Turkey Lasagna/Lasagne

Turkey Lasagna

For reasons unbeknownst to me, I've always been compelled to spell everyone's favorite layered pasta dish as Lasagne, but I am often confused when everywhere else (e.g. frozen food boxes and recipes) I see it spelled Lasagna.  At first I thought it was just a weird, inexplicable compulsion, like how I'm always tempted to spell vinaigrette as vinIAgrette.

But thanks to this digital age, I did not have to wonder much longer.  According to a 2-second Google search, Lasagna refers to the single noodle while Lasagne is the plural form and correct Italian way to refer to the dish as a whole.  For whatever reason, Americans have adopted it as Lasagna.  

At least we didn't start calling it Lasagnas.  And at least we kept that "G" silent!  (Unlike Gyros which I won't even get into).

However you choose to spell it (or pronounce it), I think we can all agree that it's a darn good dish.   Usually I turn to Stouffer's to satisfy my "Lasagna" cravings, but since it's the New Year and I'm trying to put a healthy spin on what I eat, somehow I don't think Stouffer's fits into that agenda.

So rather than give up on my craving (never ideal), I decided to make my own healthy Lasagna.  From scratch.  

It was a lot easier than I expected.  Here's how it all went down.

Turkey Lasagna

(I'm spelling it "Lasagna" since it's probably more American than Italian at this point.)

Ingredients:

1 Box Whole Grain Lasagna Noodles

1 lb Ground Turkey

1 28-oz can Diced Tomatoes

1 can Tomato Paste

1 Onion (diced)

2 Cloves of Garlic (minced)

16 oz Ricotta Cheese or Cottage Cheese

1 c Grated Parmesan Cheese

Mozzarella Cheese to your heart's content

Optional:

1 tbsp Parsley (chopped)

1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes

2 tsp Fennel Seeds

Thyme, Basil, Bay Leaf

Make the sauce.  Sauté the ground turkey in some olive oil until slightly browned.  Add the onions and garlic and continue to sauté until soft.  Add the diced tomatoes and tomato paste.  If you want, add some herbs like thyme, bay leaf, or basil (I think I just added a bay leaf).  Simmer for as little as 15 minutes if you want a fresher tasting sauce or over an hour if you prefer deeper, more developed flavors.  Add water if it starts getting too thick.  Also add salt and pepper to taste.

Note:  I wanted to use Italian turkey sausage but I couldn't find any.  So instead, I made a paste in my mortar and pestle (a Christmas gift!) with some garlic, fennel, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper and mixed it into the ground turkey and let it sit overnight before cooking it.  This of course is optional and not necessary if you are short on time or patience.

Make the cheese filling.  Stir together 1/2 c Parmesan cheese and the ricotta cheese (or cottage cheese).  I used ricotta but I think I prefer cottage cheese (like Stouffer's).  Also, add the parsley if you like your food to look pretty like I do.  If your ricotta cheese is as bland as mine, you may also need to add generous amounts of salt and pepper. 

Boil the noodles, then drain.  Self-explanatory...

Now you pretty much know the drill.  Start with a little bit of sauce on the bottom of your baking dish and then layer in this order:  noodles, cheese filling, mozzarella cheese, sauce, repeat.    I divided everything into thirds, which gave me three layers.

Make sure to top with copious amounts of mozzarella cheese and the remaining Parmesan.

Bake anywhere between 350-400 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden and bubbly.  

And for the most challenging step of this whole process: allow to rest 5-10 minutes before cutting into it so it doesn't fall all over the place.

This will easily feed a family of 8 for a night or a family of two for a few days.  We ate this over a course of about 3-4 days.  It's a great meal to make on your day off and then reheat throughout the week.

oo,

REVIEW: "Chaos Walking : The Knife of Never Letting Go"

What were you thinking about just now?  Aside from "I wonder what interesting, life-altering insight Squooshed has to offer today?"  

Was it something trivial, like what to eat for dinner or the fact that your inbox desperately needs cleaning out?  Or something more personal, like your latest love interest or the fact that your boss looks kind of like a space monkey?

Imagine if all of your thoughts, trivial and personal alike, could be heard by everyone at every second of the day... and likewise, everyone else's thoughts were just as audible as yours.  And animals, too.  All coalescing in a constant, unfiltered stream of... Noise.  

You would probably be going a little crazy, right? 

Well, good thing crazy makes for an interesting story - or at least this is the case in The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, the first book in his Chaos Walking series.

