soup quest

harry potter christmas

Since I had a half day Thursday and Friday off, we decided to have Harry Potter Shabbos dinner on Xmas Eve. Harry Potter Christmas was on. Thanks to this wiki and Gryffinitter, we determined the xmas dinner menu from Sorcerer's Stone to be

• hundreds of roast turkeys
• gravy
• cranberry sauce
• chipolatas
• roast and boiled potatos
• buttered peas

Obviously some substitutions had to be made.

• roast turkeys became roast chicken, since there weren't enough people to eat a whole turkey
• gravy we skipped, as there was no turkey
• cranberry sauce became cranberry crunch, a favorite traditional Shabbos food, because nobody wants to eat cranberry sauce with chicken
• I don't know where to find kosher chipolatas, so I made Dov's hotdog recipe instead. Same diff, right?
• I only made 1 kind of potatos - roast. Nobody minded.
• buttered peas became canned peas because we can't serve dairy at a meat dinner

We skipped the Christmas Pudding, and instead Rochel made Double Fudge Brownies, for the Fudge that Molly Weasley sent the boys, and Ayelet made Lemon Meringue Pie and Pumpkin Pasties, which were delicious. I also made Pumpkin Juice, which was pretty good.


To commemorate the 12 giant xmas trees that Hagrid decorated the Great Hall with, Rochel & I made 12 tiny xmas trees and decorated them with glitter glue. Unfortunately only 1 or 2 fit on the table with all the food, but they were really adorable on my coffee table!

madtosh bulky photo

chanukah and stuff

Chanukah ended last week (it was December 1-8 this year). Since my aunt that normally makes the family Chanukah party made a Bar Mitzvah on Thanksgiving and a Bat Mitzvah yesterday, I hosted the family Chanukah party this year. I checked with E first, and when I invited people I told them it's a 1-shot deal due to E hosting us all the weeks before & after - the goal is not to get "stuck" hosting Chanukah each year (or piss of E for stealing her holiday).

My immediate family had been over for Mom's birthday this summer, and most of the cousins came to the Cousins Dinner I hosted when I'd first moved it, but for the rest of the family it was the first time seeing my apartment. Out of the 30 people invited, 25 came to the party :) Only 2 of the no-shows are on my sh*t list, but we'll get to that later possibly. Or not.

Anyways, 25 people + 1 br apartment = kind of a tight squeeze, except that as expected (and advertised), people didn't stay for the whole 4 hour party. By the time my last aunt & uncle showed up with their 3 kids, at least 8 people had already left. I had 14 seats, and only for about 30 minutes at the end did we have more people than chairs. It worked out well for circulation. People couldn't cluster because if you got up you lost "your" seat and had to sit in a new spot and talk to new people. Plus, since there was enough seats for the most part, people weren't forced to stay sitting to retain their seat all night.

The food was good, I think. No complaints anyways ;) And I love my family: all but one of my aunts volunteered to bring a dish (pasta, blintz souffle, and quiches). Mom helped a lot, she made Salmon, Guacamole, and a last-minute chocolate cake. I did some quiches, apple-blueberry cobbler, veggie platter and fruit platter... I think I'm forgetting something, but whatever :) I need to remember not to ask E to bring a dish when I know she's going to be super late, that was a total rookie mistake, and I feel bad asking her to cook & then barely using her dish. It was good leftovers though :)

The best day of Chanukah was definitely December 6th, the day after the party. I was SUPER stressed about the party (to the point where I had trouble sleeping), but Monday I was able to relax and enjoy the rest of the holiday.

At Rochel's Chanukah party on Tuesday, everyone said they wanted sweaters for Harry Potter Christmas. (I'm hosting dinner that Friday night & we're doing an HP Xmas theme). I think they're all getting mini house sweaters from the Charmed Knits book instead. I need to size them to either fit a bottle of wine, or buy some scented lotions at Bath & Body Works and fit the sweaters to those. (The photo above is one I knit for a Slytherin Swap on Ravelry).

Last photos: this is what my spoiler sent me in the Slytherin Yule swap on Rav. OMG the doily is beautiful. It works really well with my glass vase, too. I just need to clear off the top of one of my bookcases so it can have a worthy display area.

oops

I'd like to knit a Jacques Cousteau hat for my mom for Chanukah (due Sunday). The pattern calls for size 4 needles. My size 4 16" circular is currently in use for the ribbing on a Mila Beret. Once I finish the ribbing (any minute now) I need to switch to size 6 16" circular needle for the body of the hat. It's currently in use for an Upside Down Daisy hat for my cousin's baby for Chanukah. I can switch that needle out for my dpns in a couple more inches... but I'm not 100% sure where they are right now. Oops. Maybe I need to finish some WIPs?