The final rundown

Here is the final rundown of the things that I made and sent off in the month of December.

baklava: a combo of this and this recipe, made with pecans
pistachio butterballs (like mexican wedding cookies with pistachios; from Dede Wilson's Unforgettable desserts)
salted caramel pistachio and pepita brittle
chocolate chocolate mint cookies (adapted from this)
cacao nib and caramelized almond biscotti (Also from Dede Wilson)
seven layer cookies
ma'amouls
cherry and pistachio nougat (from Craft of Baking)
chinese 5 spice cookies
penuche fudge (to which I added a layer of chocolate)
bacon fat doggie treats
pomegranate molasses cookies (adapted from molasses cookies)
rosemary walnut brown butter shortbread
matcha shortbread (Dede Wilson)
rugelach (dorie greenspan)
white chocolate walnut eggnog fudge

All in all I sent out about 10 packages filled with various of the treats above.  Many of these recipes I'd make again.

When I look at all of these recipes, I have to wonder what the hell else I do with my life?  For a while I'm on a baking moratorium.  I'm a bit tired of it, and I'm doing so much lab work (so much rain - no climbing outside!) that it's less appealing.  Plus Sunshine gave me her CSA box so now I'm focusing on cooking the veggies.  I made cream of mushroom soup with the chanterelle I found, and red endive, bacon and fontina pasta with some red endive from the CSA box and parsley from the garden.

A billion people are going to Bishop for New Year's, but I'm a bit turned off given that all of the granite boulders will be covered in snow. I'm cranking through a ton of labwork, so maybe I'll just stay that course. Then I won't feel bad about going to Europe.

I visited both Ethan and James last Sunday.  I got to climb with Ethan at MC, which is always a treat, given that he is bar-none the best climber I've ever climbed with.  Plus he has an easy confidence about his ability rather than a grandiose it's-no-big-deal attitude I've witnessed in good climbers before. Then we went to this kick-ass Mexican restaurant called El Metate and I got some amazing fish tacos. Damn I'm so jealous of people who live in SF. The restaurants in Davis suck.

On the way home from SF I stopped in Berkeley to see James.  We had a date, where we went to Walgreen's and then ate dessert in the Berkeley Bowl parking lot. I think it would be fair to call it a dessert sesh, except I just watched him eat the things I made and got his comments on them. I'm always trying to improve.

Finally, I've been reading a bunch lately. I just finished The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  Definitely recommended. I also recently read Alex and Me, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Cleft, and How to Talk to a Widower.  Most of what I read anymore was given to me - often nice easy-read books.

Oh right - I saw Tron last night with Bjorn and Mark. I'd give it a big fat "meh". Though the Daft Punk music and cameo was pretty sweet. CGI Jeff Bridges is totally creepy.