Sunday, December 18, 2022
Vacation day 9 of 30. Slept in a bit. Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, roasted and unsalted slivered almonds, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted unsweetened coconut flakes, blueberries; water. Dinner party prep all day: cleaning, washing glassware that has been unused for some time, gift sweets tin prep, etc. Lunch with Patrick: delivery from Boudin Bakeries via Uber Eats. Patrick had half turkey avocado on multigrain with tomato soup. I had half pesto chicken with caesar salad. Small holiday dinner party at home with Patrick, Nate, Chris, Drew, Phil, and Tai. Patrick prepared all the dinner menu dishes from scratch, having started four days ago. I helped a lot by washing dishes. We finished an already opened bottle of 2019 Castello di Amarosa zingaro old vine zinfandel then a 2019 Ram's Gate syrah. The hors d'oeuvres: Mediterranean beet dip (labneh with beets, za'atar, and medjool dates), walnut dip (walunts, pomegranate, red peppers, and spices), rosemary crackers, taralli. The dinner menu: beet, fennel, and apple salad; potato latkes with sour cream and salmon roe; braised cola and bourbon brisket; baked macaroni and cheese; honey-glazed spiced carrots; sesame challah rolls; chocolate bourbon pecan pie. The meal was intentionally a Hanukkah meal since this evening fell when Hanukkah begins even though none of us are Jewish. Patrick will save portions to share with Sam later. I made custom menus and place cards using a HypoTypo typeface called Santa's Sleigh which worked well except certain character combinations like Ch needed manual kerning and I thought the ampersand, while beautifully formed, was comically too large. Ampersands very rarely need such a grand presence. We sent everyone home with holiday tins filled with my candy cane rice krispies treats (of which I have a fondness and which I sometimes make during the season) and Patrick's southern rum balls and chocolate gingerbread cookies. Patrick went to bed. I washed lots of dishes.