I’ve created a new playlist, with songs that inspire me to break the rules, for one reason or another. Enjoy!♥

Breakin’ the Rules from cryskie on 8tracks.

I now return you to your normal poco-cocoa reading activities.♥

Today I thought about how everyone is an expert in something, and all of us are completely useless in something else. I can’t recognize any cars except Mini Coopers and VW Beetles. I can’t name any NASCAR driver except Al Unser Jr., and that’s because his name is often a crossword clue. I don’t know who won the Super Bowl. I don’t know the difference between drywall and plywood. I have no idea whether a wine is a Chardonnay or a Riesling. But. I can taste Pernod or Pastis in a sauce. I can tell you with one taste whether something has olives, or anchovies, or cilantro. I can tell you how duck confit is made, the recipe for a sazerac, or what sweetbreads are. I can navigate through most menus, appreciate a good wine pairing, and look at a recipe and tell whether it will work out well or whether I’ll like it. I am an expert in food and eating. There could be worse things.

I have been working really hard at breaking the rules. I’m not driving on the wrong side of the road or shoplifting or anything, but I am breaking my own arbitrary rules. I often don’t even realize that I have set these rules for myself: do not eat at chain restaurants. Do not wear red lipstick in the daytime. Do not spend the day reading a book. Do not admit to liking chocolate martinis. Do not eat Cheetos. Do not fight back, say what I think, or disagree with others. Do not drink sodas. Do not order caramel lattes at fancy-pants coffee shops. Who made up these rules? What good do they do?

I bought a pair of pants covered in flowers. I wore red lipstick to the store. I stopped at Sonic to have a corn dog and a cherry limeade. I spent a whole day reading The Night Circus (seriously one of the most fun, inspiring, whimsical, lovely books I’ve read in a long time). I love Utz potato chips. I had a caramel mocha, and I loved it. I wore thrifted clothes to a fancy dinner. I argued with a friend about something I believed in. I put ice cream in my coffee.

My new mantra is: BREAK THE RULES.

I am so inspired by the latest Diner Journal. It’s all about menus. The introduction, written by Nick Perkins of Marlow & Sons, reminded me how fun it can be to make do with what you have. Right now I think the only fresh veggies we have are a yellow onion, a half a head of green cabbage, and Italian parsley; we have quinoa and wheat berries and canned beans. I’m thinking about cabbage ton-pei yaki, quinoa with beans and fried onions, wheat berries with brown sugar and cinnamon. I love inspiration.

I decided not to do a weekend moments video this weekend – but you should know that I attended a soft opening of Olive & June (fabulous), had drinks with girlfriends at Vino Vino (the charcuterie plate was insane), found a bajillion great things at a couple of thrift stores, and plan to go thrifting again tomorrow. I hope your weekend was just as wonderful!♥

• Take more film photos. I love the tones and textures here.
• Turquoise and orange go great together. Also, reminder: you like a regular cup of coffee with cream and sugar just as much as those fancy-pants cappuccinos.

• You forgot! Banana nut bread smeared with peanut butter, topped with sliced banana and drizzled with honey. Grapefruit laced with mescal, sprinkled with sugar, and broiled until lovely.♥

I get out of bed, wash up, throw on clothes and a coat, and kiss him goodbye. I walk a few blocks to the grocery store. On my way there, I hear tiny speckles of noise in the trees. I don’t see rain, but it sounds like the smallest droplets.

Just outside the store, I see them – tiny pebbles of snow. I stand there for a minute, just taking it in.

Once inside, I randomly grab things I think Justin might like – popcorn, noodle cups, juice bottles.

I walk another block to the pharmacy. The pharmacist points me toward the Tylenol, and I pick up every type of medicine I think Justin might need. Sudafed. Afrin. Nyquil. The cashier says, “I’m going to have to write you up for that Sudafed.” There is a sticky note in his binder with a woman’s name, and the note: “Do not sell to her! She has gone over her limit multiple times!” I vaguely wonder if people get addicted to Sudafed. The man behind me in line buys a $5 scratch off card. I hope he wins something.

