Saturday Randomness
I hope that everyone has enjoyed their Christmas/Hanukkah celebrations, and that life is returning to normal (if that is what you want) or that the festivities are continuing (if that’s more your jam). My company gave us both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as holidays, and then next week we will have both New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day as holidays, plus we still have Fabulous Fridays off (at least we did yesterday, they haven’t told us whether this wonderful benefit will carry in to 2025, and let me tell you, WE ARE ON PINS AND NEEDLES waiting to find out!), so I went ahead and took a couple of vacation days in there too. I worked Monday the 23rd, and am now off until the 6th. Pretty good gig if you can get it.
Christmas Eve was a last minute trip to the store, Ted’s mom called and said she couldn’t find Christmas Crackers anywhere, and that is part of Christmas for her. I was a little grumpy at the idea of going out on Christmas Eve, but it turned out to be lovely and a good idea overall. Ted and I went to World Market (which we call Cost Plus, I don’t know if that’s it’s original name or what) and found the needed Crackers, as well as Hanukkah candles and a few other items. Our Cost Plus is near a Whole Foods, so we stopped there to get some food items for Christmas Breakfast, which I had forgotten about when shopping the prior day. Also, they had Maya’s preferred Vegan Turk’y Roast, which I had been looking for for days with no luck, so it was a good thing. We got there when they opened at 8am, and at that hour nothing was crowded, we were home by 9:00. We had a lovely Christmas at Ted’s parents’ house.
In the spirit of randomness, here are some updates about life at Chez J.
I caught a cold. I woke up yesterday with a stuffy head and a gloppy throat. My medication of choice is Advil Cold and Sinus, which is helping. I’m glad that if it had to happen, it waited until after Christmas and our first day of Hanukkah. I hope it clears up by Tuesday. For now I’m camped out on the sofa with a book, my laptop, kleenex, and TV. Should I watch repeats of the Great British Baking Show? Or a movie? Maybe both?
Birthday Plans. Tuesday is my birthday, and I want to go to a local museum, which has an exhibit right now of Mary Cassatt that I want to see. I love impressionist and post-impressionist art, and she is considered to be the American Impressionist. If I’m still feeling puny, we’ll have to do it another day, but my birthday is when I want to go, and the exhibit leaves in Mid-January.
We had potato soufflé. Specifically, Pommes de Terre Mont d’Or. This is a super delicious recipe from beloved PBS chef Jacques Pepin, and is really, really easy. You mix mashed potatoes with eggs and cheese, and bake it. So delicious, and it went perfectly with the roast beef we had for Christmas Dinner. If you like potatoes and cheese, you should definitely make this recipe.
We had latkes. For our Hanukkah dinner on the 26th, we had leftover roast beef (Maya had leftover turk’y roast) with latkes. I bought shredded potatoes in the egg section of the store (good thing we had eggs at home, there were NONE that day, this bird flu coming at baking time is no bueno), and mixed it with a little flour, an egg, green onions, a bit of corn starch, and some salt and pepper. I forgot to get matzo meal. We also had sweet potato latkes, which Ted and Maya love, but I’m not a fan of sweet potatoes. I wish I were, they are full of good vitamins. We generally exchange one small gift for Hanukkah, not the full 8 nights. Ted and I went out shopping, and I picked out a new wallet that I can use with my smallest purse. He wanted some coffee, so I bought him a pound of Arabian Mocha Java from Peets. Maya wasn’t with us and we weren’t sure what she might want, so since she loves to be cozy, we got her some lavender scented cozy socks to wear around the house in her PJs. It was a lovely evening.
Suzanne asked about my rolling pin. Suzanne posted her cookie swap post, (SO MANY COOKIES!) and is giving away a lovely French rolling pin as a prize. I commented on her post telling about the two rolling pins that I cherish. One is (maybe) a family heirloom, and one is an heirloom in the making (meaning I hope Maya keeps it after I die someday). The family heirloom (top rolling pin), I have written about before. When my Great Aunt gave it to me in 2018, she told me it was a gift from her great-grandfather to his new daughter-in-law. What a treasure! The thing is that a couple of years later, she told me the same story about another rolling pin in her kitchen. Both look about the same, as though they could certainly be homemade by a talented person. That one went to my cousin. Maybe one of us has the original old rolling pin. I hope so. Anyway, Suzanne replied to my comment, saying she would like to see a picture of my other rolling pin, which is beautiful and similar to the French one she is giving away. The story there is that it was a gift to me from my brother’s wife, Kathy. She made it in a woodworking class. Isn’t it lovely? This is the one we use the most, though we don’t use it often. I think Ted uses it most when he makes roti.
We once were young. Ted found this picture at his parents’ house. It looks like it’s Ted’s birthday, and he has either recently gotten his own place or is about to, as his gift is a coffee maker. He’s very happy! Clearly I was a little chilly in my strapless dress, and his mom has wrapped a scarf around my shoulders to keep me warm. It’s hard to imagine that we were ever this young, but apparently we were. My comment when he showed me was, ‘We look 12.’ Which is not exactly true, but this is us in our early 20s. Gosh he’s handsome.
Whamageddon – I survived this year, and celebrated by listening to Last Christmas first thing Christmas morning. I did hear a couple of covers, but somehow never the original. I did nothing to avoid it, but there was one close call in the car. Ted heard it start and changed the station. I didn’t hear it, so it didn’t count. Kind of a ‘If a tree falls and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound’ situation.
