Wednesday, December 31, 2025
Breakfast at home: quesadilla with diced red onion, sliced mushrooms, mixed grated cheeses; hot water. Deep-cleaned the oven which had caused problems with smoking when we last used it two days ago. When we tested it after cleaning, it was fine, so I prepared Southern Cooking's hash brown casserole, which I had been wanting to do for a while now. Cleaned the kitchen. Late brunch: one navel orange, hash brown casserole, two small pork sausage links, hot water. Long nap. Walked to JY and Adrian's for a new year's eve party. Scot B, Francis S, Emery M, Brian K, Jose C, Patrick C, Mike P, Nolan, Timmy D, Tom H, Mike, Alf, Mark P, Betty, Andrew M, Tim C, Ryan D, Jason S, Adam B, Patrick M, Galen B, Brendon L, Murtuza, Ry, James K, Harvey V, John B, Hap B, Mark H, Russell J, Albert Z, and more whose names I did not remember or who I did not meet. Appetizers included cheese and crackers, vegetables and various dips, spanakopita, pita, cured meats with pomegranate seeds, grapes, mixed nuts, shrimp cocktail. Adrian made square-cut biscuits with short rib chili and various toppings. JY made a broccoli salad. Albert brought red velvet cupcakes with a white chocolate ganache filling. There were also cookies separately in three flavors: chocolate, gingerbread, and lemon; I don't recall who made them. In the 11:00 p.m. hour I was already yawning, but I made it to the end. Close to midnight we watched fireworks displays on television from Sydney, Australia (pretty good) and from Shanghai, China (excellent), then Tim C streamed KRON4 coverage of San Francisco's fireworks, which by comparison to the other cities was pretty disappointing, and occasionally there were better views outside their sliding glass doors to the balcony, but it was raining so no one wanted to be outside. We toasted goodbye to 2025 and welcomed 2026. Pretty much everyone left right afterwards. In light rain, Pachooey and I walked Ry to his N-Judah stop where he ran to catch the bus then we each walked home separate ways. To bed, exhausted.