I walk down the street to the coffee shop. Every seat is taken, and there’s a line at the counter. I shift my market bags to take up as little room as possible and wait my turn. I order a soy mocha for me, a cappuccino for Justin. I wait in a corner and watch people search for open seats. I see a woman who is wearing tight exercise pants and boots, and I realize I really don’t like it when people wear tight exercise pants as regular clothing, but I say nothing. My coffees are ready, and I thank the barista and head out the door.

Outside, it has started snowing. Tiny pellets of snow. Everyone is awed at this rarity in Austin. I look at a couple sitting outside and say, “It’s kind of snowing!” The guy says, “You know what’s cool? There are people all over town right now saying that exact same thing – its kind of snowing!” It’s a nice thought.

I walk back home, and everyone I pass is smiling in the snow. Once home, I stuff Justin with medicines and coffee and toaster pastries. Larger flakes start to fall, and Roux and I stare out the window together. And then it’s gone.♥

So first I translated this recipe from Italian, then I adapted measurements from grams to cups and teaspoons using my scale. Now that I have a scale, I’d probably just use grams to bake this, but I wanted to convert it in case any of you wanted to try it. Below is the actual recipe I used, which is a bit different from the original.

The cake is super moist and dense in the middle – maybe somewhere between a cake brownie and a gooey brownie – and crisp on the top. The layers of salt are insanely good – I used Cyprus flake salt, but you can use your favorite large-flake salt here (the original recipe calls for fleur de sel). Justin thought it would be perfect with a scoop of ice cream; I thought it was perfect as is.

(Have I mentioned that Roux loves sweets?)

Happy baking!

Chocolate Cake with Cyprus Flake Salt

• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 5 eggs
• 1 cup minus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon Cyprus flake salt (or your favorite large-flake salt)

Preheat oven to 325F. Spray a 9×9-inch baking pan with cooking spray, and line with parchment paper. Coat the paper layer with cooking spray as well.

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a double boiler, in the microwave, or very carefully on the stove. Mix well – the mixture should be smooth. Let cool a bit.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer for 3 to 4 minutes, until pale yellow. Add a small amount of the chocolate mixture and beat well. Slowly add the remaining chocolate mixture while beating.

Sift the flour and baking powder slowly into the mixture and beat until completely smooth.

Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan; sprinkle with half of the salt. Top with the remaining batter and sprinkle the remaining salt over the top.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Makes 9 – 12 servings (depending on how much you like chocolate).

Adapted and translated from foto e fornelli.♥

Hello again! Here’s another quick weekend video.

Details:

• On Friday, I snuggled with Roux. Then my friend E. and I went window shopping at West Elm, Nest, and Threshold. I didn’t buy anything. That night, we met our friends B. and C. at Sagra for drinks and dinner. After that, we took our friend J. for drinks at Fino (where we saw a very tired Josh), then at Highball (I’m too old for that place).
• On Saturday, we did a whole lot of nothing. We watched the cats play, and I worked on my NYC scrapbook.
• On Sunday, I had toast. I always eat it the same way – one with butter and one with butter and jam, and then I take a bite of each one back and forth until they’re gone.
• Later, I had hot cocoa and read magazines. Then Justin went to a Super Bowl party, and I stayed home and cooked. I felt like having home food, like what I had growing up, so I cooked some ground beef and potatoes and tomatoes with beans and tortilla. It was perfect. I had a St. Germain cocktail with it.
• Then I decided to bake a cake. I’ll share the recipe with you soon, but it is THE BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE EVER.
• And then it was time for Downton Abbey. I can’t live with these cliffhangers! Someone get rid of Lavinia and Sir Richard already!