This is one of those books that really caters to the imagination.  The Noise that I referred to earlier is what Todd, the protagonist, has to endure on a daily basis.  He lives in a place called Prentisstown where all the women have died and all the men have been stricken with this "noise" disease, supposedly brought on by an alien race called the Spackle who have since been wiped out.   (I know, sounds kind of far-fetched, but bear with me).

To give you an idea, this is the way the so-called "Noise" is depicted in the book:

Todd:  Here's what it's like.  Here's what every minute of every day of my stupid, stinking life in this stupid, stinking town is like.  Never mind plugging yer ears, it don't help at all...

You could imagine it would be pretty hard to keep a secret under these circumstances.  So when Todd and his dog stumble upon a mysterious silence in the swamp, the secret doesn't stay hidden for long.  And, as the title of the series suggests, chaos ensues - ultimately leading to a series of violent, suspenseful, and tragic events that reveal the true history behind Prentisstown and the origins of this "Noise" disease.

It's difficult to go into further details without giving too much of the plot away so I will stick with that rather vague description.  Like many Dystopian young adult novels these days, the story is very original and at times a little dark.  What really stood out for me was the author's clever writing style.  It is written in first-person with a heavy "country" (aka "hick") dialect.  That said, Patrick Ness doesn't waste words on flowery descriptions and poetic ruminations, and most of it is told through action and dialogue, making for a quick read.  Yet, the writing still leaves you thinking on a deeper level than what's on the surface, and oftentimes you get a greater sense of the story by looking beyond what is being said through the main character's thoughts and words.

Other ways I thought the book was clever:

-The title.  I just love it.  I loved it before reading the book and even more now that I know what it actually means.

-The author's portrayal of a talking dog.  Though Manchee is simple-minded, his relationship with Todd brings a lot of depth and color to the story.  Definitely my favorite character.

-The dialect.  Usually I would find the slew of misspellings, double-negatives, and "ain't"s annoying, but in this case it brings a level of genuineness to Todd's character as well as a sense of comedy and endearment.

-Disguised cursing.  Todd curses a lot.  But since this book is for young adults, the cursing is disguised.  Like "That sunuvahoor."  Or like in this sentence towards the beginning of the book:  "You can eff off, too," I say, except I don't say "eff," I say what "eff" stands for.  And then he proceeds to say "eff" throughout the book.

-Noise vs Silence Dichotomy.  One of my favorite scenes is when Todd discovers the source of the silence, which he describes as loud and piercing compared to the constant stream of Noise he's used to.

Though I really liked this book, I do have two complaints to share:

First, the plot is almost too linear and ultimately comes off as one big chase.  Luckily, this is offset by the progression of the characters and their understanding of the world, which takes many unique twists and turns and keeps the story feeling fresh and interesting.

Secondly, there are a few moments where secrets are revealed to the main character but are withheld from the reader.  Of course, all is revealed in the end, but since we are in Todd's head throughout the rest of the story, seeing everything through his eyes and his perspective, it left me feeling kind of cheated and frustrated.  This only happens a couple of times that I can recall.

The movie rights to this book have been sold to Lionsgate Studios (currently producing The Hunger Games movies).  If they do end up making this into a film, I would be curious to see how they portray the Noise without it becoming too distracting (and annoying).  It would definitely get a PG-13 rating as there is a lot of violence in the book (FYI).

Also I should warn you that the ending is very sudden and leaves you hanging...

...much like this review.

oo,

Chi-Town Bound: The Scenic Route

Remember in my "Highly Anticipated End-of-the-Year Reflection Post" when I said that "I have grand plans for making 2012 the most awesome year ever."?  (Yes, actually quoting myself here.)

Well, it's official:  WE'RE MOVING TO CHICAGO!!!  

Er, Evanston, IL.  Close enough :)  

Equally exciting are the events leading up to this move, but before I get into all of that, let me start from the beginning.  

Last month, Patrick was accepted into Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management Class of 2014.  I know what you're thinking... not just a great cereal brand, but also a great MBA program.  Kellogg is consistently ranked among the top 10 business schools in the nation... so well done, Patrick!

The Acceptance Letter

I'm already liking the purple color scheme and their motto:  THINK BRAVELY.  (Very important: always judge a business school by its color scheme and motto).

We've loved our time in DC - already 3 years! - and will be very reluctant to say goodbye to our friends here, but we're also ready for the change in scenery.  We've had our sights set on Chicago for awhile.  It's both familiar and new territory since we've been there on numerous occasions but have yet to live there long-term.

