This is Bela, the neighborhood cat. He comes to visit us a lot.

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Today I felt like cooking. Brunch was leftover cornbread dressing, made into patties and pan-fried, topped with fried eggs. Dinner was conchas cooked with a bit of leftover bean broth and tomatoes, topped with cheese and cilantro. And this evening, I was chilly, and our little space heater just wasn’t cutting it, so I decided to turn on the oven to warm things up. And if the oven’s on, there may as well be something baking in it, right? So I baked some oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies. It was a good cooking day.

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I’ve been testing recipes for Book #2, which can be fun and can be stressful. It’s expensive to test recipes – and now I’m left with a good half-pound of duck fat! I’m sure I could use it for something, but I’m tempted to give it to a friend, because the next recipe I test will leave me with too much bacon. Such hardships, eh?

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I’ve taken a nice break from things this holiday weekend – I’ve only just realized that I haven’t taken any photos, or even instagram-ed anything. I did, however, capture some of Justin’s baby/childhood photos while we were visiting his folks – he’s so freakin’ cute!

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Yesterday I went to Renegade Craft Fair, and bought a gorgeous print and two bracelets. Then we hopped over to the City-Wide Garage Sale, and I scored an awesome watch for $1.00! I don’t even want to put a new battery in it – I just want it to forever be 12:28.

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I’ve been feeling pretty run-down lately. I could sleep all day. I wonder whether it has to do with it getting dark so early, and getting chilly outside, and winter coming and all that. Today I gave myself a pep talk and cleaned the house and cooked. Do you guys slow down in the winter? I kept thinking it would be lovely to take walks in the cool air, but now I prefer to stay in my slippers under one of our handmade blankets. 🙂

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I keep searching for the perfect nighttime tea. I drink Sleepytime, and somes decaf chai, but I want more options. I don’t really like fruity teas (hot – I love them iced), so I’m thinking something smooth and sweet and caffeine free, of course. Any suggestions?

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I’ve been going through our old hard drive, finding songs I had forgotten about for years. Today this is in my head.

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Have a great week, everyone!