Have a great week, everyone!♥

Today you did a dance with your sweater tied around your shoulders, then did a catwalk strut. Thanks for always making me laugh.

Dear Downton Abbey,

Because of you, I am in love with an heir, I despise an Acting Sergeant, and I am desperately hoping for the marriage of a valet and a lady’s maid. Also, because of you I randomly say, “Oh, Mista Bates!!” Thanks for that.

Dear 83 Degrees in Austin Today,

I’m SURE you were just a fluke. I’m not done with our little winter/spring just yet. In fact, I haven’t even worn all of my different tights or boots yet. How ’bout you stay away for just another month or so?

Dear Little Kitchen,

I’ve been thinking a lot about you lately. I know we’ve been away, dining at restaurants most nights of the week, but truth be told, I’m ready for us to spend some time together again. Especially with the help of a few cookbooks. Thanks for waiting for me.

Dear February,

I know you’re a short month, but if you could pass by just a bit slower than the other months, I’d really appreciate it. Not only is my book deadline coming up very, very soon, but I also meant to make time to send Valentines and bake heart-shaped sugar cookies and pink cupcakes and such. Slow and steady wins the race, okay, February?

Dear Paul Qui,

Go, go, go! We’re so proud of you!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!♥

Hi everyone! I made another video of the weekend. It’s fun to capture moving pictures, and it’s nice that all I need is my iPhone.

We had lots of time with friends, and we got to hang out with lots of puppies!

Details:

• On Friday I had lunch with my friend N. at Kome. I had the chirashi bowl, and she had the sashimi lunch. Yum.
• We had dinner on the patio at Takoba – a michelada, a margarita, chips, salsa, ceviche, guacamole, and a quesadilla.
• That night we went to our friends E. and N.’s house for drinks and Mexican train dominoes. We met Pancake, a cute little dog that they’re sitting.
• On Saturday, I snuggled with the kitties and worked on the book. I had eggs and a petit four.
• We had dinner at Tan My – spring rolls, vermicelli with tofu and lemongrass, and wonton noodle soup.
• Afterward,, we went to our friends C. and L.’s house for drinks and chat. We snuggled with their dog Myron, and then Baby P. woke up at midnight to give us a smile.
• On Sunday, I made hot cocoa (Justin had coffee) and read my new cookbook and a letter from a friend. I worked on the book all day.
• That night, we went to supper club at J. and K.’s place. They had raclette, and a raclette machine, and we melted cheese over anything we could find (charcuterie, cornichons, broccoli, apples, pears, potatoes, bread, plus salad, cassoulet, boozy fruit with ginger tuiles, and chocolate bark). We got lovin’ from their dogs Lucky Day and Rusty Bottoms.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!♥

Last night we had dinner at Justine’s, and we got our usual – steak frites for Justin and pork chop with potato gratin for me. This time I tasted a lovely licorice-y flavor on Justin’s steak that really made me happy. Casey, the chef, said he put a bit of pastis in the butter sauce. Isn’t that brilliant?

Two nights ago, we had a terrible thunderstorm. I’ve always been scared of lightning and thunder, and this time was no different. After one loud thunderclap and a little shriek, I suddenly found myself in Justin’s arms on the other side of the bed. Thank goodness for husbands.

I’ve been testing recipes for the book, which requires a lot of weighing ingredients and converting to cups and teaspoons and such. After all of this, I’m convinced it would be easier if we all just used grams. So precise! So simple!

Yesterday I completed my collection of Oishinbo books. I wish I had more time to read them! I love sitting in the coffee shop and reading, but lately coffee is just too much jitter for me. Does anyone else feel kind of embarrassed ordering tea or decaf in a coffee shop? Especially in the really hard core shops – I feel like I’m disappointing them. I have a lot of misplaced worry, I think.

I hope you’re all having a great week!♥

Hi guys! I decided to do another day-in-my-life post today. It felt like such a busy day!

