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Our plans went awry. The restaurant for dinner tonight had a fire (?!) and was not open on Christmas. The movie theaters are packed, and we will not risk COVID-19 if we can get seats. So Joan and I agree to try “Jewish Christmas” on another day and in a less packed theater.

Starting from the morning, I slept until just about 9AM and then started slow and stayed that way. I found the one roll I saved myself, puffy, sweet (Grammary insisted this is sweaty–No), and filled with dried fruit and pecans. It was good. It went with the end of my liberal coffee from this previous purchase. Tomorrow, it will be NYC Zabar’s ground. Thank you, Smiths. I ate that with a banana. Even though it was Christmas, it was Monday, and so I put in a load of laundry.

I wrote the blog for Christmas Eve, and there I went slow; there was no reason to rush, and I tried to capture this year’s feelings. I wrote slowly with care, trying to find the words I wanted. It is not a complex Emerson-like piece but a telling of my experiences.

Once Joan and I rescheduled, I decided (it was nearing 1PM) to cook a steak for myself. I picked up some ribeyes from Safeway yesterday. They’re not as thick as I like, but they’re still good. I pulled one out, salted it on both sides and let it sit out while preparing. I found that the gas grill needed to be heated to clean it up and then found a kitchen towel I was tossing (it was stained), and I used it, dampened, to clean the firey hot metal. That got the grill ready for reuse this winter–it was a three-pack of steaks, and I have some chicken too that I would like to grill, given a chance. I am good with the broiler, but the gas grill is better.

I got out some frozen corn and started that steaming–I love corn with pepper and butter. I made a salad. It was nearing 2 when I was ready. I had turned down the grill, put the steak on the hot metal, and then turned the steak to get those cross grill marks. I went in and set a timer for three minutes.

I returned, and the thin ribeye steak was an inferno. I was laughing and also trying not to burn the hair off my arms or my eyebrows, for that matter. I put out the steak. I flipped it, and it looked good with only a bit of char. I pulled it and took it inside; it was perfect–just luck and the discipline never to put anything on the grill or in the oven without a timer. The corn was ready, and I finished off the salad makings.

I watch another DC Batman animation with the best voices for Joker and Batman again. My Christmas dinner was excellent and a bit early, but I was hungry. The steak was salted just perfectly, and I had sprinkled just a tiny amount of ground coffee that was good.

Next, it is Christmas Day, and Doctor Who Special 4 2023 is now available on Disnery+. I thought the previous three were a bit sappy and contrived. This one, while having two dance numbers (apparently something we will see more of instead of chase scenes), and the new Doctor sang. I liked the episode and thought it was just a bit scary. I felt much better about the series’ future after today’s show. I recommend it.

I did the dishes, finished the laundry, and opened a present. I was sad but not upset. It is the first Christmas I have been alone in a house for. I went back (while writing) to remember the previous Christmas Days and the previous Christmas. There were some wet eyes when seeing pictures of Susie I had forgotten.

Please enjoy these good memories, some sad.

Story 25Dec2022: Christmas 2022

Story 25Dec2021: Christmas 2021

Day 287: Christmas 2020

Day 4: Van Gogh

I took a short nap, started to watch the new Midway movie, and made eggs over easy for a light dinner. I was nervous and sad–something that happens when I am not busy. But I am OK. I will write some more and write this blog.

Thanks for reading! Merry Christmas.

The day started with me enjoying my bed until 9ish. I got going and found a banana for breakfast with my French Press-made liberal coffee. I am still working through my last bag of Equal Exchange from my previous purchase. I have a Christmas gift of coffee from the Smiths from NYC’s Zabar’s on 79 Street to use soon. I also have a subscription to coffee from the Kramers and have my Rwanda coffee waiting, too. These, too, are fairly traded, so exotic and liberal coffee (so perfect for a Democrat). Thanks, everyone!

It was the first Christmas Eve without Susie, but there were only a few wet eyes. We are also missing others, so Christmas seems like an exotic dark chocolate that you are not sure you like as it is so bitter. Yes, it’s still good, and I am happy to be here again in Oregon in the rain doing Christmas.

It is gray again and wet, but no flooding (so far), and it is cold (down to the high thirties, 3C).

I finally got started and made my puffy roll recipe. I cook the flour in milk and then add the cool milk, flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and butter, and get a sticky dough, not the stiff dough I got the previous time! I use the KitchenAid’s kneed hook (I don’t kneed). Soon, the sticky dough will be proofed for 90 minutes.

I watch a DC Joker animated show with the best voice work and some jokes; I recommend Joker’s Favor. I decided on something boring for lunch, Beef soup from Cambell’s, which seems perfect for a rainy morning. I drained the rum from the dried fruit and pecans, and that made an ideal holiday spiced rum I enjoyed while assembling the rolls, this time stuffed with rum-soaked items.

