guess that's true of most things with beading, or any craft really!  I didn't want these to be in a pattern, so the shorter strand is just randomly pulled from the smaller sized beads, and the longer strand is alternating the smaller and longer beads, again in random order.

I found some beads a while ago shaped as nice little Christmas lights, and was only waiting to  find the right project to use them with.  This project is actually inspired by the sample project on the Oriental Trading website page for the beads.  I thought the lights should go all the way around though, not just as the little handful at the base.  This is beaded on pins connected to a small chain.  You can kinda see how it comes together in the picture on the top, as I was laying them out, to get the color pattern as I wanted.  Unlike with the peridot necklace, these are in a pattern, not just randomly pulled from the bag of beads.  And ta-da - now I have my own Christmas light necklace!  Unlike Mom's, these don't actually light up, but I am still pleased with it.  ;)

 

Vegas Races #2: The Rock & Roll Vegas 1/2 Marathon

I ran the Strip!  

And it was a HUGE race!  They announced that there were nearly 30,000 runners between the two races (the half and the full), and looking at the results later, there were over 19,000 finishers in the half alone!  As you can see, there were tons of us!  I started way back in corral 25, and we weren't even the last corral - there were 32 altogether!

 

If you couldn't see, in the right hand picture above is a Pace Rabbit.  Fun!  The back of his shirt says "Follow Me" and in the two circles below it says "Run 10, Walk 1" (the run-walk pace he'd maintain).  Written on the inside of his ears is 2:30, his pacing time.  And I was so distracted by his ears, I didn't even notice the tail at his water bottle until I was looking at the picture later on my camera!

The race itself, in terms of running, was actually a pretty good one for me.  I'd had the Head Cold That Wouldn't Die through a lot of November, so was a little worried at how I'd hold up for this race, when I had only had one real long run since Long Beach in October.  I did OK though. It wasn't a PR race, but I was only about 8 minutes off my PR, so I was pleased with that (in a 2 1/2 hour race, 8 minutes isn't as much as it seems!)  So apparently a good training plan for me was to train for a big race in October, "taper" in November (i.e. get sick for a month), then race in December again.  Seemed to work!  Most importantly, though, I kept my pace steady through the whole race, and wasn't feeling like death warmed over when I finished - both I consider very important achievements!

 

The course was a good one. For the half marathon, the course ran up the Strip from Mandalay Bay, looped through Downtown, and then back down the Strip back to Mandalay Bay again.  The two pictures below are from the part of the course in Downtown (yes, that is a building shaped like a glass of beer).  First time I'd been in Old Vegas, actually!  Besides being nice and flat, I liked the course because you could see the landmarks easily.  So, as you got closer to the finish line at Mandalay Bay, you could see yourself get closer to New York, New York, the Luxor, etc.  It was a nice, visible sign of the miles passing.  The busy-ness of Las Vegas, which is so distracting when you're driving, really helped the miles pass too. You could appreciate all the crazy casino buildings, all the flashing lights and billboards, etc. and it helped distract you from the fact you'd been running for 2 hours at that point!

 

I couldn't have asked for better weather, either.  It WAS a little on the chilly side, I will admit, as we were waiting around for the starting line.  And I did wait as long as possible to check my gear (and my sweatshirt) before starting the race.  But we weren't moving then, and the sun wasn't really up yet, so it was understandable.  Once we got moving, thought, it was perfect.  No real breeze, just a little air moving; not too glaringly sunny; and just cold enough that you felt comfortable as you ran.  I do like cooler races like this compared to summer ones!  My 1/2 Marathon PR was a March race, come to think of it!

 

And I have to say, I'm getting better at taking pictures while I run these races!  :)  Since I take regular walk breaks on most of these races, I've been using those to grab some pictures.  The camera is all pulled out and ready to go as I'm still running along, then as I slow for my walk break, I pause, take my picture, and then keep walking.  It works out pretty well, too.  I try to be good about going off to the side when I start a walk break, so people don't run over me, and that makes it very easy to pause and take a 2 second picture, without adding tons of time to the race.  And it's not like the pauses are extra stops in my run, either.  I have to slow to a walk anyways when I grab water or a gel - I'm just not that coordinated to do it as I run without spilling on myself or dropping everything.  So I take my picture, grab my water, and then my minute walk break is up and I'm back to running.  Perfect!

 

The Rock and Roll series of races always pays a lot of attention to the music on the course (the whole gimmick of "Rock and Roll," right?).  There are always local bands spread throughout the race courses.  My favorite band this race was the one at the very beginning, a Blues Brothers cover band. "You make me wanna Shout" and similar songs - perfect music to get you pumped up before a run.  Just so upbeat and happy!