8:30a Justin is up. I am not. It’s cold outside of the bed, and the kitties are swarming me to keep me warm. I stay snuggled in and read blogs on my phone.

10:00a Justin comes in to check on me. I tell him it’s way too cold to get out of bed. He hands me my warm pajama pants and waits until I’m up and in them. He spoils me.

10:15a Hot cocoa!

10:20a Downstairs to work on the book. Answer emails, convert recipes, organize chapters. It takes me an hour to write up one recipe, because the ingredients are so foreign, it’s poorly organized, and the amounts are not usable terms. Ah, chefs. I chat online with my friend E. about writing and chefs and recipes.

11:45a I decide I need food before I tackle the next recipe. Shower and head to lunch.

12:30p After a weekend of heavy food and cocktails, I’m craving some nourishing veggies and beans, which means Casa de Luz. After a vegetable soup and a salad, I receive this plate of goodness, with greens and veggies and pickle and beans and grains and yum. There are three men at the table next to me who are also enjoying their veggies, while talking of eating Schlotzky’s and Lucy’s Fried Chicken.

1:15p Back to the casa for more work. I’m tackling another difficult recipe, but I’m losing steam.

1:50p Internet break! Highlights:

• A tiny pocket letterpress!
• I adored this post by our friends Rachel & Logan. I miss them so much!
• Polenta and ratatouille. Zomg yum.
• Miss Moss featured these hilarious old book covers!
• I realllly want to make these apricot coconut energy bars.

2:25p Oops! Too long of a break! I rush through prepping for my meeting at 3pm.

2:45p Out the door and headed to my meeting.

3:00p Meet with Jam at Thai Fresh to talk recipes and background for the book. She is so pretty in her black dress and silver belt, with a flower in her hair.

3:45p I can’t seem to leave places without buying something. Fish sauce for Justin and Thai tea for me.

3:50p I make a wrong turn, like I always do, around the Southwest Parkway area on my way to Target. I thankfully end up in front of Specs, which is one of the places I needed to go. I go straight for the goods: Old Overholt Rye, St. Germaine, Michael’s Celtic Irish Cream, and El Dorado 12 Year Rum. The cashier doesn’t card me – his sign says he will card anyone under the age of 30. I sadly realize I am not under the age of 30, and I don’t look it, either.

4:05p I make it to Target! Commence filling my basket – shelf extenders, towel baskets, magazine holders, litter, paper towels… and a few surprises for Justin and friends.

5:10p I make it OUT of Target. The gal in the line next to me gave me the sweetest smile, and had such a twinkle in her eye. I love happy people.

5:25p Home, unload, give Justin his Valentine SweeTarts. It’s a tradition – I always give him holiday SweeTarts in fun shapes.

5:45p After being in restaurants for lunch and my meeting, I smell like I’ve been deep-fried. It’s in my hair! Quick shower and fun texts with friends.

6:15p Back downstairs to work on the book.

7:05p We’re out the door and headed north to Asia Cafe for a huge dinner with friends to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Happy Year of the Dragon!

7:30p We all gather around a huge lazy Susan table and order way too much food. Then, somehow, we eat almost all of it. There’s pork with mustard greens, pork with chiles, crispy duck, dumplings, spicy fish, salt and pepper squid, ma po tofu, bok choy with mushrooms, pork with sweet potato, cucumber salad, pickles, rice… I can’t remember everything we ate. My favorites were the spicy fish, the salt and pepper squid, and the ma po tofu.

Eleven people can eat a lot of food. And drink a lot of Riesling. I love that P., P., and W. all had plaid shirts, beards, and glasses.

9:30p We all part ways and head home. We pass a Krispy Kreme and decide we just have to stop and buy a few doughnuts for a snack and breakfast. We haven’t had Krispy Kremes in… a few years, maybe?

I choose a chocolate iced, chocolate-creme filled doughnut that is out-of-this-world good. I thought it would have white cream, but CHOCOLATE?! It was so good that with every bite, I’d say, “Mmmmmmmmmm.”