(There was, of course, that one time I moved there after graduating college and then left one month later to teach English in Korea...).

Chicago is also ideal because it's halfway between our hometowns in Nebraska and Ohio (and a bonus: less than 2 hours from Notre Dame campus).  And it has an amazing restaurant scene that I'm anxious to check out.

Before Patrick officially becomes a Wildcat (and me, an honorary Wildcat), we are going to become vagabonds... which means quitting our jobs and moving out of our apartment in the spring, storing our things in Ohio where my in-laws have graciously offered up their house, and wandering wherever our whims take us until landing in Chicago at the end of August just in time for classes to start.

So instead of moving directly from DC to Chicago, the idea is to take the most indirect way possible.  Thus, I have dubbed our little adventure/detour The Scenic Route.  We haven't pinned down an exact itinerary yet, but for now it may or may not include the following:

• A visit to South Korea in April for my brother's wedding and, more importantly, for some 칼국수 (a yummy soup with handmade noodles) and some Two Two Fried Chicken.
• A stop in China.  We're hoping to explore some of the smaller, less industrialized towns this time.
• A visit from my favorite Northern Irelander.
• A visit from my favorite Floridians.
• A visit to Europe.  (Could this be more vague?)  I'm thinking London, Italy, or Ireland.
• A 5-week long intensive Korean language program in Seoul.
• A cabin adventure with my side of the family in the Black Hills.
• A cabin adventure with Patrick's side of the family in Ohio.
• A Kellogg Kwest trip - not sure where yet but it will likely be international and will definitely involve bonding with fellow incoming Kellogg classmates and their spouses.
• More miscellaneous stops along the way... 

While Patrick will be hitting the books pretty hard once we land in Chicago, I'm not sure what I'll be doing.  I'm hoping the Scenic Route will give me some perspective and time to think about it.  For right now I'm embracing the wave of endless possibilities that 2012 has in store.

That said,

Go Wildcats!  And, while I'm at it, Bears... and Cubs... and White Sox... and Bulls... and Blackhawks?  ...Sure!  :)

oo,

Best Bites of 2011 #6-10

I should preface this post by saying that my "Best Bites" idea was inspired by a Todd Kliman article in the Washingtonian called "Top 10 Food Memories of 2011."  So there you have it.

In hindsight, I wish I could have devoted entire posts to some of these memories.  If only time had been more generous and TV shows less addicting.

So prepare yourself for another session of information overload :)  Here is the second half of my...

BEST BITES OF 2011 (Cont'd)  

A Baptism and some Barbecue.  In July of 2011, "cuteness" materialized in the form of a sweet little bundle named Claire, and in early September, Patrick and I were given the privilege of becoming her godparents.  

I shared some details of the ceremony in my post The Joys of Godparenthood.  But what I did not elaborate on was the celebratory feast later that night.  Of course Kansas City (where the baptism took place) is well-known as one of the top four places in the country for BBQ along with Memphis, the Carolinas, and Texas.  These distinct BBQ styles differ in terms of types of meat, sauces (vinegary, sweet, spicy, tomato-based, etc.), rubs, and cooking methods (smoked, grilled, braised, baked, etc.)  

Kansas City BBQ.  Photo from here.

According to Wikipedia, Kansas City BBQ dates back to the early 1900's and is unique for its liberal use of a sweet and spicy tomato and molasses based sauce.  It is generally slow-smoked over a variety of woods (mostly hickory) and is characterized by its use of several kinds of meat (since there are apparently a lot of different packing houses in Kansas City due to its proximity to railroads).

We ended up eating a smorgasbord of different meats and side dishes ordered from Fiorella's Jack Stack BBQ.  This place is definitely among the most well-known of Kansas City BBQ, boasting a Zagat rating for #1 BBQ house in the country.  It has also been featured on the Food Network and the History Channel's "Modern Marvels."

Suffice it to say the food was delicious, as was the company.  It was a sweet ending in celebration of one sweet girl.

10-Minute Miracle.   Many a night in 2011, I returned home after 7PM, too exhausted from a long day of work to even contemplate what to have for dinner.  Sound familiar?

Enter "Dumpling Soup."  This was our go-to meal of 2011 when we didn't want to spend the money on fast food or the calories on grilled cheese and mac-n-cheese.  In my humble opinion, it gets high marks for ease, affordability, wellness, and taste.  

