New Year, and some snow.

Keith, in his Civil War pose.

The Hosts with the Most

Me, in a funny hat.

Scenes from our rocking Scrabble NYE at Lisa and Willy's house. Everyone had a hat, except Pippa, who was in bed, and Delia, who was at Grandma's House. Lisa made us Fantabulous Beef Bourgoignon with Oven Roasted Potatoes and a salad. Willy beat everyone twice at Scrabble. At midnight we ate Vasilopitta and drank Champagne. It was most excellent.

New Year's Day we ate pork and sauerkraut with apples at Mom's house. And more cake, and some candy, and chips, and more sauerkraut, et. cetera.

Brownies

Now I am really truly in need of a New Year's Diet, but ever since I decided that I needed to eat differently, I have only made a bunch of rich, marginally unhealthy food and eaten it all, then gone back for seconds. Probably because I am cold - the temperature finally dropped below freezing here in West Virginia on January 2. Two sweaters and a hat on inside, yes that is me, and also a plate of Mexican Dark Chocolate Brownies to keep me warm. I must not recommend them, as they were way too sweet. My recipe called for unsweetened chocolate, but I only had regular old dark chocolate. Delia requested I Mexican them up by adding 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. So I did.

In related news Keith and I bought a juice machine down at Aldi's this afternoon, it is pretty neat. We made Carrot-Apple-Cranberry juice as soon as we got home and found the thing quite easy to use and clean. I have plans to go on a New Year's Cleanse sometime soon, there is an article about it in Whole Living magazine. Also we recently learned some not-too-appetizing information about our favorite orange juice, so these things conspired to drive us to this purchase.

Yesterday Delia went back to school in spite of all the children and their Grandmothers dancing and chanting for a Snow Day. I got out of work a bit early too, as it seems nobody has much room for my sweets after the holiday bingefest. Even though it was TWENTY TWO degrees outside I still had to take the opportunity that presented itself to me and drag my asthmatic husband on a walk down by the Reservoir. We met only one lady and her dog on the trail. During a crazy beautiful snow squall I got rather turned around and unsure of where exactly I was - although only someone who can get lost in a paper bag can really get lost in White Park. I followed the five Whitetail deer in the picture below out of the blizzard and back to the main trail. What do you mean you don't see five deer in that picture? Oh, they are masters of disguise, and also I heard they can't be captured by conventional cameras. Trust me, they are there.

Herd of Deer?
Yes, I've heard of deer!

It was rather eerie walking through the park in the muffled silence a snowfall makes. The only distinct sound was that of the trees creaking over our heads in the wind. We spotted a mysterious tire track in the snow, it was about 3 inches wide with deep treads. Too wide for a bicycle, but there was only one track so it couldn't have been the cart the BoPark guys drive around... Keith thinks it might have been a dirt bike. It is an unsolved mystery.

My new/old coat kept me plenty warm in the winter weather.