Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Picking Up Where We Left Off
Well welcome the hell back, and don’t let the door hit you in the groin on your way in! 2007 just didn’t feel like a party year till you showed up. So, what have I been up to? Oh goodness, all sorts of suchlike. Which is to say, other than the boy being totally off his sleep schedule, not one hell of a lot. One thing I can’t help noticing, though, is that it’s a new year. Let’s look at that more closely, shall we?
Year End Breakfasts: it’s important to celebrate all important events with the most important meal of the day, apart from the one you might scarf compulsively upon returning home buzzed and hungry a little later than you expected to. But the other most important meal is breakfast, and I take it very seriously. Consequently, I spent the first part of my Saturday, Sunday AND Monday off work making sure that there was a damn good meal to be consumed before the sun rose above the yardarm, or whatever it is above which celestial bodies rise these days. Thus and therefore:
* Saturday I made pancakes, with cinnamon and allspice, vanilla and dried cranberries. They were okay, but not the best pancakes I’ve ever made. From now on my pancakes will be better because I got a special pancake flipping spatula at BB&B. But I could tell, saturday morning, that I had some ground to make up. Consequently:
* On Sunday I tried my hand at Rabanada - Brazilian French Toast. At TJ’s on Friday night we’d been given a big ciabatta loaf for free as we left the store (they were going to throw it away, they said, and who am I to call them liars), so I let it get a little stale, cut it on the bias, toasted it lightly, and dipped it, first in milk, then in beaten egg. Then I fried it to golden-brown on both sides and finally sprinkled it generously with cinnamon sugar. It was pretty good for french toast but the rabanada at DeLessio is much better so I’m still looking for recipes.
* Finally, Monday morning we had our traditional eye-opening bagel-and-egg sandwiches, with havarti cheese and butter broiled into the bagel halves and the egg over easy so it bursts in a golden yolky cascade when you first bite in… they were so good we forgot to drink beer with them, as is traditional. Though tragic, the oversight does not appear to have been an immediate harbinger of specifically bad luck.
So, that all was good. We also had some nice parties to visit - the “ghetto farmhouse” NYE celebration in M&C&E’s 1880’s spread in the central Mission district, a gritty urban zone that totally evaporates once you get past the wrought gate to their palatial new digs; and on NYD we went to Daisy’s 5th birthday party, which was delightful, as always. Z stayed up as late as he possibly could every night, and has been waking up early too, so I hope he is good and tired tonight and crashes before 10. I’ve got some serious television watching to catch up on before 24 comes back.
Then there are the symbols of a year come to its natural ending and the resumption of the cosmic cycle of our experience of the fourth dimension:
* Each year we get a big box of baked goods from the inlaws for the holidays. The box says “Wake up and smell the muffins.” Now that the year has begun and I’m feeling so heavy from all the carbs, I’m thinking every time I see that box, “Wake up and sniff my biscuit.” That’s a year-ender right there for ya.
* On the night before NYE, we drove out to Bed Bath and Beyond for-to redeem some holiday generosity, and were surprised to see a big untidy line filling the sidewalk outside a convention center down in the Potrero Designer District. We gaped around for a few moments before we saw the sign: String Cheese Incident was playing their New Year’s concert series. Years past, I’d have known about the show and probably made a strong effort to attend. This time we just shrugged and went on shopping for a crock pot and a humidifier. That’s not just the end of a year, it’s the end of a goddamn era.
* Zach is among the calmest, most reasonable babies on the planet. He fell asleep on my shoulder at the NYE party, rather than let the party go on without him. However, two weeks of crazy diets, crazy sleep schedules, crazy sleeping arrangements, and overall disruption have taken their toll on the little man. He got home from Daisy’s party last night and went into a tantrum that lasted, on and off, till nearly midnight. When Zachary the Calm goes off the deep end like that, I know that something has come to an end.
* Kel got an amaryllis for the holidays - a bulb flower that sends up tall shoots and then erupts into huge red trumpet-like blooms. Z was enjoying our daily demonstration of the new growth. But when we got home a few nights ago we found it lying on the floor in a pile of humus and potting soil. The damn thing had grown so festively enormous that it lost stability and took a suicide plunge off our kitchen counter. When the celebratory flowers off themselves, I guess I have to accept that the party is over.
And with that, I see it’s time for me to hit the road and wander back to the homestead. It’s been a quiet day, and I’m hoping for another one tomorrow. You know what that means, internet: Entertain me! Till then, I respectfully take my leave of you for the evening. Hope it’s a good one for us all. Pray for sleep. You know, that stuff I would do before I had to watch Elmo back-to-back from 9 pm till midnight. gak.
