a few more years shall roll

This past saturday, I joined the local public library, checked out 6 books on Ireland to begin planning my six days there (they didn’t have any on Belgium, where I’ll be the week before Ireland), grilled with my new Weber charcoal grill. For my first attempt at grilling, I made the following:

a burger (with feta)
onions
portabellas
boneless pork chop with dijon maple glaze
butternut squash

Fear not, I did not eat these all in one sitting (it was three meals in one), but I figured I should go ahead and use the grill space and heat while I had it.

So, here was my plate on the table for a late lunch:

Here is the butternut squash, which finished cooking while I ate the burger/onion/mushroom pita sandwich:

I’m still figuring out the vents on my grill, but the first outing was a success.

I’m submitting a few photo entries to the blog. . .with a little explanation.

One of my favorite of more recent traditions is my annual Christmas Eve eve gift exchange, sleepover, and brunch with four of my close friends in Philadelphia. We began four years ago (I think) meeting at Joyce’s home. She decorates her home beautifully for Christmas, so we all enjoy celebrating there. We snack and exchange gifts in the evening, and then the next morning we collaborate and have a lovely brunch together. The photo above shows one of Joyce’s beautiful tea cups on the breakfast table.

Even though I’ve moved away, I hope that this gathering remains a part of my Christmas celebration in years to come. My friends gave me a particularly sweet gift this year–a scrapbook of some of our adventures together–from trips to the Adirondacks, Vermont, and, most recently, Ukraine to celebrations together to our times in choir (where we all met and became friends). It’s a special treasure!