Fa lala la la lala la la

Days here are quite bleak lately. The sky is almost a solid gray; it seems like there's never going to be a sunny day again for all of winter. You would never think that just a few weeks ago, the days were still sunny and in the sixties at least!

I always end up with a craving for hot chocolate and books at just about this time, with a side of desire to never move ever again and just stayed curled up in bed forever with the dog on my feet and the cat in my lap, taking sips of chocolate and dreaming with my eyes open.

But, you know, reality's a bitch, and I usually end up running around like a chicken with her head cut off, trying to get everything done that I need done: working on things for Xmas, cooking, cleaning, organizing, fishing the cat away from the stacks of books he managed to knock over, etc. (On the bright side, both fantasy and reality involve books, so I must be doing something right.)

So, I want desperately right now to be reading The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Christmas Carol, Madeline L'Engle or Susan Cooper, entirely in the mood of the season. Instead, I am writing this, drinking coffee, and getting ready to go to work. Granted, coffee is very important to me. I have three ways to brew it, numerous ways to serve it, and believe in breakfast as an artform. However, given my druthers, I would rather forgo the caffeine and hide away from the world.

It is, though, Friday the 13th! If I could figure out where I wanted it that wouldn't interfere with the planned tattoos on my arms and torso, I would be at a tattoo parlor, getting the lucky number 13 inked into my skin. Of course, then I would have to peel off a few layers of clothing. Horrors! (Seriously, very tempted to do it, just can't figure out where to put it.)

A couple nights ago, I made a very, very simple meal of sauce with chopped burgandy olives and Boca crumbles, over elbow macaroni and with a side of green peas in vinaigrette. As said, very simple. I've recently been trying to incorporate things from Edouard de Pomiane's French Cooking in Ten Minutes into my eating life. This was a man who proudly supported the Working Girl in all her endeavors-- his cookbook is a primer on how to fit delicious food into your working schedule. A man after my own heart.

He suggests that one of the first things you should do is put a pot on to boil. No idea what you're going to do with it? Who cares! Boiling water is probably going to be useful somehow, isn't it?

BBC made a mini-series that follows the cookbook of this delightful, wry man, which are available on Youtube.

French Cooking in Ten Minutes by Edouard de Pomiane