Chicken dumplings, chicken stock, spinach

Dumpling soup basically consists of two ingredients that I make a point to always keep on hand:  frozen dumplings and low-sodium stock (chicken, vegetable, or beef).  I like using Trader Joe's potstickers because they don't contain MSG.  

The meal is as simple as throwing the frozen dumplings into the stock and boiling it for 5-10 minutes until the dumplings are heated through.  At this point, feel free to add whatever you have in your fridge or pantry - frozen corn, shredded carrots, garlic, red pepper flakes, chili oil, onion, spinach, eggs, scallions, etc.  I usually add a healthy splash of soy sauce and aji-mirin to give it an "Asian" flavor.  And if we're feeling particularly wild, we sometimes add a package of ramen noodles (just the noodles, not the spice pack) or some buckwheat noodles for a heartier soup.

Now you know my secret to a 10-minute meal :)

Foie Gras & Truffles.  There are meals like the aforementioned "Dumpling Soup" that can be praised for their convenience and affordability.  On the other side of the spectrum, there are foods like Foie Gras and Truffles, which are celebrated because of their rareness, priciness, and are reserved for only special occasions.

On the last day of Phase 2, right before entering our externships, we were treated to a meal of Foie Gras and Truffles, which we ate with a sparkling glass of Champagne.

These truffles were not the sweet chocolate ganache confections coated in powdered sugar or cocoa powder.  The truffles we dined on were the rare mushroom specimens found underground that can cost hundreds of dollars.  Known as the "diamond in the kitchen," these are highly prized earthy gems, considered a great delicacy throughout history and modern times.

Black Truffles.  Photo from here.

Interesting fact about truffles:  Finding truffles in the wilderness can be tricky and traditionally requires a specially trained female pig to locate them.  Apparently there is something in the truffle similar to a sex pheromone found in boar saliva that attracts the pig (yum).  The problem is that the pig has a tendency to eat the truffle once found, so nowadays dogs can also be trained to hunt them. 

Truffles are usually served in small amounts, grated over a dish to finish it or used to infuse sauces and oils.  In class we were given a precious pile of shavings, which was plenty as they are very potent.

The second part of our meal, Foie Gras, was much more bittersweet (figuratively speaking).  Foie Gras is the enlarged liver of a duck or goose.  It is produced by force-feeding corn mash to the animal through a tube over a span of 12-18 days until its liver grows to be 6-10 times its ordinary size, lending an intensely rich, buttery, fatty flavor.

Seared Foie Gras.  Photo from here.

Of course there is a raging moral debate worldwide over whether or not this is ethical, and this delicacy has been banned in places like California (taking effect this year) and at one point was banned in Chicago (which only lasted 2 years).

The chefs at our school insisted that this process was natural and did not harm the animals - the ducks naturally have expansive throats that allow them to store large amounts of food and digest it later for winter migration.  And suppliers insist on being "humane" in their methods.  Personally I don't agree with this method, but, then again, I also don't really agree with a lot of the ways animals are treated before they make it to our plates.

Still, I was grateful for the opportunity to try this dish.  I think as an aspiring chef, you have to be open-minded and try everything that's out there and understand where it comes from.  At the same time, I think this may have been my first and last taste of foie gras, though it will always be remembered in a special, celebratory way.

Pan de Maiz.  The latter half of 2011 was spent at my externship, where I still currently work.  The one thing I will recall from my experience here will be the mountains of cornbread muffins (our complimentary bread) that are made on a daily basis, which are always labeled "Pan de Maiz" thanks to all my amigos and amigas I work with.  

Source

It must be an amusing sight watching me make these muffins at work as it involves combining large quantities of flour, sugar, and cornmeal in a giant mixer in the corner of the prep room... you know it was me who made the cornbread that day as I somehow always manage to leave a trail of flour and sugar throughout the room.  The most challenging part is when the batter is finished and I have to carry (or rather drag, since we don't have carts) the giant mixer bowl to the center of the room and heave it onto a table to be poured into storage containers.  You should really see my guns these days...

There is no real secret ingredient involved in making these muffins... just a magical combination of flour, sugar, corn meal, corn flour, sugar, baking powder, milk, eggs, and oil.  My parents got to try these out when they came to visit in December.  And over Christmas I made a batch for the in-laws.  I've also made them on a number of occasions for parties and they always seem to be a hit.  It's just not a party anymore without Pan de Maiz.

