Happy New Year

Happy new year to all.

Well here we are, another new year, and another chance to do the things we set out to do the previous year. Unless, of course, you already pulled them off. Then you're off the hook.

We had a mellow and quiet new year's eve, as usual. I have to confess, the idea of getting dressed up and going to a party has zero appeal to me, and not just because of my anti-social tendencies. I understand the idea of a new beginning, but also think that we can make a difference or change in our lives any time of the year, and often when we place undue emphasis on a single moment or day, like a holiday or birthday, for instance, we lose sight of the fact that there is the rest of the year to account for. Why not make the most of those 364 days?

Either way, I used to make a huge deal about New Year's Eve, and still can't figure out why. Actually, I do know why. It's because everyone else made a big deal about it, so I just went along for the ride. Now, I prefer to just hang out and treat it like any other day. Am I getting old, or what? For the record, throughout my young adult life when I was single, New Year's Eve was a disappointment, mainly because I placed such huge expectations on it, and it never delivered. Looking back on it, I realize this was due to my own naivete. It's just another day, right?

Anyway, now that I'm older and a lot more boring, I have no inkling to make issue of it, and prefer to stay home with R and the kids and just enjoy the evening. With this in mind, we set out to have a new year's eve supper as a precursor to a new year's day supper. We did a family survey and decided that we would make homemade pizza and then finish with brownie sundaes with hot fudge, all low glycemic, of course.

This involved a great deal of preparation and cooking, so it was a busy day. We made the dough in the morning and let it rise throughout the day. Because I'm beginning to feel like Porky Pig, I decided to get some exercise, so I did a XC ski run and man am I sore today, but in a good way. I worked up a good sweat, aided by the fact that it was a beautiful and warm day. I was sweating bullets.

When I got back, R and A decided to go for a walk, but N wanted to stick around, so we played a round of chess and then set about making the pizzas. Just wanted to mention that N has become quite the chess player. He has good foresight, and can make the match challenging for me, though I'm just okay. It's good preparation for him when he goes up against a pro.

Making pizza is always fun in our house, because the kids love to make the pies, and it becomes a fun family affair. We went with pepperoni/onion and veggie, which had peppers, olives, broccoli, and onions. I think we have gotten our crust recipe down, a nice whole wheat dough with flak seeds. When made in conjunction with our beautiful pizza stone, compliments of DR, our pizza comes out nicely. The crust really is the key.

For the sundaes, we also needed to make the fudge sauce and the brownies. These are not hard jobs, they just take time, but we planned properly and the goodies were ready by the time the meal was finished. Then, we all got to make our own sundaes.

We finished the evening watching the movie Despicable Me, which was available at BG's, and then it was off to bed.

My kind of evening.

Hope you all had a nice new year's eve, and happy new year, and thanks to Madhavan M for the pic.