Holiday Roundup
So, vacation's done. It's been one hell of a nice break though, and much needed. I don't know if you all have been following along, but since the first week of October 2007, I've been working 4 days a week in New York, finishing the week in Chicago, a total of no less than 90 hours a week (waaah). It's been a heck of a burn, and hard being away. And that last week nearly did me in. Still, with the help of my pal Brett Rooks and a few visits to both the Mulberry Street Bar and Otto's Shrunken Head, we were able to coast on into the holiday break, which I insisted started back for me on the 20th of December.
Good timing, too, as all of the Bruce-Lawrence-Lawrences showed up on the 21st (here some of them are practicing ballet in our living room:
So that was lovely and fun and everything you'd expect when the brothers get together. But the whole gang cleared out by Christmas eve, allowing us to have what was really our first Christmas just to ourselves as a family since, well, uh, ever! Turns out Santa was timely, and the pickings were well received:
As the picture suggests, Christmas dawned bright and sunny, and while Aidan was a flash of little feet running through the house, waking us all with her excitement, Reese took her own sweet time getting up, failing to respond to even Aidan jumping on her bed to wake her. Reese is cool like that, as she demonstrated later that afternoon when we rolled on down to Chinatown for lunch:
Still, there was plenty of time for household projects, like this painting project in the office:
The electrician only showed on the very last day of vacation to partially finish the job we've been waiting on for 4 months, and chased us out of the house for the big cutover of the power. More on that in a moment...
Of course, there was also time for catching up with old friends and much loved/missed family members. Just prior to Christmas, the girls and Cindy and I caught a ride on "the Polar Express," or what the Park District assured us was a close facsimile. For his part, Santa did show up and didn't freak out the girls this year:
For her part, Aidan was deeply disappointed to learn that the Polar Express that we were on only took us down to the Loop station in Chicago, and not all the way to the North Pole as the Chris Van Allsburg text had previously assured us was the Polar Express' final destination.
And we got to catch up with my cousin Sarah Lawrence, who was in town performing in Phantom of the Opera, and with her husband Cal, who joined us for breakfast a few days ago. Quite the production, that touring Phantom company. Sarah gave us the guided tour of the backstage world, and we got to catch the performance, which I was frankly unprepared for how much I enjoyed it beyond my cousin's performance. Really amazing stuff, actually. Here's a look at Sarah in action (she's the "girl," and not the goof with the head makeup): Yeah...Sarah's pretty awesome, as is Cal. Nice to see them both.
On the whole, my vacation was a deeply restful time, from start to finish. Our house is finally mostly put together. I didn't have to think about work for 15 whole days. And we've even thought about menus for the year ahead with a little help from our electrician. With six hours to kill yesterday whilst he worked on the main power cutover from the old deadly circuit box to the new service, we drove around the northern suburbs, stopping at toy stores to distract the girls and a few antique stores to distract us with assorted knick-knackery. Found a belated birthday gift for brother Cale -- a little something from days gone by that show the people of yesteryear may have been more mechanically advanced than we might have suspected, now winging its way west. And then, of course, the first edition copy of Ruth Berolzheimer's 1948 opus, The Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook.
It's a hell of book, at least a coupla pounds worth of book, with great typography, stunning illstrations, horrible photography and thousands of recipes. I've really only started to mine its treasures. Still, one of the immediate gems is the "dinner menu suggestions," presented in a convenient month by month fashion. Maybe I'll try and share one a day...there's at least a year's worth. Of course, since I'm a few days behind, let me share a few ideas for you now:
A New Year's Dinner
Goose Liver Canapés
Roast Goose with Apple Stuffing
Orange Sweetpotatoes
Glazed Onions
Chicory with French Dressing
Cranberry Refrigerator Cake
Coffee
Not happy with that one? There's others! Like:
Pineapple Juice
Ham Omelet
Bran Muffins
Rum Parfait
Coffee
Hmmm...that may be a breakfast options. From the next page over, here's a few "luncheon suggestions:"
Welsh Rarebit on Toast
Cabbage Salad
Baked Apple
Pfeffernüisse
Coffee
Meat Pasties
Broccoli with Cheese Sauce
Tomato Chutney
Molasses Fruit Pudding
Coffee
Well, there you go! Four easy, complete meals for you ladies to whip up to start your year right! (What, like men are going to be cooking meals at home in 1948?) One thing...make sure you've got plenty of coffee. Going to be an exciting year!
