a lull

A grey, quiet morning in Toledo, but a good one. The public radio affiliate is playing some extended or condensed version of "Carmen" and I'm wrapped up in the big chair. Kolz has encouraged me to think of this as vacation, and I am trying not to get back into working just yet; it's good to catch up on my email. More cooking, per my usual. We brought home tons of leftovers from my family's Christmas (Mom's Swedish meatballs from the Christmas eve smorgasbord, grilled venison from the extended family to-do, and inexplicable amounts of cream cheese) - my folks were heading out when we were, for more visits and family vacations, and so emptied their fridge into our cooler. In the next two weeks, they get to visit everyone who couldn' t make it home, which I'm envious of. The kidlets grow so fast, especially when you go months without seeing them.

But back to the venison. I do not, historically, like venison. At all. Kolz was stoked about trying it, and it was tastier than I remembered (a credit to my cousin's grilling skills in sub-freezing temperatures, surely). I decided last night to make a venison ragout, like the lamb ragouts I've had at this one great Italian place in our neighborhood. It was basically a homemade meat sauce, but the challenge was making it tasty without being able to cook the meat the whole time in the sauce. We had it with pappardelle, I should've taken photos, it was really yummy. Tonight we'll make something vegetarian for one of Kolz's co-clerks, but that remains to be seen.

Wabes Christmas at home last weekend was as perfect as I hoped and imagined it would be -- Kolz and I had a great time, we cooked, we napped, we read, we took walks. We also discovered my uncle's hot tub, and I bonded with the 4-year-old son of one of my many cousins who chose me for his post-tantrum chill-out and my lap for his crash-nap. I miss the kid time. My niece and nephew were also a blast - the oldest is 100% little boy now, complete with "awesome!" and "i have no idea!", and the free-spirited little girl is growing up so neat - and it was great to see my brother and sister as well. I have a whole mess of cousins, and all of their kids, and it's neat to see our generations recapitulate (in 10 year intervals, apparently). The immediate family now enjoys a late-night chat over scotch a bit more, naps a bit more, cooks a bit less complicated. It's sometimes hard for me to see everyone in stages or parts - I don't remember when we were last all together - but we live in a big country, and blended families are complicated. The time we have is precious.

Oh, and Kolz made latkes for the "Erev Christmas" smorgasbord -- the latter is a tradition from my mom's father which she has brought back in recent years, complete with funky Swedish cheese a crisp-breads, and this year with fresh lingonberry sauce (!). After having my cousin's girlfriend's curry at the family potluck, I think he decided that bringing some Jewish food to the gathering would be cool. We did a little Channukah when I got home, too; the round of holidays is fun.

Precious is not without its amusements, though. One advent wreath did catch fire, and was summarily pitched into the snowy yard and doused, and my niece did take whole bottle of handsoap and make a sink full of bubbles before anyone was wise to it - but those are both things we can laugh about.

It is really nice to be home.


[I do feel like I should add a p.s. about Benazir Bhutto's assassination yesterday - one of the consequences of having TV is having round-the-clock coverage again. I heard it first thing on the radio, and suddenly was awake, and angry, no chance of going back to sleep. I can't quite place why it bothers me so much - she was obvious problematic, probably corrupt, but bracingly idealistic. It may be naive, but the way she talked about democracy seemed to mean more than it does when we talk about safeguarding democracy or freedom here. There's more on the line, maybe. I know so little about it. Kolz placed it at her whole family having been killed as well. The coverage made me remember why I don't like watching the news too much, but things have also changed. CNN now makes a point of showing the newsroom, dicussing what other sources it is tapping, who will be in the field -- to assure the public somehow that they are REALLY on top of this news-coverage business. It all seemed very self-aggrandizing to me. P.S. ends there.]