Book Recommendations? I recently ran out of audio books on hold at the library and on Audible. Thankfully, lots of you have been posting about books that you have enjoyed, and I have just started listening to 10 Things that Never Happened, by Alexis Hall. I have Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice, by Jesse Sutanto on hold via my Libby app. I have some Audible credits, so I bought The Girls from Corona Del Mar, by Rufi Thorpe, since my library doesn’t seem to have an audio copy yet. Ted got me some physical books for Christmas, plus I have a few already, so what I’m asking now is for audio books. I mean, I guess it doesn’t matter if you listened to them or read a physical copy. What books have you read recently that you loved?
19 Comments
Lisa’s Yarns
Look at baby Ted and Julie!! Too funny! I met my husband in my early 30s so we don’t really have baby face photos but still look younger than we do now.
Have you read The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Greene? It is sooo good and I was told to listen to it. I never listen to books but made a point to listen to it. I just read a backlist book called ‘Home Stretch’ by Graham Norton. The person that recommended it listened to it so the audio book must be good, too. It is by an Irish author and I gave it 5 stars! It reminded me of John Boyne, another Irish author. If you haven’t read anything by him, I would check out ‘The Heart’s Invisible Furies’.
I hope you feel better soon!!
J
Oh, I haven’t heard of those books, thank you! I will put them on my TBR right away. I like Graham Norton on TV, he’s great.
Alexandra
We’re having a quiet morning at home waiting to head out to an afternoon at the Cirque du Soleil, Christmas ev and day were crazy busy and noisy. So we’re looking forward to a quiet weekend here.
Oh, and Happy Birthday for Tuesday, and I hope you get to go see Mary Cassatt. We haven’t had a decnet exhibit at our art museum in over a year because they’re under reno. Hope you have a wonderful birthday!
And I am smiling at the oh so young you and yours. Were we ever that young looking? I guess we all were once upon a time.
Meanwhile, enjoy the books.
J
I hope you enjoy Cirque, and your quiet weekend. Sounds perfect.
Suzanne
Oh my gosh Julie, what a fantastic photo of you and Ted! Babies!
Love the rolling pin story, and the one from your SIL is GORGEOUS.
I hope your cold passes swiftly and well in time for you to attend the Cassatt exhibit! Happy early birthday!
J
Suzanne, we were BABIES, weren’t we? Crazy. And yes, I do adore the rolling pin from my SIL, it is a work of art.
Daria
Hi Julie, first and foremost, thank you so much for a lovey Christmas card! We got it mid December and it’s now on our mantle.
That picture of you and Ted is everything. Truly wonderful.
I hope your cold clears up soon, I am notorious to get sick right on major holidays, events, or when we have a road trip or theater tickets. It’s like I wait for it lol
Happy almost bithday, I hope you have a wonderful day and many wonderful wishes for another year around the sun!
J
Thank you Daria! I hope this cold goes away and doesn’t foil my plans, for sure.
AC
The wonderful thing about blogs in that you never know when one will feature rolling pins. You also mentioned crackers, I may post about those too.
J
LOL, yeah, one doesn’t really expect rolling pins to randomly appear, does one?
Elisabeth
I love when dreaded errands end up not being so bad after all.
We look 12. Haha! It is amazing how young I look now…back then. When did I start feeling so much older?
It sounds like you had a wonderful holiday season, minus the cold. I’m getting one right now and I’m feeling a bit grumpy about it. Thankfully it’s coming AFTER all the hustle and bustle of Christmas, so at least I have time to rest and recuperate.
That potato dish looks delicious…and easy. A winnin combo.
J
Oh no, you’re sick too? I guess we can be in this together. I’m sorry though, it’s crummy.
Melissa
Wow, look at you two! Ted was very excited about that coffee maker. Love it! I bookmarked the potato recipe, it looks very yummy. I hope you cold clears up quickly and you can go to the museum on your birthday.
J
Thanks Melissa, I hope you give the potato dish a try. It’s SO good.
Margaret
Both of you look beautiful and very young. I would say 15 instead of twelve though! 🙂 I have that old-school rolling pin and love it. Every year I use it for my Xmas sugar cookies. I love how your unwanted shopping turned into positives. I need to keep that in mind when I get grumpy! I’m a huge fan of anything involving potatoes, cheese and eggs.
J
Thanks Margaret. Admittedly I was no longer grumpy long before we went out. I was grumpy on the afternoon of the 23rd, when I had to go to two grocery stores (both very crowded) on my lunch break during work, and deciding if I was going to go looking for Christmas Crackers after work. Once we decided to go first thing on Christmas Eve before things got crazy, I was feeling much better about it.
Michelle G.
Oh, it’s the pits to get a cold for the holidays. My parents came down with Covid on the 23rd, so we didn’t get to celebrate with them, and it was a bummer. I hope you feel better soon!
J
Oh no! That’s terrible news. I’m sorry. Thanks for your wishes, I hope to be well soon too. And I hope the same for your parents!
Tobia | craftaliciousme
Oh my gosh that image of you both. So adorable. And you do look very young. But how lovely to have spent all this time together. Is that one of the earliest pictures of you?
My dad has a fancy rolling pin like that. I still need to read Susannes post about the cookies.