Before any trip, I do a lot of research to find vegan restaurants and markets in my destination city.  On our trip to California a few months back, we tried a menagerie of delicious vegan cuisines throughout southern California.  One of the stand out meals for us was at an Asian restaurant in the the Los Angeles (Alhambra) area called Loving Hut (heh, yeah, it’s a funny name).  It’s an odd atmosphere, but they have a robust menu of all sorts of delights.  Many of the vegan foods I tried in CA were soy-heavy – and I tend not to eat a lot of soy in my regular diet – but it was different than the norm.  We got a vegan Thai Hot Pot: essentially a huge bowl of wonderfully flavorful broth and an equally huge plate of fresh raw vegetables and mushrooms to add to said broth.   You get a bowl of noodles and you ladle the broth onto the noodles – voila!  delicious and easy.

 The version in California had some “soy shrimp” in it … I am not a huge imitation meat fan, but it was interesting to try all the same.  The meal was scrumptious and Kris and I were completely satiated.

…FAST FORWARD…

This dang hot pot is *still* on my mind.  I want to try to recreate that amazing taste.  So, I did some searching and found this recipe on the internet.  I could tell that this was not going to be exactly it, so I basically used it as a framework and added my own little perks.

 Soba noodles – wrapper tag states: “Say NO to GMOs”

Cabbage, scallions, bok choy – some of the choice greens for my version!

Sauteed the cabbage, straw mushrooms, and bok choy stems with sesame oil and crushed red pepper flakes

Added carrots, tofu, chunked water chestnuts, and some mung bean sprouts, and poured the broth over the lightly cooked soba noodles.

While it was quite good, it wasn’t exactly the same blend and taste that we had in California – so I am going to give this one another try.  I wanted more spice – maybe some more rice vinegar or some miso paste? – and it was missing the lemongrass-y flavor that the other one had.  So, I need to “Thai” it up a bit more for next time!

It is definitely one of those fun meals that can be shared communily.  It was only Kris and I, so we didn’t pull out the fondue pot, but this would be a fun way to turn this meal into a course for a dinner party. 

So many inches of stockinette for the body and the sleeves – when I finally reached the colorwork portion, it felt like a celebration!  Of course, the colorwork is *also* stockinette, but it’s about the introduction of that new color into the mix that just brings the excitement level to a pinnacle!

I had a little trouble with the color combinations on this sweater – I originally planned the navy main color with the ivory accent with a turquoise.  However, my local yarn shop could not order the turquoise as it was now discontinued (::sad face::) but I put on a positive spin and decided to go with this blue/green color for my other accent color.

Now that it is working up, I am very happy with my choice.  I think it evokes a mood that I wanted with this sweater ~ wintery, classic with a modern touch, and memorable.  Although I haven’t been to Vancouver yet, it somehow seems like these colors will really “work” there – the deep blue with the blue green, reminiscent of the ocean and the nearby mountains. 

23 days till the Opening Ceremonies for the Winter Olympics!

…and 25 days before my plane lands in Vancouver, so just as long to get this sweater off the needles! … it looks plausible!  I am going to try my hardest!

 If you are starting to get excited about the games too, it would be great to see you in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics Ravelry group!   We are chatting about meetups in Vancouver, athlete news, as well as what you are planning to work on while watching games and competitions… it’s a grand ol’ time and it would be lovely to see you there!

Through my teacher training program last year, I had the opportunity to meet some truly amazing and gifted people.  So many varied interests and passions, yet we all came together to learn more about yoga and to deepen our own practice! 

I had the pleasure to talk to Kath before teacher training started in late 2008.  As a fellow knitter, she found me online before we started studying together and we exchanged a few emails before meeting at the studio.  Over the year, we grew closer and I have the joy to call her my dear friend.  We can talk about yoga, we can talk about knitting and yarn ~ it just flows and it is beautiful. 

One of Kath’s many offerings is that she is also fluent in American Sign Language (ASL), and she just started teaching her first yoga class in ASL at a local studio.  When she asked me to help her with a little photography project for her class, I jumped at the chance for this special project.  She wanted to put together a visual set of poses with the proper alignment for her students.  Since she is teaching the class in ASL, she cannot always demonstrate the pose because her hands will be used in the pose.  That is where the photos come in!

We met up at the studio on a quiet Sunday afternoon;  the air was cold and there were flurries of snow, but inside, the sunlight cascaded in the windows, and set a perfect scene for the yoga photos.  Above (clockwise from the top left), Kath does sukhasana “easy pose” with her hands in Anjali mudra “offering gesture”.  This is the way that we begin and end each class.  In the next photo, she demonstrates a full body pose called eka pada svanasana, or “one legged dog pose”.  This pose is a preparatory pose for hip opening and also works on upper body strength and balance.  The next is the recognizable adho mukha svanasana “downward facing dog pose”.  The final pose is utthita parsvakonasana “extended side angle pose” which also opens the hips, as well as the shoulders and chest.

