Christmas Eve

I am so so happy that it is Christmas Eve, and that 2009 is almost put to bed. It was only a half day in the office, so I was able to meet up with Alex to watch a matinee of  ‘Up In The Air’. (Really enjoyed it.) Once we got home I buzzed about the kitchen prepping for tomorrow whilst we listened to a This American Life podcast. It was pure middle class bliss. I made another match of mince pies, this time I have the pastry recipe down and Alex is a much better roller than I am since my pie crusts were uneven and an inch thick. Then I moved on to making Smitten Kitchen’s winter fruit salad and Baked’s sour lemon buttermilk scones. With the scones I followed Smitten Kitchen’s advice and flash froze them so I can bake them straight from the freezer tomorrow morning.  And since the recipe yielded way more scones than we can eat in the morning I will have some tasty breakfast treats to look forward to. We will have the scones (plus tea) in bed whilst we open our Santa socks (and listen to Morning Edition), and then breakfast proper will be the winter fruit salad and Pioneer Woman’s savory bread pudding.  We are going to friends for an early Christmas dinner around 5pm so I need to make sure that we don’t go hungry and graze on mince pies all afternoon!

I am so happy happy to be on vacation for the next week. No big plans just plenty of cooking, eating, studying and watching Band of Brothers again.

Happy holidays, or to follow Richard Dawkins’ lead and celebrate the creation of the universe.

Darwin-Dawkins-Tyson

I’ve just got back from seeing Richard Dawkins read extracts from his latest book ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ and answer a few (tame) questions from the audience. He’s a slick orator and it was worth squishing myself into the crowded bookstore to listen. I’ve been a fan of Dawkins since his ‘Blind Watchmaker’ days, which I read in High School, and  I never imagine that +15 yrs later he’d been a rock star atheist (and that I’d be seeing him do a book reading in NYC).  Once the Q & A started I began to navigate my way towards the front of the store, ready to make my escape and guess who I spied typing away at his MacBook Air – Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson. Astrophysicist and Director of Hayden Planetarium.  Dr. Tyson is also a regular guest on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, and whenever he is on Stewart and Colbert act like giddy school boys.  It’s nice that given the range of guests they get on their programs they show genuine excitement for the astrophysicist.

Things on Tuesday

the good

• getting use to the new routine (managing to sleep without the lights on!)
• off to see Richard Dawkins (aka the atheist pope) tomorrow night & stolen art tour @ the Met on Friday
• new black boots are rocking every outfit
• 2nd hand copies of Alison Cooley’s Pompeii & Roger Ling’s Roman Painting have arrived
• getting organized
• New USA series ‘White Collar’ looks like it has potential

the so-so

• having to change my flight to Chicago for the 2nd time
• anxiety dreams
• alarmingly busy @ work
• not enough hours in the day
• the silence
• the weather
• flu shot dilemma