We Came. We Saw. We Didn't Eat Cookies

We are eating healthy. So healthy. Forget that nonsense about horseradish bacon mashed potatoes. We have done a reverse triple Salchow and its all healthy all the time up in here. I mean, we usually eat pretty well to begin with, but several things which I kinda<3 are, for the foreseeable future, going to be less than abundant in our abode. Those things include, but are not limited to butter, wine (and beer and spirits) and cookies. Oh sigh and sigh. Cookies.

But that doesn't mean you can't have fun still. It doesn't mean you can't enjoy things that you love. Take this morning for instance, we'd sat around on the couch for most of the morning, drinking our coffee with skim milk (half and half finding itself among the less abundant items) and by the time we realized that we were hungry the clock had already ticked past cereal time into lunch land. Not in the mood for eggs, I whipped up some pancakes.

Of Mash. Bacon & Horseradish.

Little Autumnal Bouquet

I sit here, this chilly morning (the New York Times says its 53, my body is inclined to think it is colder) thinking about warm, rich, hearty food. In the summer, we don't eat much of that at all. In the summer I try my damnedest to avoid the stove and the oven and the extreme sport that using a chef's knife somehow becomes. But sometime in the last week, all that changed. Suddenly, the temperature dips below 55 at night and my oven, once again, becomes my best friend. My oven and that sack of potatoes that has sat, unloved, for a month or so. 

Is This Post Really About My Bike?

The Purple Monster

No, not really.  But I'm not sure I have any photos that are more interesting to post. Also, it was taken with my phone, which can probably account for how smudgy my basket looks.

So, what is this post about? I think it is about getting older. About etching one more notch into the stone that is my life. In preparing to bring the hammer down on the chisel, these are some of the things my mind has been puzzling over.

It feels sort of like making a new kind of New Year's resolution. One where I decide how I'm going to live my life with another year worth of living to inform me.

Fish Tacos: The Morning After

For me, tacos are quite an undertaking. I'm not satisfied to simply throw some shredded lettuce, tomatoes and cheddar cheese on my tacos and call it a day.

Take last night for example. It started out with a simple enough idea, fish taco potluck with a couple of friends visiting from out of town and a couple of more friends who also wanted to see said visiting friends. Easy peasy, right? Not in the Land of the Wooden Spoonful my friends. Soon enough, fish tacos turned into fish tacos and homemade carnitas. This idea lead to making seven different accoutrements for said tacos and quite frankly, by the end of simmering, marinading, dicing, chopping and one ferocious case of Jalapeno hand, I did not really even want to eat tacos by the time dinner came.

Jumping Through Time

Maybe it will seem as though I've jumped through time. After all, it has been (a-hem) eight months since my last post. While lots of meals have been made, eaten, shared and enjoyed during that time, scarcely a one has been documented. I thought a lot about taking pictures of the fish tacos I made when we had friends over for dinner and the roast chicken we made while awaiting Hurricane Irene, but somehow those thoughts did not make it to the page. I'm okay with that. Sometimes you have to step away so that coming back again feels good.

Lists & Menus: Planning for the hunger to come

Organized & happy kitchen, ready to cook!

I've always been a list maker.  Ask Dani.  In college, when planning to go away for a weekend, I'd have a list of each day's clothing with its proper name.  For example:

Friday
Red Gap Henley
Lt Blue Reverse Fit Jeans (Yeah rocking the 90's tapered jean look!)
Red Argile socks

I kid you not.  This is who I am.  Without lists I am a disorganized, crazy brained lunatic.  With lists I am the organized, calm and industrious person everyone knows and loves.  I'm crazy for a shopping list.  I admit to actually writing and re-writing them so many times that often, the list is burned on my brain like a brand.  "Eggplant, kale, braeburn apples, oatmeal, recycling bags", the paper list, sitting untouched in the seat of my grocery cart like so much unneeded scrap paper.

Well, well, well New Year

Sharing a New Year's moment at The Lowlands

Here we are, standing at the starting line of  a brand new year.  In many ways it feels good and comfortable, like that pair of shoes you know will always do you good on long walks.  In some ways it feels exciting and scary, like falling in love or those few precipitous minutes right before you fall in love.  About to fall is so thrilling, it is all you can do to keep yourself from leaping over the edge.  

Last year was fraught with adventures into the 405 Club. Figuring out my place in that vast and varied wilderness and then, within that, figuring what it is I actually want to do with my life.  I think, slowly and surely I'm coming to that place.  It isn't easy, but it is interesting and has been a curious exercise in self exploration, figuring out what I've put to the wayside in my life long quest to do the things I thought were expected of me, rather than the things I expected of myself. 

Last year was our first full year as a married couple.  Its hard to remark or think back without being a big, happy, cheesy person.  Folk festivals, Thursday nights which masqueraded as Friday nights, more shows than I can count on my fingers and toes, wonderful friends, cozy couch coffee mornings, big, big amazing love that keeps on growing.  One year down and a lifetime left to go!

And this year, 2011, its so new and yet, already brimming with possibilities.  I feel positive and any of the things that felt like spinning in endless circles last year were actually just slowly bringing me to today, January 2, 2011.  I'm looking forward to you new year.  I'm looking forward to anything and everything its gonna bring.  I've got my comfy shoes on and I'm ready to jump into this with all I've got.  Happy New Year everyone!