9:45p We grab our laptops and hang out on the couch, blogging and watching movies and digesting. I’m headed to bed soon, I think.

Good night, everyone!♥

Hi guys! I made another video of tiny moments of my weekend. I tried to keep each clip really short, so it would just be a kind of glimpse at things.

Details:

• On Friday we met friends at Nubian Queen Lola’s for dinner. We shared gumbo with cornbread. I had the best fried catfish and shrimp with cabbage and yams, and Justin had the most awesome pork chop sandwich ever. Lola cooks and serves every dish herself. She sat down at our table to take our order, and each time we chose something, (“I’d like the cabbage, please”), she’d say, “Ooooh, you’re gonna love that.” She’s amazing.
• After dinner we hopped over to the Volstead for drinks. Justin (the bartender) whipped up some lovely beverages for us. After that, E. and N. came to our place and I played bartender to them (I love making cocktails).
• On Saturday, we spent the day reorganizing the kitchen and cleaning. Yuck.
• Saturday night, we went to Foreign & Domestic for dinner. They were slammed – so many people! We sat at the counter (our favorite spot) and ate and ate and ate. Ned likes to play this game with us called “I will send you 800 dishes and laugh at you when you can’t finish them all.” We ordered two appetizers, two entrees, and one dessert, and ended up with four appetizers, two entrees, and three desserts. (Sigh, Ned.) We had beef tongue pastrami, white anchovy tartine, beef heart tartare, and pigs brains with huckleberries. Justin had the gnocchi with bacon and broccoli, and I had the redfish with sweet potato puree, rutabagas, and persillade. We shared Jodi’s chocolate trifle, topped with almond sherbet and a pomegranate macaroon. Then Ned sent out the banana tart and the cranberry and chocolate bread pudding. He’s so mean. We love him.
• After dinner, we hopped over to Hotel San Jose for drinks with Jodi and friends, and then our friend J. and Ned popped in. Ned and Justin made plans to play basketball at lunch. There was a lot of trash talking.
• After that, J. and N. came to our place and I whipped up drinks for everyone. I love being a hostess.
• On Sunday, I finished up cleaning and rearranging the kitchen. I still need another shelf divider and a few other things, but it looks much better!
• I had some vegetable soup and avocado toast with sea salt and pepper for lunch.
• I spent the afternoon at my desk, working on book stuff. I organize things with post-it notes on my bulletin boards.
• We decided pizza was needed for dinner, so we drove down to Home Slice. We were lucky enough to grab seats at the counter, and had our favorite: half Caesar salad for me, half Greek salad for J, and a tomato pie. Yum.
• Also, I love my cats.

So, it was a weekend full of food and cocktails. I would say that this week I’m going to cook at home every night, but that would be a lie – Monday we’re going to Asia Cafe with E. and N. ♥

Internets! I’ve been away. There’s been a lot of this going on (see above), but I think I have finally come ’round the bend, and am feeling better. It’s been a rough winter, but thanks to help from lots of friends and family and docs, I believe the worst of it is over.

I’m still having trouble getting motivated to carry my camera around. I’m not sure why – I think I’m wanting to do something differently. I’ve thought of shooting mostly film, or Polaroids, or iPhone photos, or videos – but I think my favorite daily images come from my digital camera. I just have to pick it up again, because I miss taking photos, and oddly enough, I miss editing photos.

I do want to do a some more videos – I forgot how fun those are! And maybe day-in-the-life posts, or daily eats posts, or movie still posts – I’m just ready to be back in this little space.

So anyway! All of you out there, thank you for your support, and I hope spring is on its way to you, too! (It’s 74 degrees today in Austin.)

So I’ve shared some of my favorite drink moments in Amélie, and now, here are some of my favorite food moments!

