For dinner we went to Leonardo’s 706 (where the locally-sourced shiitake mushroom appetizer is so delicious that I swear each time that I’m going to order about three of them as a meal) and although they seemed reluctant to leave the butter out of Antony’s dish in order to make it vegan, the food was passable (quote of the night, “but it won’t be the same dish” — seriously, the waitress really wanted to argue this point. Antony had to go to the counter to ask someone to ask the chef, because she said she knew he wouldn’t do it and wasn’t even going to bring it up, as “it wouldn’t be the same dish”). Not to keep kicking a dead horse, but … why was that even an issue? What is this, a cooking competition where the chef has to make everything the same way every time, or risk getting booted out of the kitchen? It’s not like it’s a big box place, with sauce shipped in frozen in a bucket. It’s a locally owned restaurant, one that prides itself on sourcing good food locally, nowhere on the menu did it say “no substitutions” or “dietary restrictions will be mocked,” and for fuck’s sake, at the prices they charge they can leave off the damn butter. GAH. Whatever. They’re off the list of places we’ll go next time. So thanks, Leonardo’s 706, for the chance to eat at The Jones instead! Appreciate it!

Anyway, other than that (oh, and other than his building having no power when he got to work) I think Tim had a good birthday. He was surrounded by people who love him and who get (and encourage, sigh) his puns, and he got some lovely cards and useful gifts. Happy birthday, honey!

Today I am back to work — not that it seems like this vacation has really been a VACATION. I’ve still been working my butt off, even though we’ve had holidays and company and a death in the family. I have so much stuff to list and promote that I actually drew up a calender for January marking when I was going to list certain things; otherwise I would try to list 76 new things today and have nothing else new to show for two months. I also tried to block out more of a work schedule, making certain days of the week soap-making days, or yarn-dying days, or firing-the-kiln days. I am determined to stick to it through January, but we’ll see how it goes. I just feel like lately I’ve been running around in a full-on Kermit the Frog muppet-arm-flail, putting out fires and struggling to remake sold out items, and over the holidays came to the conclusion that “never being sold out of something” is less important than “having a structured work week.” If I’m sold out of something, it’s OK to not have it back in until next week. So I sell out of Rosemary Mint soap on Friday, and soap-making day is Monday, meaning I won’t have it listed until Thursday. That is allllll right. The universe will not end, the sun will rise and set, and the rest of my planned schedule won’t be thrown off balance. In theory.

So.

Off to refill, or just nuke, this coffee cup. It’s cold as fuck inside the house (I’m wearing three pairs of socks, fingerless gloves, a thermal shirt, another shirt, and a sweatshirt, and a hat) and my coffee is cold almost as soon as I carry it from the kitchen to the office. Winter has arrived. Tim’s going to cover the windows with plastic this weekend. Ahhhh, older houses with your silly jalousie windows.

I’ve also made a lot of soap in the last couple of days. Wild Iris needs a restock like you wouldn’t believe (I brought in 32 bars yesterday and will bring in at least that many again next Thursday) and my Etsy shop could use some attention as well (so many sold out things!!!). But I’ve put Etsy on the back burner until the first week of January, so that I could focus my attention on Wild Iris. And on prepping things for Etsy. And making soap for a friend to take with her to a yarn/fiber show. And dyeing the January yarn club. And giving myself time to reflect on next week’s 10th anniversary of my dad’s death. And now Rusty’s death. AWESOME HOLIDAY VACATION FTW OMGWTFBBQ!!!1!

Yeah. Anyway. Moving on.

Jag and Antony get here tonight! We’re having dinner at Aunt Gay and Uncle Joe’s, and I’m torn between making this cauliflower and mushroom soup, this spinach and lemon potato dish, or this mushroom and spinach pasta. And at some point this weekend, vegan cupcakes (or I could pick some up at Sarkara) and/or these spice cookies.

Great. Now I’m hungry.

So I got cherry tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, balsamic vinegar, and toothpicks… stood over a plate for about ten minutes, and came up with…

It was so good that I made it for about the next six weeks in a row, too, and in looking at that photo I think I know what I’m having for lunch tomorrow. NOM NOM NOM.

