We are now well and truly into the new year.
Flip over the calendars, break out your new planners.
Get yerself into gear.
Yes, the fun, lazy holiday season is over.
I always feel like a glutton throughout December.
Lots of food and gifts and usually some extra money to throw around.
Saw a recipe online that uses cherry tomatoes, feta cheese and pasta.
I like all of those things, so I gave it a try.
Roast the tomatoes and a chunk of feta in the oven.
I added some garlic and Italian seasonings.
Coat with oil and roast until the tomatoes are soft and squishy.
I also added some mushrooms, because I like mushrooms
and you have to use mushrooms fairly quickly after you buy them because they
don't last long in the fridge.
I had the wrong kind of pasta, this rigatoni is a bit too big of a noodle shape,
but the end result was pretty tasty. Easy to put together and the ingredients are
cheap and easy to find. Two thumbs up!
Tried it again the next day, but added some zucchini.
And used spaghetti noodles. Different result, but still a pretty good meal.
Starting the year with a book about Hatshepsut,
the successful female king of ancient Egypt.
I had learned about her at the Egyptology class last February,
and got to visit her temple on my Egypt trip.
I stumbled across this book at the library's big book sale last fall.
Slept in New Year's Day, as per tradition.
Went out for a cold walk/jog.
I try to not do much on New Year's Day.
Don't even like to drive anywhere.
Just enjoy a down day, eating tasty things leftover from Christmas
and generally being a couch potato.
I brewed up some of the Egyptian coffee I'd brought home from my trip.
Fired up the DVD player and, while watching Ernest Saves Christmas,
I took down the tree and the decorations.
Left the evergreen swag and greenery garlands up though.
The swag usually gets taken outside with spring-ish weather.
By then, it's pretty dry and ready to be composted.
Tree, ornaments, and decorations.
Packed up and ready for storage in the attic.
Making use of the wassail punch and ginger brew I picked up at
Trader Joes, I made this very nice rum cocktail to sip on whilst taking everything down.
Tastes like Christmas!
Also on New Year's Day is the annual fauxfurkey feast.
Each year, I've found some sort of vegetarian roast, a Tofurkey or
any number of the various other brands of veggie roast (this time I
had found something from Field Roast) and cook up a full meal,
with mashed potatoes and green bean casserole.
I used another bag of the fresh frozen green beans I had stored away
in 2024 to go into the casserole, but realized too late that I was
completely out of the crispy onion topping.
So, while the green beans are tasty, it was a somewhat incomplete
side dish. Ah, well, ya gotta make do sometimes.
And I didn't want to leave the house just to go hunting for
a can of crispy onion topping.
Anyway, after the gravy was ready, I tossed a salad together, plated up my fauxfurkey
and potatoes and green beans and had a wonderful meal.
And have enough fauxfurkey feast leftovers for the next several days.
Meal preppin', bay-bee. Got my lunch plans sorted out for a while.
I plan to buy less t-shirts this year, because, gosh, I have way too many.
But this one called to me.
The Quad Kitties. 😹😹😹😹😹
Took the juicer out of the cupboard and juiced most of the
oranges from the band froot box.
I'd eaten all the delicious pears, and have plans for the
apples, but, as I just don't eat oranges fast enough before
they get all mummified and wasted, I have developed a
tradition of juicing them.
The kitchen smells fantastic.
My juicy reward.
Mmmm, freshly squozen.
No added sugar or preservatives, just juice.
I didn't want to wait too long to squeeze them, because I think oranges
get less juicy the longer they are sitting around.
Add a bit to some prosecco and have a festive new year style cocktail.
I kept aside a bunch of the pulp too, to bake into some muffins the next day.
Ta da!
Orange pulp and oatmeal muffins.
Nice breakfast option for the work week.
A few of my gifts. Very grateful.
Some chocolates and puzzles, couple of books and pens,
and a clarinet player pen holder. A saxophone ornament. Some body lotion.
And a pair of snazzy gloves that have zippered pockets on them! Love them!
Also, some cash, which is always appreciated and most of which
has been put away into the vacation slush fund.
So now we are ready for another year.
I'm going over the financial plans and the travel plans
and the house plans.
Have written up my goals for 2026.
January is typically a boring month for me, so I'm
hoping to use that time to get a few things
scratched off the list early.
Starting the year in pretty good shape.
The bills are paid; the bird and turtle are healthy and have what they need.
The roof isn't leaking, and I have food in the fridge.
What more could I ask for?
No comments:
Post a Comment