I wrapped some presents, showered, dressed plain, and threw the now puffy rolls into the oven. I make the glaze and use it to glue the fruit, almonds, and cherry I added to each roll. One roll had no fruit; I got that one. I also take on a normal one. Excellent. I put the rest on a platter and will leave it with Dondrea, Z, and family. While I like them, they are not good for me.

Next, I pop over to Karyn’s house and deliver her gift. I get the Dungeons and Dragons crew something every Christmas. Karyn is in with her husband, and we chat for a bit. I show her how to use her new potion-styled d20 die roller.  Next, I head to Safeway. I get something to make for dinner in the next couple of days: ribeye steaks and salad makings. I also replenished my supply of powdered sugar, and I hoped to have time to make more rolls–nope.

I am out of time. I shave again and dress in a suit with suspenders, a golden vest, a pocket watch, etc. This takes a while. I load the goodies and gifts into Air Volvo’s cargo hold (already stuffed with board games) and find a seat in First Class. The traffic is light, but the extra-legal driving has reached a holiday-induced pitch; I am braking and weaving. People are rushing for that last bobble or ingredient with the intensity of fighter pilots. Snoopy’s Red Baron was out there today!

I reach the church fifteen minutes or more early, and surprisingly, the church is filling. Candles are passed out–the better version with a plastic cup instead of the paper circle that lets you enjoy dripping hot wax on your hand, clothing, and the floor. I noticed that with the hand sanitizer (flammable), there are squirt bottles full of water. I made a joke to that pastor that it is vital to not confuse the bottle in case of fire. He and his daughters thought that was quite funny. Church humor.

The service was one of the longest ones I have attended at First United Methodist Church of Beaverton, going over an hour. Ken, our lead pastor, in his sandals and come-as-you-are Oregon look, gave an excellent sermon and managed to be political without being divisive–quite a trick in the USA. He points out that kings and leaders are often not with the people and that often they order, like the Czar in 1905, to have troops fire on peaceful protests. They are not the king or leaders with us, the folks. But, the name given to Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, and we were thankful that God is not distant like royalty or a leader, but with us. This is political in that God eschewed the distance like political leaders demanded; instead, God stands with us and attends to us. I thought it was an excellent message for a holiday with two wars ongoing.

We sang often, there were some excellent solos, and the church choir sang the best I have heard in years. A pleasant service.

Note: I often have trouble remembering the details of a church service, so I take the bulletin, which helps me bring the service back to my mind. I use memory tricks to recall a day after sleeping. I start with a framework: wake up, travel, lunch, travel, dinner, and after-dinner tasks. I try to remember what those framework events were for the previous day. I look for items I carried that day or recipes. Seeing these items brings memories barraging forward in my mind–often making me forget something else (it is best to write and then look for them when I get stuck). There is often something I miss that I remember a few hours later, but I have learned to forgive myself for that.

After that, I headed to a boisterous party at Dondrea’s house. I brought the wine Richard and Shawna gave me for Christmas. Wine always tastes better with friends and a party. The wine was great (we opened it and drank the bottle between the four wine drinkers). Dondrea serves Italian-style pasta and salad for post-church dinner. Dondrea has been working on reproducing a bolognese sauce she had in NYC, and she thinks it is close. It is pretty good–better than most restaurant versions I have had–more subtle. It was cooking all day and had even been reheated. I find the cool-down and reheat balances spices in Italian-style dishes.

Donna, Dondrea’s mother, and I talked about our losses at the party. We both lost our partner this winter. It was good to talk to someone affected the same way. Again, holidays come with wet eyes, often at unexpected times. Today, I could not sing some of the songs at the service as I missed singing them with Susie (though with my terrible voice, lack of pitch, and inability to follow along, I am sure my singing was never missed). I could not sing the first ones, but the rest I could–well, if you can call my attempt singing.

Returning to the narrative, we chatted, exchanged gifts, and then Air Volvo took me home. I was in bed around 11PM but had trouble sleeping. My hat fell at about 1AM. I put it in a silly place in the bedroom, which scared me right off the bed. F**K!

I finally managed to sleep later.

Merry Christmas. Thanks for reading.

I am very busy baking, delivering presents, and even shopping today. So, the blog is running late. I have about an hour to write it.

Yesterday, we had an unusually large set of gamers at Richard’s in Portland, including Cody, who I only see occasionally. Shawn and his wife Val were there too, so five. Richard picked the board game Battlestar Galactica, a famous game out of print. It is a challenging game that simulates taking the Battlestar to the final location with the Cylons attacking. But it is also a traitor game. In the game, you play characters from the newer show and learn if you are a traitor at the start and 1/2 way. As a traitor, you try to convince the other players to leave you alone and maybe take down another player. You can, as I did, sabotage the play.

