Soft, Peppery, Sweet

To Karen, David, Chicabear, Babybear, Howard, Howard's Children and Grandchildren, Mikey, Bobbie, Bill and Daria...

Happy Valentine's Day!

I took the pictures last June in Central Park.

It's That Time Again... Cake Time!

Yes, it's cake time, the annual creation...L, J and I met for an early dinner and came up with a plan.

Wondering what it's all about?

Check here for 2012,

... 2011...
... 2010 ...
... 2009...
... 2008...
...2007...
... and before that...

Click here for all the cake decorating fun and games that this blog has witnessed.

And stay tuned. In a few weeks we'll be starting work.

Serene Sunday

Handel... oboe... soup... snow... sunshine... it's a beautiful day. Gratitude abounds. I'm reminded of my Buddhist saying, which I say each morning. I hope you don't find it morbid. I don't.

Today might be the day I die. Today is a good day to be alive.

The Snow has Started

This was my view this morning, clouded by the falling snow and eyes at half mast. We're expecting much more. I'm working late... but I have soup ready.

///UPDATE/// We had a foot of snow! Beautiful and treacherous. The city remains somewhat pristine. Today I remained inside. The soup is warm, and I am grateful.

Not-So-Blue in the Kitchen

I've wanted one of these for a long time. I finally found my Le Creuset casserole for $200 (from $450) and suddenly I had to have it. I like finding a good deal.

Soups and casseroles have been wafting all week. Mmmmm, it feels so good on these long winter nights. But have you noticed? The days are getting longer. When I do leave on time, I see some daylight. Ahhhh, heaven.

Little Work Helper

I'm resisting the chocolate stored inside. But I know it's there in my desk at work. I know...

More Views From a Train

Beautiful, monochromatic wintery scenes, flying by my train window. The skaters brought Bruegel to mind.

 

Sunday is for Soup

Sundays are soup-making days. I make enough for the week, for those quick, comforting bowls of warmth.

First, there is always broccoli/ginger/lemongrass, and, once cooked, an iceberg of goat cheese is indeed much larger below the surface than it is above. And further down, the turkey/leek/mushroom affair that was made off the top of my head when I had both thyme and time on my hands.

 

All Together Now

At a large print shop I go to sometimes, one of their large machines has this imposing blinking light on it. Someone put a sign on it years ago. I feel good when I see it blinking away. Now it's my phone wallpaper.

Everything is ok. Breathe. Repeat.

Pictures from a Train

More pictures from a train, this one from a four-hour journey in early January. It snowed after Christmas. The fields looked huge and empty. The one below had as solitary tree right in the middle of its huge expanse. My picture doesn't do it justice. The journey was, as always, deeply enjoyable. My lunch even more so, and worth the eight-hour round trip.

Thank you, Armenia

For my dear Armenian friends, any occasion is a party. They are a party, a walking party in high heels, dispensing kisses and good cheer anywhere they go. Dinner at their place is always high in decibels and food... and drink. The rum baba was thoroughly soaked, soggy with alcohol, such heaven with all that whipped cream. The mystery tea infused in a glass pot, and was served pink and hot in small, pretty cups and saucers. As for the earlier courses (and my pics are in no particular order), it seems to me that if it can be served with pomegranates, anything goes.

Droplets on Trees

I love water. I love trees. I love small, round things. Droplets of rain on trees are pretty much perfection. My umbrella trees got their shower recently and then sat in their window looking a little tropical. I remembered this day and I long for the next.

Let's Hibernate

It was a night to breathe a sigh of relief, as a glut of work didn't end, but some of it certainly reached a moment of completion. I had immersed myself all afternoon in work, Zemlinsky and rushing thoughts and ideas for my own writing, ideas that I fear will never get put to paper. Overwhelmed by this and other intense stimualations, I trudged home through a beautiful winter's night, relieved that the bitter temperature had warmed up a bit. I retreated to my kitchen. This wasn't a night for an hour-long preparation. I needed good food, fast. So, with garlic and ginger and sesame oil, rice vinegar... what else? Soy sauce, shrimp, frozen beans (hate them normally)... anything else - I can't remember - I whipped up a comforting bowl of warmth and taste.

Let's hibernate. I'll bring the chocolate and the scotch.

Wine, Walking, Workouts... WTF?

So I've got up at 6 a.m. the last two mornings to work out. If I didn't have an accountability/work-out friend who suggested the system, I wouldn't do it. The system involves encouraging texts at about 6:01 a.m. as I sit on the edge of the bed, head in my hands, whimpering.

Part of the regime is increasing my water intake. Fair enough. I'm using this wine bottle, that contained Voga Pinot Grigio. I didn't buy it for the wine (can't remember what it tasted like), but I liked the bottle. It sort of looks like it says "YOGA" on the side. That looks healthy! And I like the fact that as workmates walk past my office, I can be seen swigging from a wine bottle. A clever man suggested I use an empty scotch bottle instead for a bigger reaction. That would be fun. So would emptying the bottle. Heh heh.

Yeah. I'm supposed to be in bed... two hours ago. But I had to build a playlist of energizing music for my iPhone for the walks and workouts. Yeah. Plus iTunes drove me nuts. But I think I've got it done. My workout playlist is full of guilty pleasures like Haddaway and the Spice Girls. Go ahead and mock! See if I care! (Please be nice!) Okay, but now it's midnight and I can't sleep. ARGHHH!!!

The Fork in the Road

Is there one coming?

Yes.

Is it scary?

No. It's not going to be very obvious either, to the outside world.

I heard a brilliant man talk recently about the time we spend every day of our lives on things that are not really important. And compare that to the things that are. We are here for such a short time. I'm always comforted by the thought that life is short, but WIDE.

My concept of wide up to now has been to do as much as possible.

I think that's a mistake. And so I am cutting back the things that just don't matter, and concentrating on those that do. How to decide what goes into which category? Some of it is obvious; some, less so. There's the rub.

I'm very lucky to have good people to talk to about this. It's not my way to talk about it much, but a thought shared can ripple outward like a disturbance in a pond... and when those ripples hit their mark and come back, it can be truly magical what does in fact come to you.

If I have any profound discoveries, I will share them here.

(The picture was taken by the lake in the Kawarthas last summer.)