Sweet cherry earrings…

Raspberry fingers…

Dipping your fingers into a sack of lentils…

Cracking open the top of a creme brûlée…

Shopping for the perfect endive at Mssr. Collignon’s shop…

Slurping soup from enormous spoons at your father’s place (of course with a carafe of red wine nearby)…

A simple dinner for one – pasta with cheese and butter, and a simple salad…

Amélie baking her “famous plum cake“…

Dominique Bretodeau’s perfectly roasted chicken, which he carves and enjoys slowly, starting with the oysters (yum)…

And of course, the grocery surprise that Lucien brings Mssr. Dufayel – caviar, foie gras, and champagne.

Ah, Amélie. A feast for the eyes.

I’ve figured out this mix for myself. Justin likes to add lots of spicy things as well, but I like a simple, not-too-spicy michelada. Today I used Bohemia beer, but your favorite Mexican beer will do nicely. I love using the mason jar because it’s already marked with amounts on the side, making it super-easy to make the drink.

Today we ate out twice. It’s a good thing I didn’t make any New Year’s resolutions, because they would have already been broken.

We walked to Counter Cafe for lunch. We shared the lemon veggie soup.

And a crab cake.

And a pastrami sandwich.

With fries.

I like sitting at the counter in restaurants. If I have a choice, I will almost always choose the counter or bar.

I like the way it’s more personal, more communal.

I found myself in a bauble.

Maybe they’re leftover from the holidays, but they made me smile.

For dinner we went to Maudie’s. We don’t eat here often, even though it’s really close. We had some chips and salsa and guacamole. Justin had a Mexican martini, and I tried a strawberry margarita, but I didn’t end up drinking it. I think maybe it’s the tequila they use – I’ve never been a big fan of their margaritas. :/

I had a “regular plate” – which apparently starts with a crispy taco appetizer. I love crispy tacos.

It also came with cheese enchiladas with chile con carne, beans, rice and tortillas. I ended up just eating some beans and rice, because I didn’t like the enchiladas. I was very picky today.

Other memorable parts of my day:

• I talked to my mom, and they are much closer to selling their old house and moving into their new house, which is good news.
• I found a new iPad app called Zite, which creates a personalized magazine for you based on your Google Reader and Twitter feeds and such. It’s kind of a rabbit hole, though – I was almost glad when the app crashed, so I could extract myself from it and the couch.
• Today we had all of our windows open, and the birds were chirping, and an airplane flew by, and it felt like summer. Like a summer from my childhood, when you could watch the crop dusters from afar, and lay in the breeze and dream.
• After dinner we stopped at Randall’s to get some limes and bananas and ice. We never shop there – I usually shop at Central Market, Wheatsville, or Fresh Plus – but it was nearby. We ended up with two bags worth of junk food. It’s the comfort brands that we grew up with, or had in college – Hostess Donettes, Honey Bunches of Oats, Keebler cookies. I didn’t realize that these brands aren’t usually available at my fancy pants grocers, and so we are never tempted by them. Now I just HAVE to eat all these cookies and such. (Darn.)
• That’s about it.

Tomorrow is Friday, and my sister’s birthday! She’s the best sister in the world, just FYI.

So, I’ve been feeling down lately. I try not to bring The Hole (aka depression) here to my little blog, but sometimes it’s so vast and dark that I need to share it. I think that the holidays and the new year often bring out The Hole – there are so many obligations and pressures and people, and I just get overwhelmed.

I am now fairly certain that I’m an introvert. I think for a while now I’ve wanted to believe that I’m an extrovert, because I’m not really shy, I make friends with strangers all the time, and once I get talking, I really can’t stop. But the truth is that people tire me out. I am, let’s say, very considerate – I am constantly worried about how others are feeling, whether they’re having a good time, what they’re thinking – so being with people a lot is very exhausting for me. I am only now figuring this out, 33 years into my life.

