use real butter

If things are looking a bit different, I’m in the process of some tidying up around here, which I hope is more or less transparent to everyone, but you never know… Besides, it’s the only tidying up I can do right now. As the Chinese New Year was nearing, Jeremy and I scrambled to clean the house because you aren’t supposed to clean once the new year arrives for fear of sweeping out the good luck. I’ve always read that you don’t clean for 2 weeks until the Lantern Festival (15 days later). Unlike my mom, cleaning isn’t one of my hobbies. Whenever she comes to visit us, within an hour of arriving, she will don a pair of rubber gloves and begin scrubbing my kitchen. I always tell her that I just cleaned the house and she always smiles and says, “Oh, I like to clean the house!” The first time this happened, Jeremy walked into our old apartment kitchen with eyes wide and blinking, “If your mom cleans our place before we vacate, we’d get every cent of our deposit back.” So when I mentioned to Mom over the phone that we just finished vacuuming and scrubbing since we aren’t supposed to clean for two weeks, she insisted, “No, just one day.” I told her everyone else says two weeks and she emphatically said, “It’s just the one day.” Okay, well I’m going to take that 2 weeks as a directive…

Recipe: vegetarian bagel

I am getting into the spirit of the season. And by season, I really mean season. The solstice is here, the longest night of the year for those of us in the northern hemisphere. Jeremy dreads this day because he really misses the daylight. I don’t mind it, really. And it seems to come upon us so quickly that I’m usually a little surprised when it arrives. Alright, honestly? I’m always surprised when the month of December arrives. For some reason, after the leaves fall, the last quarter of the year rushes in like a flood: one holiday after another, winterizing the house, putting away summer clothes and getting out the winter clothes, cooking more stuff in a crock pot than on the grill (well, I pride myself in using the grill throughout the year if I can!), changing out my header image on use real butter, tuning up our tele gear, getting our winter skin back. The past couple of weeks have felt like true winter because of the snow and the darkness and the frigid temperatures – but it was all autumn.

I look forward to the solstice because our days get longer from there until summer solstice. It’s a hopeful time to me and I love winter – especially the night sky in winter. Plus, the chilly temps make for great cuddling with Kaweah, the mobile furnace. I am especially jolly this solstice since Jeremy returned from travel on Friday. We managed to squeak in a lunch at Sushi Tora in Boulder before he had to rush off to a last minute meeting.

**Jump for more butter**

The first time I tried to arrange to meet with Manisha and Kitt for lunch, I asked for suggestions or preferences. Manisha immediately ruled out most of the Indian restaurants in Boulder. I chuckled to myself over that because I would have done the same regarding any of the Chinese restaurants in Boulder. I never doubted for a second that the woman knows her Indian food and today was proof of exactly that.