Hometime New Years

I am entirely too disorganized to post all the food and the adventure and the holiday I've been having, but in the spirit of 'one step at a time', I thought I'd just stop in to wish you a happy start to this year. I crossed into 2011 happily in the company of both of my siblings and my old time besties Abby + Matt in their fair Madison, WI. (This, you may realize, is a mere stone's throw from my hometown hometown, Neenah.) New Years's in Wisconsin have never been in my experience terribly memorable and this year, we were hoping to change that.

We made homemade ravioli! I've never done that! And despite their filling being a little 'overwhelmingly hazelnut', they were tasty. Other perks of the holiday included some scrappy rum and coke pre-gaming, champagne and cocktails at the new cozy & hip farm to table spot downtown for midnight, an awesome show in a crowded bar to finish off our livers, hot, frosted cinnamon rolls and breakfast sammies to cure any lingering hangovers this morning and, then, college football. With the exception of Badger defeat at the hands of TCU, it was perfect.










Not bad, Wisconsin, not bad at all. To the new! Cheers.

Like That

Although we've been undertaking plenty of projects lately, we've also taken whole days off to relax in honor of the various mid summer holidays, including the Fourth of July, Pride weekend and the like. These swatches of uninterrupted leisure time have yielded a few photos here and there, but very little to report. Mostly I think, with my new routine of steady employment, I'm more comfortable putting my feet up and sitting in the sunshine than I have been in quite a while.




As anyone who has struggled with the cruel ritual of job hunting can tell you, the hardest part about not working is not the lack of paycheck. Not the depression. Not the feeling that you're less than human. But rather the feeling that you never stop working, that there's no end in sight, that you're constantly engaged in the process of sending out resumes and waiting for responses and hoping. That standing obligation to convince others of what you know you can do is one of the more exhausting conditions of nowaday.

And so I find myself in the very middle of summer, with a rather lovely excuse to stop all of that, for the first time in a year. I find myself feeling more like myself again, a person who lives to enjoy the present tense. Working, sometimes, is a beautiful thing like that.

May Day Anniversaire

1 May is not only a holiday of the International, it's also a more personal holiday around our little house: the anniversary of the day John and I met. We've always smiled a bit at the coincidence, our political tendencies and whatnot, but it certainly does make the date easy to remember. We both balk when asked how long we've been dating. Five Years! Seems long, but feels pretty short actually. I suppose time flies when you're having fun.


In our low budget way, we celebrated yesterday amidst a drizzly afternoon: breakfast sandwiches for two, a tandem ride to go get milkshakes, an old James Bond movie in the middle of the afternoon, The Best Thai food and then out to the Paramount for a show of Notorious, the seldom screened Hitchcock film starring Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant. You should catch that movie if you can, by the way, it's great. All around it felt like a grand holiday. John took the whole day off homework, which around now in the semester is no easy feat. And milkshakes! Obviously an occasion. Getting caught in the rain even seemed sort of fun.





Sorry to be a little mushy today, guys, normally I'll keep it more business around here. Do forgive.

Rituals

I think I may have finally figured it out. Why I always seem to suffer that annual letdown that comes officially on Jan. 2 but sometimes as early as Dec. 26th, the pit in your stomach, the relief wrapped in boredom that is to welcome the mundane after-party of the holiday season. Luckily this year, I had an elixir. A freelance gig that paid better than most, a newly painted living room and the active ingredient: a visit from some dear friends. Gerik and Annette were the perfect pair of guests because they were so relaxed, so happy with anything you decided to take them to and because they had some other friends around to show us fun that we sort of haven't seen since Philadelphia. Our time together involved milkshakes, people. And Brunch. But even though we did lots of things last weekend, there were these little beverages on Sunday evening made from Krupnik, a polish honey vodka, that nearly stole the show.

The flame was elusive, but these were in fact ablaze.

First of all, this honey vodka is not to be found just everywhere, which makes them fairly special. And they require a little effort, more than merely a sufficient pour, which elevates them yet further. To the husky shot, you add several beans of coffee and then light the alcohol on fire. The heat serves to mildly roast the beans, while it also infuses the drink so slightly with the flavor of the coffee. It will burn for several minutes and may even snuff itself out in time. After the flame is out, the top rim is squeezed with a wedge of lemon and then some into the drink as well. The result should be consumed while warm but by sipping, not shooting and the flavor is well, roasty. Powerful notes of a substantial proof with the caramel notes of a soft whiskey, I'd say. Though we had these on a mild January evening in California, they're more aptly suited to a colder climate.

Having them fixed so carefully at a real bang of a barbeque, amid a fair amount of bustle, made me remember what I used to really cherish about my time in Russia: the ritual of food and drink, the specific rules to be followed guiding their consumption and the absolute devotion to them shared by all. I owe my own experience of krupnik to Gerik and Annette's friend Ben, whose own time in Poland I'm sure guides this persuasion of his for ritual. I'd tell you to find some of the stuff to try for yourself, but what I would mean is, you should probably just find a Polish friend to make you one.

John's Big Birthday

Actually it started on top of a hill with a bottle of classy champagne. And then descended from there...

...to a Fancy Belgian and a Shouter...

and then a flash of a man and a tasty dinner.

After which we were thoroughly sloshed on food and drink and went to play rummy...

and then there was cake.

The end!