Good timing, too, as all of the Bruce-Lawrence-Lawrences showed up on the 21st (here some of them are practicing ballet in our living room:
So that was lovely and fun and everything you'd expect when the brothers get together. But the whole gang cleared out by Christmas eve, allowing us to have what was really our first Christmas just to ourselves as a family since, well, uh, ever! Turns out Santa was timely, and the pickings were well received:
As the picture suggests, Christmas dawned bright and sunny, and while Aidan was a flash of little feet running through the house, waking us all with her excitement, Reese took her own sweet time getting up, failing to respond to even Aidan jumping on her bed to wake her. Reese is cool like that, as she demonstrated later that afternoon when we rolled on down to Chinatown for lunch:
Still, there was plenty of time for household projects, like this painting project in the office:
The electrician only showed on the very last day of vacation to partially finish the job we've been waiting on for 4 months, and chased us out of the house for the big cutover of the power. More on that in a moment...Of course, there was also time for catching up with old friends and much loved/missed family members. Just prior to Christmas, the girls and Cindy and I caught a ride on "the Polar Express," or what the Park District assured us was a close facsimile. For his part, Santa did show up and didn't freak out the girls this year:
For her part, Aidan was deeply disappointed to learn that the Polar Express that we were on only took us down to the Loop station in Chicago, and not all the way to the North Pole as the Chris Van Allsburg text had previously assured us was the Polar Express' final destination.And we got to catch up with my cousin Sarah Lawrence, who was in town performing in Phantom of the Opera, and with her husband Cal, who joined us for breakfast a few days ago. Quite the production, that touring Phantom company. Sarah gave us the guided tour of the backstage world, and we got to catch the performance, which I was frankly unprepared for how much I enjoyed it beyond my cousin's performance. Really amazing stuff, actually. Here's a look at Sarah in action (she's the "girl," and not the goof with the head makeup): Yeah...Sarah's pretty awesome, as is Cal. Nice to see them both.
On the whole, my vacation was a deeply restful time, from start to finish. Our house is finally mostly put together. I didn't have to think about work for 15 whole days. And we've even thought about menus for the year ahead with a little help from our electrician. With six hours to kill yesterday whilst he worked on the main power cutover from the old deadly circuit box to the new service, we drove around the northern suburbs, stopping at toy stores to distract the girls and a few antique stores to distract us with assorted knick-knackery. Found a belated birthday gift for brother Cale -- a little something from days gone by that show the people of yesteryear may have been more mechanically advanced than we might have suspected, now winging its way west. And then, of course, the first edition copy of Ruth Berolzheimer's 1948 opus, The Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook.
It's a hell of book, at least a coupla pounds worth of book, with great typography, stunning illstrations, horrible photography and thousands of recipes. I've really only started to mine its treasures. Still, one of the immediate gems is the "dinner menu suggestions," presented in a convenient month by month fashion. Maybe I'll try and share one a day...there's at least a year's worth. Of course, since I'm a few days behind, let me share a few ideas for you now:
A New Year's Dinner
Goose Liver Canapés
Roast Goose with Apple Stuffing
Orange Sweetpotatoes
Glazed Onions
Chicory with French Dressing
Cranberry Refrigerator Cake
Coffee
Not happy with that one? There's others! Like:
Pineapple Juice
Ham Omelet
Bran Muffins
Rum Parfait
Coffee
Hmmm...that may be a breakfast options. From the next page over, here's a few "luncheon suggestions:"
Welsh Rarebit on Toast
Cabbage Salad
Baked Apple
Pfeffernüisse
Coffee
Meat Pasties
Broccoli with Cheese Sauce
Tomato Chutney
Molasses Fruit Pudding
Coffee
Well, there you go! Four easy, complete meals for you ladies to whip up to start your year right! (What, like men are going to be cooking meals at home in 1948?) One thing...make sure you've got plenty of coffee. Going to be an exciting year!
posted by dave at 8:33 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home