Christmas 2008.

Christmas was pleasant and mellow this year. I was at the tail end of the Black Death Plague, trying not to cough all over everyone, and I sounded like Joan Rivers with a touch of laryngitis, but other than that things were swell.

We had our potluck-style dinner with the family and I brought along a homemade buckwheat noodle casserole from my favorite cookbook, The Flexitarian Table. Although some said they enjoyed it, I was pretty unhappy with the casserole. The noodles had all clumped together when I was making them, and in the cooked casserole they were very lumpy and dense. Buckwheat flour is VERY STICKY and hard to work with: lesson learned. If I ever made this again, I would probably cut the buckwheat in half and use more regular flour instead. Why I choose never-before-tried recipes for important family dinners, I will never know... not the best idea. But I'm crazy. Luckily Mike's family is very gracious and would never tell me my food sucked!

On Friday night we went to some friends' house and watched Burn After Reading, the Coen brothers movie out on DVD. Coen brothers films are kind of hit or miss with me, but there was something about this one I really, really liked. I even liked George Clooney, whom I normally can't abide. The characters were a bit over the top but so well played, it was hard not to love them. And Brad Pitt always plays the slightly crazy bimbo ever so well. There was an attention to detail in this movie that just tickled me. I think our friends were bored by it, though.

On Saturday night we attended a party to welcome back a friend who has been working abroad and is home for a short vacation. The attendees were a mix of friends and business colleagues for both Mike and I so it was fun to schmooze and celebrate the season, and wonderful to see my friend, who's been away for several months.

Today, sadly, it's back to work. I've had plenty of vacation, but I always feel I could take one more day.