The rest of my 2011 photos can be viewed here.

Above (if you’re not in a Reader) is a photo album of all the photos I took during the week of us all just hanging out. GOOD TIMES, Y’ALL! There are photos of Aunt Gay, Uncle Joe, Barbara, Tim, me, Jag, and Antony. Oh, and Satch Vanley. What or who is “Satch Vanley,” you ask? It’s sort of like Flat Stanley, only it’s the Satchel’s van. There’s a contest, to color one in and send it a photo. We didn’t just send in one photo… we took it around Gainesville for the week and took almost 30 photos — and had a laughing great time while we did it!

There are also a lot of photos of food, because … well, we love food.

As always, it was wonderful to see the two of them. It’s odd, you know; for as far away as they live, it’s completely natural to look up and see them across the table. I love them both to pieces, and wish I could box them up and hand them out as Christmas gifts — they’re just that spectacular!

HAHAHAHAH. I almost thought we weren’t going to even be able to get in the door, let alone get a seat. Fortunately JJ and another friend, Stu, were there, and graciously waved us over to share their table. The food was awesome (duh, it was SATCHEL’S) and the music was great (duh, it was OUR FRIENDS). And the whole experience was topped off with the fabulous feature on my camera for pictures in low light settings (Swapna, it’s under “SCN”, and it’s the icon that looks like a candle flame if you  hit “FUNC. SET” and scroll through).

All of the following photos were taken using the low light setting, and none of them were taken with flash.

1. Lisa singing; Jenn on bodhrán, 2. Don’t they make a cute couple?, 3. Lisa on harp; Jenn on bodhrán, 4. Jenn on flute, 5. Crowded room!, 6. ceiling and lights, 7. light, 8. light and toy, 9. JJ, 10. Me and Stu, 11. Jenn on flute, 12. Lisa on harp; Jenn on bodhrán

Flickr kind of loads these photos however it wants, so I’m afraid they’re not in time order.

1. Fried bananas
2. Yucca sticks & pepper/nut dip – the red & green bell pepper and Brazil nut dip was soooooooo good!
3. Bill and Linda (so glad to see Tim’s parents! They are lovely, genuine and good, and seeing them is always a joy.)
4. Jenn & JJ
5. Fried yucca sticks – more like… wedges, really, than sticks. And covered with sugar and a bit of salt? OM NOM NOM.
6. Linda & Barbara (I love seeing far-flung family together!)
7. Oh, delicious (Clockwise from upper right we have rice, crab mac&cheese (about all my still-rebelling stomach could handle that day), sauteed onions with collard greens, and (I probably won’t spell this right) fejoiuda.)
8. Sharon and Becca
9. group shot (I have many photos of the same people in the same room throughout the years, and it warms my heart.)
10. More food simmering on the stove – seriously, we had so much food we had to have a rematch a few days later, gave everyone leftovers both times, and *still* have food in the fridge!
11. Aunt Gay helping to cut fruit – much thanks to Aunt Gay and Sharon T. for their help in cutting all the mango and kiwi!
12. Group shot – it was also great to see Amy and Isaac, whom we hadn’t seen since Thanksgiving.
13. That sonic screwdriver came in handy! – After Tim got the first part of the coconut off, I couldn’t watch – he was hacking at it with a knife and I was sure he was going to lose a finger.
14. Snacks, Brazilian style – I could eat these little cheesy biscuits every day!

I don’t have nearly as much time for knitting as I used to, but am enjoying the time I have, more.

The rest of my 2010 photos can be viewed here.

I think I forgot to post about this. We’d been watching an HBO series, Treme, with Aunt Gay, Uncle Joe, and Barbara. Every few weeks we’d get together for dinner and to watch an episode or two. We finally had time to watch the last two episodes, and clearly that called for an appropriate dinner! Tim did most of the cooking, and rumor has it that his brother wants a heads-up next time we do this so he can fly down for dinner first.

The rest of my 2010 photos can be viewed here.