And for the final food highlight of 2011, I present to you... 


The McRIB. 

 Totally just kidding.  


Though I did eat my first McRib this year, it falls into an entirely different category of "meals of 2011 I wish to forget."  OK it wasn't that bad.  (But, really, it wasn't great). 


The final food memory I'm going to end on is...  

The Inn at Little Washington.  Last year Patrick and I celebrated our 2-year wedding anniversary with a meal at The Inn at Little Washington, a cozy award-winning restaurant tucked into a tiny nearby town known as Washington, VA (called "Little Washington" because of its close proximity to Washington D.C.).  This restaurant has some serious accolades behind its name, and after our experience there, I can see why.  

You can read more details on our meal in my post Two Down, A Lifetime to Go.

While I loved the scallops, the veal cheeks, and the dark chocolate soufflé, my favorite was probably the truffle popcorn.  I've always loved upscale takes on down-home comfort foods and this one definitely satisfied that.

Truffle Popcorn, 

after I ate all the truffle shavings off the top

Popcorn box with the Inn at Little Washington logo

Plus, Patrick and I both love popcorn and ate a lot of it last year, so it was only appropriate that we celebrate our anniversary by eating something we often eat together, but with a lavish twist.


Even though Benjamin Franklin crashed our party with several guest appearances after our meal ended, the experience really was priceless and helped set the standard for upcoming anniversaries (right Patrick?).  Can't wait to see what 2012, aka Anniversary #3 has in store! :)

oo,

Best Bites of 2011 #1-5

As I mentioned in my previous post, 2011 was a busy year, focused primarily on culinary school.  And the best part about going to culinary school is that "studying" and "working" translates to eating and cooking.  Thus, it stands to reason that when I look back on 2011, many of the best moments I will reminisce about revolve around food.

That said, I present to you the first FIVE of my...

BEST BITES OF 2011     


Lunch with a Lesson.  It was just a simple bowl of French Onion Soup, yet suddenly it was the most complicated dish I had ever tackled.  I had caramelized onions many times in the past but this time I found myself second-guessing my every move -- is the heat too high?  Is there enough butter in the pan?  Why is it taking this long?  Am I stirring enough?  Am I stirring too much?

French Onion Soup.  Photo from here.

Ultimately, for fear of burning my onions, I coddled my pot on a timid heat.  As a result, the onions did not get a chance to develop enough color and my soup was pale and too sweet.  My classmate's soup, on the other hand, was dark and bitter from too aggressive a heat and not enough stirring.  The perfect French Onion Soup needed to be the right balance of both bitterness and sweetness and we had landed on either end of the spectrum.  On this day, I realized firsthand how the simplest technique can have profound impact on the complexities of flavor.  And thus began my first day and first lesson of culinary school.

A Piece of Pi.  When I lived in LA, I remember when the food truck revolution hit, starting with the Kogi BBQ truck (serving Korean-Mexican fusion like bulgogi tacos... genius).  After initial difficulties getting customers despite parking in the busiest sections of LA, they started reaching out to food bloggers and posting their location on Twitter, becoming what Newsweek later called "America's first viral eatery."  Since moving to DC, the same revolution has transported itself here where food trucks of all shapes and sizes can be found roaming around the city as well as the interweb.

Food Trucks @ L'Enfant Plaza

Which is why one beautiful fall morning, I rode the metro into the city to meet Patrick for lunch specifically with food truck fare in mind.  We met at L'Enfant Plaza, not far from the Capitol and a popular parking spot for food trucks around lunchtime.  The day's selection included empanadas, Korean food, and Mexican food, but ultimately we opted for a deep-dish pizza truck called Pi on Wheels.

While nothing can compete with the deep-dish pizza from Chicago (Gino's East anyone?), this pizza was delicious with crispy corn-meal crust and a nice layer of fresh tomato sauce on top.  On a scale from 1-5, I give it a 3.14159265...

Three's Company.  Lately cooking at home is comprised of just me and my thoughts and oftentimes I miss having another presence in the kitchen.  Which is why I was kind of ecstatic when my sister Mikala came to visit last year with her boyfriend Kyle, both of whom share my love of cooking.  And luckily we had Kyle's impressive camera/photography skills to capture some of it.

Together we re-created the following dishes that I learned from culinary school:

Seared scallop napoleon with corn-jalopeno blinis, 

sauteed spinach, and crispy mushroom garnish.

