January

I've spent so many weeks talking about December, that it's time for January!

It's been a fast January. New Year's Eve was nothing special. We stayed home and my husband made pigs-in-a-blanket (mini sausages wrapped in croissant dough version, not the stuffed cabbage version) and mini quiches, with Camembert and a French baguette.

For actual New Year's, the in-laws made a crown roast of pork, with the requisite black-eyed peas.

Once I returned, I got into cooking pretty quickly. So far this month: vegetable barley stew, cinnamon apple steel oats, cinnamon ginger tea, oatmeal raspberry bars, and chocolate chip walnut cookies. The cookies were interesting, since I was out of butter, I ended up substituting a half cup of ground flax and a quarter cup of applesauce. The cookies are very chewy--I'll have to remember the substitution next time I'm going for chewy cookies.

Next up is French toast, popovers, and Waldorf salad, made with olive oil and cream, rather than mayo. I'll blog about that more in detail when it's done. For the popovers, I did finally break down and buy a muffin pan--I have specifically been holding back on buying a muffin pan for the past 4 years.

I returned from vacation 4 lbs heavier than I started, then dropped two lbs in the first few weeks, and am holding steady. Which is fine, as I was underweight pre-Christmas, and this way, I'm still in the "healthy weight" zone.

To ease myself out of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (XBox 360), I started playing Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy, which is on Facebook. There are AC iPhone games, too, but I'm too cheap to actually pay for games (I only own the Lite versions of Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja).

And finally, school--I was lucky that I didn't have to take any classes this semester. In fact, I think I'm out of taking classes for the rest of my time here. I'll have to teach next year, but for the next few months, I can focus on my writing.

The next two weeks I've designated my DiPoWriFo: Dissertation Proposal Writing Fortnight. I hope at the end to have something I can turn in to my advisor.

Weatherwise, it's been snowy. There's been a few days where it's been quite cold--it went down to 0 degrees (without windchill) one evening, but recently, during the days, it's been a hair about freezing, so some of the snow has been melting, enough that it isn't quite as hard cleaning the car off in the mornings.

Fun late Christmas gifts have included "Miss Manners' Guides to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior"--it includes a small section on gloves!--and a Talbot's cashmere sweater. And I think I have the perfect occasion to wear it, too...