I discovered I was a Cylon (a traitor) 1/2 and then saw a chance to do real damage and took it. The other players guessed it was me, but as a revealed Cylon, I was able to do the final damage that ended the game with a failure for the humans. It is difficult to win without the Cylons. I have won once as a human.

I recommend this game in its new, still available reformatting: Unfathomable. It is based on a ship in the Atlantic, on which H.P. Lovecraft’s mythos are the story’s focus. There are cultists and deep ones mixed in with the players. It is a good reworking, and I think it plays better. But playing the original game is fun, and the theme is excellently represented. Recommended if you play someone’s copy (used copies for the base game fun for $150, while the add-ons are usually sold with the game and go for $300+)–I play Richard’s.

If you want this kind of play, a traitor game, Unfathomable is my recommendation. Secret Hitler is a lighter (“light Hitler”–did I actually write that-F**K) traitor game that plays fast, but I miss all the fun of the slow build of other games. House on Haunted Hill, I simply don’t care for as it removes a random player to be the bad guy–not as good a system, I think. The slow build is more fun.

I brought pretzels and some vegan-supportive treats. We have a game I started that Cylons never eat pretzels. So, everyone eats them with gusto to prove they are not a toaster. Richard sent me home with a bottle of wine for the holidays. Thanks, Richard and Shawna.

Before this, I met Evan at The 649 for some games. Our usual Saturday plan worked as I now have the next week free. Evan beat me by ten points or so in Vindication. I made the mistake of letting him capture a few too many masteries. I should have got some to protect my points. That was my mistake, but only one mastery would have made the difference, and I will remember to get two every game. I have done this to Evan, too.

We played Istanbul, and I have the base game down cold for two players. I enjoy the game as the best way to play it is to visit almost every location. I circle around the board through the same area and collect what it offers, steadily building my rubies (you collect rubies to win). I find that you need to visit different areas to improve your play. I like the coffee expansion and have The Big Box, but I never played the third expansion (all the expansions are included in The Big Box, except the promo for the Kebab/Donner Area). I was two rubies ahead at the end; Evan was out of practice on this game.

I find now that when I finish a board game, I become depressed. While playing, enjoying, and concentrating, the grief and troubles are in abeyance, but the guilt of forgetting and having fun seems to crash down on me after the game finishes. This is a new thing that I have noticed.

Before meeting Evan and drinking and eating at The 649 while playing games, I was out in Air Volvo delivering gifts to my long-term Dungeons and Dragons players. I try to get something every year. Some years, it was painted figures, but of late, small gifts from Etsy.com and the Portland Saturday Market. I drove those items all over Beaverton.

Before that, I rose slowly, read emails, did some bill paying and accounting (I do it every day so it does not accumulate–there is still a lot to do), and made poached eggs on toast for breakfast–a favorite and easy. I did watch some YouTube history shows and the always interesting Battleship New Jersey shows.

I put some fruit cake and pecans in rum for another experiment with puffy rolls. I made them on Christmas Eve.

I stopped at Corwin’s house and dropped off his gifts after the games. We wished each other a Merry Christmas.

It was a good day. Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

The rains are back last night, and it is drying out in the day. I heard it was raining all night; I had to prove hydration twice last night. The fear that I had kidney issues is gone, and I can tell you they work; they work too well. It is my day off, and of course, being the fierce corporate warrior I am, I joined a staff meeting anyway. My first day off since 27Nov. I do the quick meeting and then close my Nike laptop, and I do not plan to open it soon.

My sister got her new computer; her old one was failing (I used less friendly language and deleted that). I ordered a cheap but nice Windows laptop on Amazon for her. We split the cost as it is Christmas. She seems to like it.

The two flag poles I ordered were delivered. The boxes are huge, and each pole is boxed in its own box (?!). I try to keep one extra, and I need to replace the pole on the house as the existing one has issues and pieces missing.

I wrote the blog for Thursday already, so I spent the morning surfing the Internet and not getting much done. I do the dishes. I make two poached eggs as I am also starting to bake. I make a tangzhong (flour cooked in milk) while letting my eggs cook. I also watch John Wick 2, the one set partially in Rome. I add the hot tangzhong to my mixer bowl and then add the milk, flour, sugar, salt, yeast, and room-temperature butter with the dough hook. The mix becomes a stiff blob that you have to push down so that the hook on my hulking KitchenAid will do the kneading. It looks good after a while. I get another bowl, grease it, and put the dough in it. I wash my KitchenAid bowl and hook.

