Happy Year 2007!

Here we are, third day into the new year. So far so good. What awaits us this year? Only time will tell.

The new year began damp and cold. A typical cold winter day and a great day for HOTPOT. It must have been a good idea because lots of our friends had hotpot dinner on New Year's Eve.

Mom and I decked the table with pretty plates, matching bowls, chopsticks, spoons, ladles, wine glasses, etc...It looked very festive. Halfway through, power went out. A big section of the neighborhood went pitch black. What timing! But, power or not, we were having our hotpot. At least no electricity required. Mom got spare cans of gas, and we had plenty of candles. It would have been cool if we got hats with top-mounting flashlight. We ended up with a lovely candlelight dinner - couldn't call it romantic because RK wasn't with me. It was quite fun as we fished food in semi-darkness and strained to see what we put in our mouths.

Lesson learned: improvise! It just might turn out much better than the original plan.

Happy New Year!

Ho-Ho-Ho

Work off at 2pm. I decided to go down to Union Square to do some people watching. It has been a while since I'm part of this excitment, or rather, hectic commercialism.

People are here and there... Everyone is busy shopping for Christmas gifts but I wonder how many of them will be back the day after Christmas to return the stuff they bought today...

Cold Blue Sky

Out in the Cold: I took a little walk to the Ferry Building during lunch today. It was very cold and most people huddled inside the building. Very few chose to go outside even though the sun was out and they sky was a pretty blue. I got to enjoy the empty plaza with a handful of people and one lonesome sea gull. It was quiet... A big contrast to the "busyness" of the financial district a block away.

Ferry Away: the ferry was about to leave. I wished I could have just jumped on and took off with it. It was a cold but beautiful day to play hooky. Out at the sea...fresh air... awesome view and a cup of good old Peet's coffee...

I Promised You a Kahlua Cake

Here's the story: Once upon a time, two complete strangers struck up a conversation about baking and traded cake recipes on the spot in the houseware section of Macy's Cellar. I happened to have the apple nut coffee cake recipe with me (thanks Carol, it was your recipe) that day, but the lady didn't have her killer chocolate cake recipe, which she said I must have. She took my address and promised to mail it to me (the era before emails). Did she? You guessed it... If she didn't, I wouldn't be telling the story today.

Totally Delectable: a stranger kept her words to another when she did not really need to. It makes this chocolate cake extra sweet and scrumptious.

Pretend It's Winter

Somehow, 60 degree-ish weather, sunny blue sky, palm trees and ice skating just don't seem to go together. But here we are, ice skating ring ready and holiday music blasting... We are forced to enjoy this artificial winter.

Here's reality: the winter holidays season starts in early November. It doesn't matter that winter is still more than a month away, or that we haven't even had our Thanksgiving turkey. We have to hurry because we need more time for shopping - no I mean- to enjoy the holidays.