Still in Holiday Mode...

Another day of no work: maybe a movie; certainly some time to read more of the stack of food-related books that Santa brought me. Right now I'm in the midst of Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink. It's a collection of food-related articles and fiction which have appeared in the magazine over the years. It's so uniformly well written that even though I'm sure I'm not really interested after skimming the first paragraph, by the third one I'm totally hooked. Right now, I'm reading about Euell Gibbons, that prototypical Man of the Earth.

I heard from both Silvia and Andy in the last couple of days. Silvia sent a Christmas card from La Jolla, said she's been working 60 to 70 hours per week ("but that's the business, isn't it?"), and added, "You'd love this place." Andy called to see if I had any info about our graduation date (I don't), because his mom wants to make reservations. He's been offered a permanent position at the high-end restaurant he's at in Minneapolis. I asked him why he wasn't working, and he said he's been on the lunch shift, which is 8 to 4, and he was on his way to Williams-Sonoma to spend his gift card present. He thought he might be in the market for some smoked sea salt.

I went with my family to see the Warriors play the Timberwolves last night, and, while watching the pre-game activities from high in the stands, I felt anxious to get back to work. I miss the teamwork, the camaraderie, the sense of anticipation and then accomplishment. I don't know what I'm looking for, exactly, but I hope I find it soon.

Last Sunday, I undertook a major holiday kitchen project, and made a Bûche de Noël. The cake was a plain genoise, and I iced it with chocolate buttercream. I might have said this before, but making buttercream is a really great kitchen adventure, requiring precision in volume, temperature, and timing, and not a little amount of faith.

I riffed on the filling, taking a page from a Sicilian cassata. I combined sheep's milk ricotta and mascarpone, then added chopped dried cherries that were plumped in orange liqueur, chopped bittersweet chocolate, pistachios, and diced orange peel. The mushrooms were marzipan. I felt compelled to call everyone in the house into the kitchen to properly admire the finished product. And, man, it was delicious.