Birthday Week!

This Friday is my 23rd Birthday. This week I have big plans. Thursday night work friends are meeting me at a salsa club for a night salsa dancing! I'm so excited! Friday night my friends and my boyfriend are going out to dinner somewhere. Not sure where yet, but I need to decide soon so I can make reservations. Here are some places I am thinking about going.

1. Miso (sushi bar - I went here last year for my birthday, so I am not sure if I want to go there again..)

2. Copia (Urban Winery & Market - I have been there twice and their food is so delicious! $10-$33)

3. Mosaic (Tapas / Small Plates, Fusion / Eclectic, $31-$51)

4. BARcelona Tapas Restaurant (Tapas / Small Plates, Spanish, $30 and under)


Hopefully I can figure out where I want to go! Tomorrow night is Stitch 'n Bitch! I think I am going to make some yummy Banana Muffins with Mascarpone Cream Frosting! I got the recipe from Giada's Everday Italian on Food Network.

Muffins:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 ripe bananas, peeled and coarsely mashed
Frosting:
3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup mascarpone cheese, room temperature
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted


Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl to blend. Beat the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the banana. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until blended.

Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups. Bake the muffins on the middle rack until the tops are golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out with no crumbs attached, about 25 minutes. Transfer the muffins to a rack and cool slightly. The muffins may be eaten warm or cooled completely and frosted.

To frost the cupcakes: Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the mascarpone cheese and then beat in the honey. Spread the frosting over the muffins. Sprinkle with the walnuts.

I am almost finished with the Totally Tubular Skirt. It has taken me longer than I expected to knit this one because I have been working on other projects, like my Dad's birthday snow hat that I had to get done for his birthday. The hat looked well on him.

First Stitch n' Bitch!

So we had our very first meeting last night! Sarah, Cori, and Rebecca came! Karina still hasn't had the chance to come, but hopefully next week she will be there! It was Cori's first time, so I had to help her get going but after a while, she got the hang of it. She started off with a simple garter stitch scarf. Sarah is a beginner too, but she was more daring and dove into a multi stripe scarf! Rebecca's mom is a pro knitter so she helped her on her way with circular needles. I am still working to finishing the Totally Tubular skirt. It's coming along!

The Holidays are officially over.

I finally finished my boyfriend's slippers. They turned out good, he says that they are comfortable! So that's a good sign. My next knitting adventure, is a knit wristband for my friend Tommy from work. We all picked secret santas at work, and I picked Tommy's name. The work Christmas party is tomorrow night. So I am knitting him a gray wristband and I will sew "guns" in black yarn on it b/c his nickname is Tommy Guns. He plays in a band, so hopefully it will have this punk rock look to it.

Some girls from work and I are starting our own Stitch n' Bitch! I think tonight we are having our first official meeting. I have to make a few calls to the girls to make sure they are coming! I am so excited! I think we will have meetings every Tuesday night and work on projects together! More on that later.

I was in Barnes and Noble, one of my favorite stores, and I got lost in the knitting books! There were so many good knitting books that I wanted to buy! But I must stay away because I have spent so much money recently on yarn! I have to start budgeting. So instead I bought "The Diary of Marie Antoinette" which I started reading earlier this afternoon. I told my boyfriend that I haven't been reading as much because I have been knitting more, but if I get audiobooks then I can get my knitting done as well as my literature!

New years resolutions
1. work out and lose ten pounds! (everyone wants to lose weight)
2. keep the job hunt going
3. read more books
4. knit of course!