Where the lovelight gleams

One of my all time favorite Christmas songs is "I'll be home for Christmas." I'm not sure why I've loved it so much. I've spent every single Christmas that I can remember with my family. This Christmas will very happily be no exception. However, it will be the second Christmas that I can remember where I won't wake up at the crack of dawn with my younger sister. It was an odd sensation last year to wake up at a decent hour, and to wonder out to join my parents. I'm used to my sister waking me up when it is still dark and going to see what Santa left in our stockings. We aren't extremely close, but I did miss her last year and I'm glad that she and her husband will be spending the holiday with our family.
In other holiday news I helped host a holiday dinner last weekend. I made a chocolate cake that has a pound of chocolate in just the frosting, and a bruschetta pizza that was better than I had thought it would be. Our friends brought food and we laughed and talked as we prepared everything. While some of us were in the kitchen others had turned on the Wii and were playing some sort of Mario Brothers game. For some reason instead of turning it off they decided to leave it on while we ate. So instead of Christmas music playing in the background, my holiday dinner party was serenaded by Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Daisy, Mario and others. When someone finally commented on it we all cracked up. Most of the people there were hard core gamers, but all of us had played Nintendo growing up. The music hasn't really changed in all these years and we all had stories about the music driving parents crazy.
There was one upside. After dinner I was helping to clean up while others finished playing the game. When I went to grab something off the table my boyfriend teased me by trying to poke my belly button. I laughed and tried to spin away while grabbing his hand to stop him. He spun me back around and we ended up dancing and laughing in the middle of the kitchen. All in all it was a great night.

Wine is bottled poetry

I never really drank in high school. I may have had a sip or two of wine that an uncle had brought to dinner, but that was it. It wasn't until I was twenty and attending summer school in Paris that I started drinking. While I was there I learned to appreciate wine. Kind of hard not to when you're visiting the regions wines are named after. Since then I've had good wine, just nothing like I had last week.

My favorite tour guide and I were invited to his roommate's birthday dinner last Tuesday. The roommate is half Japanese, and his father is this adorable tiny Japanese man who can cook native Hawaiian dishes. The food was all made from scratch and utterly fantastic. Best out of all he prepared was the best duck I've had since I was served it at Chateau Chenonceau. That is the only dish whose name I can remember. Well, that and the incredible chocolate cake, but who is going to forget that?

As wonderful as the food was, the wine was better. It started off with champagne that tasted great even thought it was brut. After that we had merlots, cabernets, and a pinot noir that smelled so good I wanted to eat the air. Our host was so delighted that he had guests that appreciated wine he kept bringing out different bottles. We didn't get drunk. Those of us that weren't driving may have gotten a tad fuzzy, but that's it. Our host only poured enough to be appreciated each time.

The pièce de résistance was the port that was served with dessert. I've never had it before, so I was given a crash course. Just like with wine there are a number of different types. Unlike with wine, the different types are an indicator of quality. The top of the line is vintage port, and one of the absolutely best years is 1977. That's the year the roommate was born, which is why the host had a bottle of it. He purchased it that year and kept it for his son's 30th birthday.

All in all dinner was wonderful.

A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry
Ecclesiastes 10:19

CA girl at heart

It is beautiful here. Washington is aptly named the evergreen state, and the number of views here are countless. At least this is what I tried to remind myself when my jeep got covered in snow yesterday. The snow is gone now. Today was slightly warmer, and it rained as well, so it cleared it out. However, I know its going to come back. It’s barely December and we have the whole of winter to get through.

I wasn't really caught off guard by the snow. Not only did I know that it snowed here before I moved, it snowed the weekend I visited Seattle a year ago. That was when, in spite of the snow and frigid temperatures, I fell in love with this place. However, as a California native a part of me still believes that snow is something you are supposed to visit, not live in.

I still love it here, but I'm thinking this may be the end of the honeymoon period.