Saturday, January 01, 2011

Mornin' Lil Darlins

I had a history teacher in high school - his name now escapes me - who, every morning, would come shuffling into his classroom, slam the door, and grumpily exclaim, "Mornin', lil Darlins!". I am fairly certain he hated every single one of our shining (or was that just pubescent oily "T" zones) faces.

I don't know why I thought of that this morning. It has nothing to do with the rest of this post.

It's the first day of the new year and the new decade and I, for one, am THRILLED.

Thanks to #reverb10, I did all my re-hashing of 2010 over the course of 31 days. I gnawed, chewed, and swished the year around in my mouth until even the marrow was sucked out of that bone. So, as I sat here this morning, drinking my first cuppa joe out of the Big Ass Cuppa Joe cup and contemplating my annual year-end wrap up, I realized there was nothing more to say about it.

I feel thoroughly washed of the old and am ready to accumulate the road dust 2011 will offer on my adventure!

Because, if you recall, my word for 2011 is adventure.

And I'm all about it this morning.

I've spent the last day or so in the pursuit of comfort. We received our first measurable snow fall Thursday and bitterly cold temperatures along with it. So the vast majority of my time since Thursday afternoon, when I've not been writing, has been spent in the kitchen, hands down the warmest room in the house especially with the oven cranked to 425°F. I put up a large pot of my extra-spicy chili and made two batches of from scratch biscuits. The first batch accompanied the chili. The second batch, yesterday morning, accompanied bacon gravy. Unfortunately, the gravy wasn't nearly as good as it sounds.

As I watched the temperature struggle to climb above 8°F throughout the day yesterday and then read the weather report predicting -15° windchill for the evening, I easily decided not to revel with the other New Year's Eve revelers and risk frostbite. Instead, I wrapped myself in a long sleeve oversize denim shirt and yoga pants, fired up the oven again and produced my first ever batch of scones.

It was, quite simply, perhaps the most pleasant New Year's Eve I've ever had.

I wasn't cranky, sad, or anxious. I didn't wear fancy pants or overblown expectations. I was just Me in my home element with my two favorite guys, creating steamy vanilla deliciousness, drinking hot toddies, and quietly, happily, waiting until midnight to tap send and thereby inviting in what I want for the new year...the most mind-numbingly happy thought I could think.

And now? The adventure begins. First stop, Johnson's Corner for tasty, sweet gluttony with the lovely Ms. Kristin and my BFF, Acr0nym. I'm taking my camera. Doesn't a camera tend to lend itself to the feeling of an adventure? I think so.

First though, I must finish my breakfast.


Scones!

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