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January 17, 2006 - Tuesday | 8:21 AM, CST
So the holidays are over, eh? You know, these last few years I've kind of ignored the holiday season. Christmas during my youth was always held in high regard and with fond memories. I can remember begging Mom to let Bryan and I put up the tree earlier and earlier every year. I believe she eventually set her foot down at one week before Thanksgiving. These last few years (most notably the ones prior to moving out on my own) have been met with a general attitude of indifference. Only afterwards when walking through the stores and seeing all the Christmas decorations set out for the after-holiday sales have I felt a tinge of longing for the old days.
I will make a break from my longstanding policy of not listing gifts to bring attention to two very thoughtful presents given to me by Mom and Kelly. The reason these get special kudos is because most of my gift exchanges (i.e. Bryan and Dad) don't involve a lot of surprise... in fact, this year, Bryan and I gave each other our presents even before Christmas actually occurred! This year, Mom took a week off of work to copy down every recipe she knows into a homemade cookbook. At the end of most of the recipes is a short note where she shares a fond memory having to do with that meal. As for Kelly, she has heard me complain for the last few years how my old copy of "The Polar Express" was puked on by the cats when I was young. She went out and got me a special gift edition, which included the book, and audiotape of the book, and a silver jingle bell. Very sweet of both of them.
Speaking of nice and sweet things, I've taken my Mexican cooking up a notch. Over the break, I invited Nathan, Zach, and William over for a spicy round of tacos. For this meal, however, I fixed homemade corn tortillas by using mesa harina (Mexican corn meal), as well as homemade refried beans. Cooking the meat, rice, beans, and tortillas all at once was a complicated task, and luckily Nathan was a more than willing assistant. Once we got the hard work out of the way, Nathan fixed some authentic homemade salsa, and we ate our delicious tacos using Zach's authentic homemade Mexican lettuce.
For our next meal, I'd like to try serving homemade cornchips. Unfortunately, my Mexican meals happen only rarely, as there is far too much food for one person to eat, and I usually can't justify making a meal that will produce so many complicated leftovers. C'est la vie!
Art: That is a wonderful idea regarding the road trips. I have two destinations in mind that I've been wanting to explore. One is in north-eastern Indiana, and the other in central Ohio. Keep in touch regarding this matter.
Amber: I'm happy to see that you've created your very own website. Many kudos to you.
Bryan: I received the following e-mail today -
Sender's name: amber
Sender's email: amberm0328[at]hotmail.com
Message:
hey was up peps hey this your gurl amber m so does your brother friend watever he is to u how old is he well email me sometime i would love to hear from him
And my reply -
I'm pretty sure a fifth grader could write a more coherent letter than yours. All the same, I'll let Bryan know you'd like to get in touch. Have a nice day, and thanks for writing.
Matthew
Thats all for now.
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