And of course, being Vegas, there are the Vegas-only touches to the race.  There was the Run-Through Wedding at the Venetian, for example.  Yes, it's legal, and there were a bunch of people getting hitched or renewing vows.  And of course their running gear reflected their happy occasion.  I saw one bride-groom set with Mickey Mouse ears on their headgear, but they were too far away to get a picture :(

Another Vegas touch was the large number of Running Elvi (the plural of Elvis, if you didn't know).  Here are just 2 of many pictured below.  I think they said that Vegas boasts the largest number of Running Elvi of any of the races.  I do know they had a special reception for all of those decked out as Elvis, though!

One of the things that was uniquely Vegas, too, was the number of billboards for the race.  I've done R&R races in 3 other cities now (Virginia Beach 3 times, San Diego once, and the Phoenix-Scottsdale-Tempe area once).  And yes, there is a lot of advertisement of the race in the other towns, but Vegas is designed for flashy, noticeable ads - a major feature of the Strip area, really.  And with this race, there were several billboards that were for us!  First time I'd ever been on a billboard :)  The billboard on the upper left is from the starting line area, and the one below it is the electronic view of the race.  The Mandalay Bay board was showing the news coverage of the race, so as we waiting in a later corral, we could watch the runners ahead of us setting out.  Pretty neat!  The other two boards (the electronic ones) are from Bally's and Planet Hollywood along the strip.  Those two each had several screens with messages for the runners that they'd scroll through.  I'm just glad I got clear shots of each!

 

A final Vegas touch to the race was at the exit from the finishers area (where you head out to get your checked gear and meet up with family and friends).  There were showgirls there to pose with us.  The camera person on my lane was nice enough to grab a quick shot with my own camera too, which I'm very thankful for!  The showgirls cracked me up, though, because to stay warm in spite of their costumes, they were all wearing warm boots.  Very sensible, I know, but it made smile to see a row of women decked out in feathers, silver, sequins... and Uggs.  :)

And of course, I had to get a picture with my medal and number and the Vegas sign.  Thankfully, the sign was located between the finish line area and our hotel (we stayed south of the Strip).  Meant that I didn't have to walk out of my way to get my picture!  Little things that tired legs appreciate :)

Oh, and if you want to see them, here is the link to my official photographs.  And yes, my good-picture-luck at mile 11 holds steady, Mom, though there is another picture in my batch where I blinked :)

Vegas Races #1: The Great Santa 5K

The Las Vegas Great Santa Run:  a paired 5K and 1-mile set of races to benefit a local charity and compete for the Guinness Book of World Records category of " Largest gathering of Santa Claus."  Fun! 

And added bonus?  They announced before the run began that we broke the world record!  It's not official yet, though, but if it is, then Life Goal for Zach checked off:  be in the Guinness Book of World Records.  They didn't have the final count to announce, just that we broke the previous record, but I know looking at the race number bibs people were wearing, we saw numbers over 14000!  That's a lot of Santas!  Hopefully no one else breaks it before the next Guinness edition is published :)

I loved all the costume variations too.  These below were just a few that I saw.  There were Santas with all sorts of hat variations, a handful of elves, Waldo (as in Where's Waldo), Christmas Elvis, a Mrs. Claus or two, tons of dog costumes... Such creativity!  There are some great pictures in the Las Vegas Review-Journal's photo slideshow of the event, and in the ESPN video of the event.  Oh, and the purple reindeer antlers you see in a lot of the pictures were a hand-out from one of the race sponsors, so not really a 'costume variation' per se...  ;)

 

The run is a charity event to benefit Opportunity Village, an assistance facility for adults with intellectual disabilities.  Assisted living options, vocational training, recreation... all sorts of programs are offered.  So, not only is it a fun event, the run supports a really good cause!  And of course, any charity event comes with guest celebrities.  Below you see the Las Vegas mayor, Santa, and a pair of show girls.  Robin Leach was also there!  (His write-up of the event said that the bib numbers topped out at 14,595!!)

 

This is really more of a "run" than a "race."  From a race perspective, it was crowded, and the course was confusing (two laps through a portion of the shopping center, then a final lap around a larger loop to the finish line).  Not everyone knew where the course was exactly, and with that many people... just more confusion.  Still, I wasn't looking for a fast run.  I wanted to have fun, support a good cause, and stretch my legs before the half marathon on Sunday.  Listening to people talk in the crowds on both Saturday and Sunday, there were a lot of other runners there dressed as Santa with the same idea in mind!

 

So, in short, If you're looking for a PR-type 5K, this is not the event for you.  If you're looking for a fun run benefiting a good cause, then definitely check it out if you're in the area!  Who knows, you might be lucky and be there for a year they break the record  in the future!