We took the Christmas tree and stockings down last night. Vivian seemed curiously ok with it, but that could be due to having given her beef lo mein, her favorite, for her to eat while we reset the living room to pre-Yule status. Bonus: a sweeping of the fallen fir needles turned into a sweeping of the whole living room, foyer and dining room, so the house looked even nicer. The resulting empty space in the dining room is calling to me, and I’m not certain how that will manifest. At the moment, it seems to make sense to put the dining table back there, but you just never know what sort of whack idea I will come up with for open spaces.
After this weekend’s Eggs Benedict, I have been wanting to make hollandaise sauce and come up with a paleo version. I think I’ll be using rutabaga egg nests to replace the English muffin. If I break down and buy a food processor, that is. Which is looking more and more like something I’m really going to enjoy having around. The recipe does say that if I don’t have a food processor, I can use a cheese grater, but after nearly shaving my thumb tip off grating ginger this weekend, I’m not inclined to touch the grater again. [What was I doing grating ginger you ask? Making real ginger tea (with fresh lemon and thistle honey) for everyone fighting off the rampant crud that is plaguing our region. Because I am a good person? Sort of. Mostly because I wanted them well and not miserable.] Okay, for paleo Eggs Benedict, I would probably brave much worse.
I confess that I had no idea what a rutagaga was. When I looked it up on images.google.com, I initially thought it was a turnip. So, yes, dear reader, I had to go find out the differences between a turnip and a rutabaga.
The work crew and I made a double-sized batch of Shepherd’s Pie, and spent our lunch playing cards and catching up. It was a welcome bright spot in a rainy, foggy, Portlandian day. Afterward we were all quite sated, and I think there would have been a petition started to institute an official nap time, except we were all too deep into our calorie coma to care. We might have to wake up a couple of the crew to get them to go home at five o’clock.
I’m listening to the Wailin’ Jennys, specifically "Storm Coming" on the 
Bright Shining Stars album. I love this group, and it is perfect for rainy days and tea, especially if you can’t snuggle under some covers and cuddle the day away. The ladies are turning the afternoon's work on projects into quite the Goldilocks moment, sounding Just Right. [Best of the Waterboys is scheduled to follow it up. I love my iPod.] When I get home tonight, I want to do nothing more active than make tea, listen to good music and good conversation and knit until a very-early bedtime. Because it’s very, very rainy and it won’t stop anytime soon. But no, we still aren’t scheduled to get any snow.