The holidays have been great, but they’ve been full of people to see and things to do and places to be. There was New York, and travel to see my family, and New Year’s Eve with friends, and girls’ nights and girls’ days and parties and lunch dates and coffee dates – and though I am extremely grateful for all of my friends, I don’t think I’ve been allowing my little introverted self enough time to recover. I read this article recently, and it really helped me understand myself and that it’s okay to need time alone, and that it’s okay to need people, too.

So anyway, it’s actually good that I realized that I need some time alone, because I also realized that I have a ginormous book deadline coming up, and so I’m glued to my keyboard, writing and writing and writing. I do plan to leave my keyboard soon to buy myself a file cabinet (I’m such a paper-keeper), and maybe a new pair of shoes, because shoes make me happy. So there’s that.

And these videos have been making me laugh uncontrollably lately. They are so very true.

Also, I ate today.

Breakfast by candlelight: soft boiled eggs, sunflower seed-flax toast, oatmeal and wheat berries with dried cherries and pecans, and coffee.

I finally figured out how to make perfect soft-boiled eggs on my stove: bring lots of water to a simmer, add cold eggs, cook for 5 1/2 minutes at a simmer, shock with cold water, serve.

Lunch: sunflower-flax bread with peanut butter and honey.

Evening snack: Ines Rosales olive oil torta and bubbly.

I love Ines Rosales tortas. I think this basically says:

We exclusively use superior quality virgin olive oil, which gives the benefits of adding to a healthy diet and its unique taste, and each torta is made with craftsmanship. The expert hands of our workers transform dough portions into these exclusive oil cakes, which are hand-wrapped and cooled in the original paper. Have a nice day and enjoy this moment of authenticity and health.

Dinner: vegetable lo mein and bubbly. (I cooked!)

Snacks (not pictured, because I forgot and scarfed them while watching Top Chef): Goldfish crackers.

I also might have a cookie before bed.

Internets! I hope you all had wonderful holidays with lots of food and rest. Ours were good – some travel, some debauchery, some sloth.

I’ve been feeling pressured to write a year-end post, or a year-beginning post, and so I’ve decided to just skip that. Instead, here’s daily eats that I forgot to post from last Friday.

Breakfast: a mocha made with Casa Brasil coffee brewed in the Chemex, plus a few squares of Mast Brothers chocolate, some soy milk, and some sugar. Delectable.

Lunch: I met my friend N. at Kome. We had sushi that I gobbled down so quickly, I forgot to photograph it. I had salmon belly, monkfish liver and bonito, fresh water eel and salt water eel.

I tried the tonkotsu ramen today. It was delicious, but I still prefer the miso ramen with it’s darker broth and ground pork.

Little cat says hello!

And my cat says, “I shall sit on your desk and get in your way, so that you shall pay attention to me only.”

Snack: cupcake. I needed a cupcake today.

Dinner: A ginormous bowl of vegetable soup that I made yesterday.

Dessert 1: sea salt caramels that were on sale for $2.00 (down from $10, yay post-holiday sweets!) at Central Market. So soft and gooey and perfect.

And then of course I had to balance it out with something salty: goldfish crackers.

And in the evening, cupcakes and champagne.

Justin and I never give each other holiday gifts. We find it too stressful to find “that perfect thing” for each other, and we would rather give each other presents on random days throughout the year. But this year, I was unpacking our Christmas lights and found our stockings – so we hung them up and decided to fill them with random small things. I filled his with a peanut patty, a magnet, and a package of cotton candy. He filled mine with a jar of used matchbooks, food erasers, and our hide-a-bat*. It’s so lovely to be known so well – to be loved by someone who knows all the reasons why a jar of used matchbooks would make me so happy.

*Hide-a-bat is a game we play where we take turns hiding this bat from each other. I have found it on the roll of toilet paper, in the back pocket of my jeans, in my jewelry box. He has found it in his shoe, in his toiletry drawer, in his box of pop-tarts. It’s my turn to hide it again.