I don’t get dressed and eat my late breakfast/lunch of poached eggs on toast with the last of the liberal coffee I made in the French Press this morning. I wait for the laundry, which I started, and the dough to proof. I then go off the recipe and use the King Cake filling of fruit cake filling and pecans for this instead of the cinnamon roll filling. The house fills with the pleasant Fiori di Sicilia odor. I roll out the proofed dough and sprinkle the now aromatic dried fruit and pecans on the rectangle I rolled out on my dough working mat, lightly prepared with flour. I then roll up the dough into a log and then use dental floss, which I keep in the kitchen for this use, to cut the slices. I place them on a half sheet of parchment paper (greased). Once all cut. I put dried cherries and almonds on them and let them rise for ninety minutes. A light load of laundry is also done at this time. With all this done, I shower, likely removing flour and the hint of Fiori di Sicilia. Dressed and ready, I finished the movie and found a new Batman animated movie (well, it is from 1993), and it has Mark Hamill’s amazing Joker in it: Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. Excellent.

I baked the rolls and had to put them in for an extra five minutes. I like them a little more brown than the recipe writers. They looked great. I decided to frost them with the cinnamon roll icing, but I made less and made it thinner. I brushed it on to lock on the fruit and almonds. I tried one, and it was excellent–not the overwhelming sugar of the usual, but a fruit and pecan flavor. The fluffy dough was wonderfully soft. I loved them. I only had two.

I packed up three rolls on plates, found the cookie containers I had saved from Leta for years, and put rolls in them. I put a card on one, walked it over, and left it for my neighbors. I also did the same for Dondrea, Z, and their family. I drove across Beaverton and delivered it. They, too, were not home.

Air Volvo took me halfway back, stopped at Cedar Hills McMenamin’s, and I then sat at the bar after de-Volvo-ing. I had a beer and Captain Neon Burger (bacon and blue cheese) while writing the blog.

That takes me to the current. Hope you are having a lovely holiday with scents like Fiori di Sicilia and cooking tricks like tangzhong. Saturday, I have to deliver some gifts for the Dungeons and Dragons folks. I have the last Heifer Project items to acquire.

Thanks for reading!

Today is the winter solstice, the longest night. We are halfway through the dark (from Doctor Who). I was reading and going slow today after leaving work early at 2:30 as the project activated contingencies and let us go on break for two weeks- entirely unexpected. I added a day, took off Friday, and will only return to work on 08Jan2024. I made jambalaya from sausages, green pepper, and a can of slightly spiced fire-roasted diced tomatoes. I skip the seafood. I had too many bowls. I needed a few brain cookies, so I was reading the Star Trek novel Wounded Sky (highly recommended) and watched the film Angels and Devils to look at Rome as represented in the movie. Rome was on the list of places to see, and I want to get there next year. I want to take the Dan Brown tour of Rome.

Nike’s earnings release was today, and the stock fell in after-hours trading. The release included a restructuring, which is corporate speak for many layoffs. I cannot comment, and layoffs are like storms; you just watch and hope it passes by without damage.

Lunch was at Happy Panda by myself, and I had their excellent chicken with fresh mushroom, which is not drenched in a sweat sauce. I read the Star Trek novel on my Kindle app on my phone while eating. My Kindle device and the app can detect my page, so I can switch between them. Excellent. I also bought three boxes of almond cookies at Happy Panda. I gave a box to the desk staff, another box to Udaya (who loaded our data over the weekend), and another box to the Data Intelligence team, who also had challenges from the contingencies. They are excellent cookies (I did not have one–resisting).

Returning to cooking. I bought the knife sharpener and my the knives are sharp now. I cut the sausage into slices and chop them into squares with less effort. I am pleased that my expensive global knives are working again.

I found myself awake at 6AM again; what was I thinking? And reset my alarm to 6:30! I started and found a still-too-green banana and a yogurt for breakfast. I made liberal coffee in my French Press. I have some NYC coffee from Cat, which she brought from Zabar’s in her luggage, that I will start to use when I finish this bag of liberal Equal Exchange.

I look forward to tasting the city that does not sleep every morning.

Work was a blur, and I was trying not to set off any more directors or cry. I read the earnings release and watched the reaction. I can’t comment here in writing.

I did my timesheets three times as the decisions on how to take off the next two weeks changed, and I then decided to take off another day. My emotions flowed in every direction, and my thinking was unclear.

I heard a director say he was leaving to get drunk, his words. I heard other leadership was subdued as they were hung over. Yes, it is time to take off early and put in for Friday for Paid Time OFF (PTO).

I will sleep in on Friday but catch a staff meeting on my day off. I will check in to ensure that our colleges are doing OK. Next week, I will stop checking.

My social calendar is getting full:

• Christmas Eve dinner (and church service) with Dondrea, Z, and family.
• Christmas movie with Joan (likely Wonka)
• Wednesday games with Z and others after choir practice
• Thursday with Kate and family for games
• OR go to the coast on Wednesday to play games and hang out with the Smiths, OR do that on Friday.
• Saturday night, playing board games with Richard at night
• 30Dec2023 Dungeons and Dragons at noon at Matt’s

I am already decompressing from a harsh few weeks and working weekend after weekend. Thanks for reading.