Gasp

This is just stunning. Hello, Winter Wonderland.

Recent Excitement

Three of my fiction students asked me if they could "talk me into" teaching them a private class. An advanced fiction workshop.

These students are currently publishing. I mean, they know a thing or two about craft, and frankly, I didn't know how much they'd get out of my class in the first place.

But apparently, they liked it! And I am just GIDDY coming up with the readings for this class... I'm thinking a mix of theory, craft, readings, and some good ol' fashioned workshop.

Eeeeeeek!!

What We're Having Tonight:

Errr, what we had Friday night.

There are about a million ways to make this dish, but this is the one I make 9 times out of 10. It's one of my favorite winter recipes, that only requires a handful of fresh ingredients so you can throw it together at a moments notice, and, for those of us from small towns in Northern California, tastes like home.

Posole: Feeds 6-8

Ingredients:

-Pork chops, cubed (I used about a pound)

-Shredded cabbage (I just get the bag from TJs)

-Julienned radishes (Skip this if you're not up to dicing tiny veggies)

-One large yellow onion, chopped

-2 28-oz cans white hominy, drained

-1 3-oz can diced green chilies, drained (as hot as you like)

-1 28-oz can diced tomatoes (the authentic version would omit these, but I try to squeeze in a few extra veggies)

-4-8 cloves of garlic, diced

-4 cups chicken stock (even at my laziest, homemade stock is worth it. I mean come on the soup practically comes straight from the pantry.)

-Olive oil

-Salt and pepper to taste

-Chile de arbol to taste

Directions:

-In a large dutch oven, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil over a medium flame until soft. Add the pork and cook until brown, about ten minutes. Add the green chiles and stir to combine. Sprinkle with chile de arbol, salt, and pepper.

-Add the hominy, tomatoes, and stock. Bring the soup to a boil for ten minutes.

-While the soup is boiling, fill bowls with a loose handful of the shredded cabbage and chopped radishes. Ladle the soup over the cabbage and radishes, let sit for a minute or two until the cabbage wilts. Serve with sour cream, lime wedges, and avocado, chopped cilantro if you're feeling fancy.

Candlelight Thoughts:

Happy Hanukkah, to those who celebrate.

I sometimes think it's unfortunate that Hanukkah and Christmas fall so close together on the calendar. Hanukkah is a minor holiday, and yet sometimes it seems to get a LOT of attention and fanfare (I'm writing this shortly after finding a lighted spinning dreidel lawn ornament and BB&B) for no other reason than to show Christmas what's up.

Well. That's not my battle. We just have a simple menorah, a few dreidels, and a handful of gelt. But the simplicity is welcome at this chaotic time of year: what better way to spend the darkest nights of the year, than gathering with your loved ones and marveling at their faces in the candlelight?

Hanukkah is not meant to compete with Christmas. It's quiet, simple, just a slight departure from the norm. But it is lovely. Right when most people are frazzled with lists, wrapping, and breaking the bank, we get to lie back, order crab meat cheese wontons, and pretend it's snowing.

And, can I just say, if it were to compete with Christmas, Hanukkah would definitely win the decorations award. Blue and silver look way better than red and green. I mean, come on.

Waiting...

... for E to finish his conference call so we can finish The Wire episode that is paused right at what is probably the MOST EXCITING MOMENT!!

Well. I've been meaning to write anyway.

I've never been that "in" to the holidays. I mean, I loved them, and loved making things for my loved ones and taking time to visit with family. But they always seemed to fly by in a flurry of late nights, pricked fingers, and stacks of cards I always meant to respond to. I think I resisted some of the obligation that comes with the holidays.

The last few years, that has changed. Oddly. You would think, as a new wife, I would feel even more obligated to do things like send handwritten cards and bake mini pumpkin pies for my husband to take to work. And, because I resist obligation (it's always suspicious), you would think I'd get a little more Scrooge-ier than ever.

Oh. That and the fact that I don't even technically celebrate Christmas anymore. It's Hanukkristmas. Or Christmukkah. Whatevs.

But actually, it has been the opposite. A few years ago, we started hosting "The Great Day After Thanksgiving ______." (We never finished the name, "party" wasn't quite right, E thinks "game night" is lame, we just call it "Day After Thanksgiving Night). And I am SO excited. I think maybe because now E's friends are starting to feel a little more like my own, and our families are not as new to each other, because we're one year further into our own little groove as a new, budding family.

That's right. Family. Holy mother!

I don't mean that in the 'guess-what-I'm-pregnant' way. I just mean it in the 'we're-in-this-together' way. The fact that we're beyond our 'let's go our separate ways for the holidays and I'll see you on New Years' phase. I guess we passed that a few years ago, but we're also just far enough along to be able to look back fondly on the years behind us, and have a few traditions of our own, and we're not too far along that we can't remember anything, or have time to sit around the tree in the dark, sharing a mug of tea, twisting our fingers together under a blanket.

I think the time between newlywed-dom and parenthood is a very special time. It is, for the time being, delicious. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Now if he could just get down here so I can get some snuggles with my eggnog and finish this freaking episode!! I mean, can you believe what happened to Dee?

Travel Plans: Thailand

Oh. Em. Gee.

We booked our tickets last night, it's official. We're going to Thailand. For three weeks.

Actually, the trip will include Tokyo, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

It hasn't quite hit me yet.

It will be the longest plane ride of my life, to date. 19 hours and 40 minutes. I'm looking into getting cryogenically frozen and thawed in Tokyo.

Color me ECSTATIC!!!

Holiday Blues

Don't get me wrong, I'm feeling the festivities. Third annual DATN invites are out.

And I do look forward to it, even though I won't make it out to Georgia this year... the lovely lady in purple is graduating in May, so we'll be going then.

I hate having family thousands of miles away!!