Just a note on the use of Sanskrit terms: the style of yoga that I practice (Anusara) honors the tradition by using these names while also realizing that not everything can translate word for word.  Additionally, Sanskrit can be the universal language of yoga (similar to how Latin is used for biology in Linnean taxonomy) no matter where you are in the world.  It’s a nice fit.  Plus, the language is phonetic, and if you sound it out, it is pronounced exactly as it looks.  I love learning more Sanskrit as I study yoga.

While this photo project was a true joy to do, Kath must have felt that she wanted to give something back~ and while there was absolutely no need to do so, it was a pleasant surprise when she presented this lovely yarn to me this past weekend:

 She says that this bulky yarn is the perfect tonic for my small needle/fingering weight projects of late.  I look forward to casting on for a bulky cowl or hat on size 15 needles once I finally finish my Olympic sweater

The beautiful and talented Lucy at {a black pepper} tagged me for this project “10 Things You Don’t Know About Me”… and it was hard to come up with a list, but I thought I would give it a try. Perhaps it should be called “10 Things Some of You Might Not Know About Me”.  Since I divulged some of this information on Flickr late last week, I thought I would add an extra two especially for the blog

1 – One of the reasons that I took up knitting in 2003 was because I am always cold. I wear knits year round because I work in the cold environment of a basement archive, so shawls, mitts, and cardigans are always on hand.

2 – I don’t wear much jewelry. I usually wear a simple meaningful necklace (a souvenir or a gift to remind me of a place or a person) and my wedding band.

3 – I have my ears pierced twice in each ear, but haven’t worn earrings since my sister’s wedding in October 2008. I don’t think that the holes have closed though.

4 – One of my goals for 2010 is to learn Spanish. I am using Rosetta Stone (a generous Christmas/anniversary gift from Kris) and am really enjoying it so far.

5 – I have several friends from Spanish-speaking countries who promise that they will practice with me once I become more conversational.

6 – I am hoping to travel more through South America. I loved our Peru trip in 2007 so much that I want to go back. Argentina and Chile are next on the list.

7 – I was homeschooled for two years when I was young – 4th and 5th grade – and went back to regular school in 6th grade.

8 – I have recently become (a little) obsessed with 2 games on Kris’s Xbox: Peggle and Kingdom for Keflings.

9 – I am not a phone or a gadget person… I was a late adopter for cell phones, and still use a “pay as you go” service. However, I will admit to using Kris’s Blackberry on occasion for checking the web…

10 – I recently started a sprout garden – I use the sprouts for green smoothies and for salad toppings. My favorites (so far) have been the French lentils.

11 – The album officially “drops” tomorrow, but I have been listening to the new Vampire Weekend constantly on NPR’s Music site.  Wow.  I loved the first one so much, and this second one is amazing.  The one that stays with me the most is “Diplomat’s Son”.  Total win.

12 – I became a vegetarian when I was 14 years old.  I was never a big meat eater, but after seeing the movie Babe, I switched.  Yeah, I know that pigs don’t really talk, but that movie did help me realize a few things.  Additionally, I switched to a vegan diet after my struggles with Lyme disease in 2008. You never know when and how those life-changing moments are going to come!

Care to share your own list?  I would love to read…

I am still at the point in my photography skills where I feel like each photograph I take is a crap shoot – maybe it will turn out and maybe it won’t.  Thanks to the digital technology, I can take hundreds of photos and not be wasteful when I only end up using only a handful for the blog or Flickr.   Perhaps 2010 will be my year of finally reading my camera’s manual!

Even if it was a bit of a crap shoot, I lucked out with several photographs this year.  Using Flickr’s “Interestingness” algorithm and clicks, comments and favorites from so many of you, I have had at least one photo make Flickr’s Explore (500 top featured photographs) each month since June 2007.  I am so grateful! 

Here are a handful of my photos that made EXPLORE in 2009 – you can click on them for more info:

2009 was a productive year, photography-wise.  I definitely take most of my photos when traveling, and with the trips we fit in, I had the opportunity to snap some fun photos.  2009 was also the year of my (yet again) failed attempt at a photo-a-day experiment with the Year in Photographs (YIP) that I started in September.  Perhaps I should have called it Weeks in Photographs, because that is how long it lasted!  I am not being too hard on myself, however… it is supposed to be for fun.

If you are interested, you can see all of my photos that have made Explore over the months (since 06/07) as well as some of my personal favorites in this photoset.

Kris and I are re-arranging and re-decorating some rooms in the house.  Over Christmas break, he and his brother painted about 90% of the house – it was hard work!  I helped when I could, but he had the whole time off work and I didn’t.  The fresh paint is like a clean canvas.  We bought several frames and were planning to frame some of our favorite photos for wall art.  Now to decide what should go in the frames.  We are still working out the arrangement and the overall themes for the photos, but it sure would be fun to have you all help us decorate by telling me your opinions … so, stay tuned!