What I have been doing

I was cooking. Not really shocking but here's something that sounds hardcore: even up to the last minutes before '08 becomes '09 I was making frosting for the cake my aunt asked me to do. Fifteen minutes before midnight exactly was the time I pronounced that cake done and done. Good thing too because after all the fireworks, which were considerably less this year, and the jumping, and the "Happy New Year"-ing the relatives ate the the cake. About two-thirds of it. They said it was good, I say it's okay. Here's a photo:

This wasn't the exact cake the kids devoured the cake pictured has marshmallow frosting the cake that got eaten by the family has Swiss Buttercream . But they look similar.

Other things I've been cooking:

S'mores bars

Chocolate Chip Pecan Bars of which I also made in cookie form

and most recently Butter cookies. I used my gingerbread men cookie cutters and added some color to make it a little more interesting. This took a while to do because of the cutting and freezing and rolling and transferring. I was working on it for two hours and there's still some dough left.

I worked with fondant too for the first time. No picture though. Didn't take one. It was okay the family even oohed and aahed because it was "beautiful and artistic." They were mesmerized by the roses and leaves. Yep, it was a painting of a garden full of roses alright if the artist who did it happen to be on acid.

Cooking wasn't the only thing that kept me busy during the the holidays. I was also reading. Here's my reading list:

1. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
2. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
3. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
4. Cell by Stephen King
5. Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

Don't ask how Gaiman happened he just did. Gone are the days of "King still better than this guy". I actually thought at one point that he replaced King. I thought about it again and came to the conclusion that yes, he did. I still like King but Cell was bad. I gave it a chance I was like this for a while:

Me 1: Oh, this is bad!

Me 2: Yup, it is.

Me 1: Who am I kidding? It's King it can't be bad.

But it was. It was overwritten. What could have been said completely and perfectly with four words he used ten. It had its moments(King and I--ha!--have the same zombies in our heads, not really the walking dead just kinda cuckoo) but not enough to redeem itself.

I spent a buttload on books. It's cool they keep me happy. Happier still because I still have The Graveyard Book and Nightwatch to look forward to.