Goat cheese and sun-dried tomato stuffed artichokes

Chocolate and Grand Marnier Souffles

Food for Thought.  Cooking falls under several categories depending on how you look at it - an art form, a science, a family tradition, a chore, a basic need of survival...  For our last class at L'Academie de Cuisine, we explored Molecular Gastronomy (aka Modernist Cuisine).  Here science meets creativity as you use precise measurements, fancy tools/machinery, and ingredients like liquid nitrogen, lecithin, and maltodexterin to push the boundaries of what we call food, resulting in interesting concoctions like liquid mozzarella balls, bacon-flavored powder, and foams.  Many restaurants have been embracing this concept, like Alinea in Chicago and The Minibar in DC and needless to say they're doing quite well for themselves.  In class, we played around with a few of these techniques.  For example, here is a potato ball made from mashed potatoes that is solid on the outside but creamy on the inside (and then coated in fried onion crisps)...

And here we have slow poached quail eggs that were poached inside the shell using the sous-vide method, brioche bread which we made in the microwave using a paper cup, and bacon-flavored powder...

And for dessert, a dehydrated strawberry covered in white chocolate foam...

OK, it may not feed your hunger very well, but it definitely feeds your curiosity.

Burger Infidelity.  When it comes to burgers, Patrick and I (and millions of other Americans...) love In-n-Out.  But let's be honest, there's not one in our area and the long distance relationship hasn't really been working out.  With the help of a Living Social deal, we found an amazing burger joint not too far from our place called Elevation Burger.    This place serves burgers made from high quality ingredients, including beef that is USDA certified 100% organic, grass-fed, and free-range, for under $5.  Also, the meat is ground on-site, which means unlike some fast food places that will remain unnamed, you're not consuming meat mixed from like 80 different cows.  The burgers also come with real cheddar, fresh produce, and their own elevation sauce:

Also, their fries are cut right in front of you and cooked in 100% olive oil.

Oh, and did I mention they are delicious?  I won't say whether or not they are better than In-n-Out.  But I will say, it's definitely an affair to remember.  

And with that, I am officially hungry again!  Stay tuned for the second half of my Best Bites of 2011, which I will post next week :)

oo,

Highly Anticipated End-of-the-Year Reflection Post

2011:  
Stuff happened - big stuff like my attending/graduating from culinary school and the birth of my adorable nieces.  But for the most part, it was an industrious, career-centric type of year that leaves little to report on in my highly anticipated end-of-the-year reflection post.   


To be honest, at the end of a long work day, my productivity for the rest of the night was limited to cleaning out my DVR list.  I developed many close relationships over the year, but in retrospect, they were mostly with fictional characters like Ted Mosby, Sheldon Cooper, or Rachel Berry, and they were invariably one-sided.  

That said, there's a lot of pressure fixed around the New Year to reinvent yourself and become a better person than you were less than 24 hours ago.

Over the past few days I've flirted with different resolutions in my head.   Like stop getting sucked into idle time vacuums such as Facebook news feeds, neck-and-neck online Scrabble games, the Yahoo! homepage, and washing my hair everyday - which according to my hairstylist, aka the girl assigned to cut my hair one time, you should do every other day (I'm totally embracing this as it involves improving my health, my budget, and the environment simply by doing one less thing).  

Or like making a point to eat more home-cooked meals that take less than 10 minutes to prepare, cost less than a fast-food run, are good for my arteries and my waistline, and actually taste good, too.  In my own delusional way, I'm still convinced this is possible and I'm going to make millions once I figure it out.

So how did I spend New Years day?  Certainly not sleeping in until 11am, roasting a chicken for lunch, eating said chicken, then reading a book until waking up in a face-plant on the bed with my book strewn somewhere on the floor in order to attend a movie where I munched on deep-fried delights and downed a martini (well, half of one) and a bag of popcorn, then returned home to finish the book I had attempted to read earlier in the day.  (As Tina Fey would say, the feeling you are experiencing right now is jealousy).

I'm thinking productivity can wait until January 2nd, or better yet, January 3rd when I return to work.  I have grand plans for making 2012 the most awesome year ever, involving plenty of self-improvement schemes and funtivities that include actual social interaction, but more on that later.

So let me raise the remainder of my half-consumed martini from earlier this evening --

Martini before half-consumption

-- to 2011 2012 (since, like every year, it's going to take us forever to remember to write 12 instead of 11.  But in my case I don't have that many checks to write or papers to turn in so I should be good to go).

oo,