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I’ve been busy running around lately, taking care of pre-Christmas and pre-travel errands. Sorry for the scarcity of posts.

Liz’s friend (and I guess mine now too, so there!) Don came to visit on Sunday. For dinner, we ate:

• chicken with lemon and capers in a white wine sauce
• steamed broccoli drizzled with lemon infused olive oil
• tomato and garlic couscous
• dessert: peanut butter centered chocolates, fresh strawberries

And we drank:

• A bottle of Pio Cesare 1998 Gavi (used to make and accompany chicken)
• A bottle of Castello Banfi 1997 Brunello di Montalcino (used to accompany dessert, a very awesome bottle)

We talked for a long while, and then Don and I decided to stay up late watching the long version of Fellowship of the Ring. Liz, wisely, chose to not drink as much, and to go upstairs early and sleep.
Don stuck around for most of Monday also; we had a great time dragging him around on errands with us, did an exchange of gifts in the afternoon (and I have to say, the collector’s edition poseable Frodo is truly, surpassingly, psychotically nasty, thank you, Don), and played a little Super Monkey Ball 2 before he had to be on his way.

Afterword, Liz and I baked an apple strudel, which leaked very very little this year. We must be getting good at it!

I phoned my grandmother today at the hospital. She was just about to be taken for her radiation for the bone cancer, and was delighted to hear from me. We had a fairly brief talk that covered all the salient points (merry Christmas, glad to hear you’re going to be going home to celebrate it with family, love you, proud of you, keep up the good fight), but was emotionally very satisfying. We both got a bit weepy, but that was kind of to be expected. She’s an amazing lady, and I greatly admire her perseverance in the face of her recent illnesses.

Today was largely dominated by preparations for dinner and travel. For a third year, we hosted gieves and her family for dinner, which is becoming a lovely and quite enjoyable tradition. We ate:

• baked brie with crackers
• Mike’s Danger Berry Salad: mixed greens, bleu cheese, pecans, sauteed pancetta, golden raisins, and a collection of raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries that had been rescued from a bag of frozen berries (props to all Ohio grocery stores for NOT being open 24/7 like they are back in Colorado), all tossed in a pomegranite champagne vinegar and olive oil dressing
• baked ham in a brown sugar and spice glaze
• baked carrots with something special about them (have to ask Liz I suppose)
• asparagus in a balsamic shallot butter
• sweet potato casserole
• apple strudel and cinnamon ice cream

And we drank:

• Toad’s Hollow champagne (1998? 1999? 2000? I didn’t get a good enough look at it at the time. It was excellent though and I quite recommend it!)
• Santa’s Reserve 2001 “Merlot Ho Ho!” (to accompany dinner, chosen for its kitsch value by a decisive vote)

As usual, the conversation was great, and the company excellent. After dinner I printed some old Christmastime playlists from my Jedi Mind Tricks days, and loaned gieves some CD’s for her show tomorrow. She’s covering Eric’s show also, so she will be on air from 7-11 am tomorrow. Go get ‘em, tiger!! I can’t wait to hear her shows. (And I will be able to for once, not being at work! Yay!)

We debated having Christmas tonight versus on the usual day. Tradition eventually won out, and I think we made the right decision. If I have to have the willpower to deny my future children their presents until the 25th, I had better have the same willpower and live by the same rules that I want to instill in them.

Had a nice phone chat with my parents tonight, who were opening presents, on account of their holiday travel to Hawaii tomorrow. We will join them on Thursday, and then there will be no LJ from me for quite some time. Apologies in advance.

Tags: family  food  friends  holidays  liz  lord-of-the-rings  movies  travel  video-games  weekends  wineLeave a CommentPrint This Post