It's a new dawn, it's a new day ...

2008 is here, hooray!

Since my last update ...

I had a really wonderful time with Sonya in Chicago. Much of my time there was spent wandering around the city while Sonya was in interviews. There was also deep dish pizza at Gino's East, which was a thing of glorious dripping-with-calorie goodness. I was astounded at the beauty of the Art Institute; Sonya and I rode the El, and I visited Daley Plaza (where they have that new Picasso). I took lots of pictures, which I always find to be a pleasant way to spend the day.

Speaking of pictures, I'm continuing to prepare for shooting Elizabeth's wedding. I'm going to take a LOT of pictures. I'm kind of excited. Also exciting: I won an ebay auction for a 60-year-old Czech camera. It's a twin-lens reflex camera, which should be ... interesting.

New Year's Eve was fun and laid-back. Sonya and I were heading over to a friend's house; we were to arrive at 10. We realized, en route, that
-we had not eaten
-we probably should eat
-with an ever-decreasing window before 10pm, something quick would be good.
In case you were wondering, precious little is open at 9:30 on New Year's Eve in terms of "a quick bite". The winner was Jim's Steak Out. I decided to set aside the diet for an evening, and indulged in a delicious drippy steak sub. The evening was lovely and fun and laid-back. There was a late-night sortie to a bar, which was uninteresting, but we did discover that Wiseguys Pizza is open very late. I decided that the setting-aside of the diet for the night was still in effect, and indulged in some slightly-drunk late night pizza for the first time in a long time. And ooooh, it was good.

I'm back in Canada these days. I'm happy to have found a semi-permanent place up here, which makes traveling much easier. Things are going well, the diet is back on track, and I just went out and ran tonight!

Speaking of the diet, I think I gained six pounds and raised my cholesterol 20 points just reading this. Worst part? It actually .... sounds .... kinda ... tasty!

I'm going to go gnaw on some broccoli now.

Hot Buttered Rum

Hot Buttered Rum

Batter
3 sticks butter, softened
2 cups brown sugar (er, around two cups. I used one of the small box-in-a-bag packages. Yes, all of it)
1/2c vanilla ice cream, softened
2 Tbs pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp cardamom
1/4c molasses
1 Tbs cinnamon

Cream together butter and brown sugar in mixer; add ice cream, then pie spice, cardamom, molasses, and cinnamon. Mix until mixture is even and smooth.
Transfer to bowl; refrigerate at least overnight.

Drink
Batter (see above)
Good dark rum (I like Myers)
Cinnamon sticks
microwave-safe 6-8 oz mugs [this is one of the few times you can use old-fashioned "standard size" coffee/tea cups. For actual coffee, my cups start at 12oz, but generally, I go with the 20 oz mug, no cream, three Splendas.]

Half-fill mug with water; microwave 1-2 minutes. Water may be boiling in mug; that's OK. You want the mug hot as well as the water. If you get your hot water from a kettle, just rinse the mug with hot water first. Add 1 golf-ball sized glob of batter; stir until dissolved. Add 1-2 oz rum; stir. Drop in a cinnamon stick.

This drink *will* warm you. Seriously, you could walk into the house after a two hour hike in the sleet with wet socks and a headwind, and two sips into it, you'll have feeling in your extremities.