use real butter

At last the weekend. I felt tired when I left work today, but productivity is up. I even brought the manual home for more “leisure” reading. Jeremy has a symposium all day tomorrow, so I think I’ll try to get a lot done during the day. Maybe take Kaweah for a hike in the rain. Run errands in town like getting some clothes, toys, and games for Ben and Emily. Marla said to bring wine to dinner. What do you pair with a middle eastern/subcontinental veggie dish? Okay, I’ve looked up Reisling and Pinot Noir… My general (and limited) experience with Pinot is that the good stuff costs an arm and a leg. So Reisling it is. I think I should consider investing in a wine and food pairing book. I tend to do more “pairing” than drinking wine for the sake of drinking wine. It’s all about the food for me anyway.

**Jump for more butter**

I’m sipping some Sybarites that I got at the Chronicle. It’s a Shiraz Grenache blend. I love Shiraz. Pretty spanking good for $14 and tastes great with pizza.

**Jump for more butter**

Jeremy assesses the progress of the chocolate espresso buttercream.

Boy am I glad the holidays are over. It feels nice to get back to my normal life, whatever that is. I think December was mostly a lot of self-induced stress for me. My mom told me they opened the crackers I made for them. They OPENED them, meaning they UNWRAPPED them. I even sent instructions on how to tear apart a cracker, but no, they had to do it their way. I asked what she did with the cardboard strip inside that has the cracker. Threw them out… my parents – gotta love them.

I love flan…