Dear China,
This is a blog. Just curious if you’re blocking this.
Regards,
D

I’m sitting on a bus somewhere on the new jersey turnpike en route to D.C. listening to XX and watching the scenery. I’d forgotten how far the financial district buildings are from mid-town, but it’s a nice view from the bus heading out of manhattan in the afternoon.

I got to see a bunch of friends around xmas that I otherwise wouldn’t have. Mostly one on one, which was especially nice. No visits to the Amherst Brewing Co. this time, but I did make it back to the Moan & Dove several times, The Harp, the Cushman Cafe, and the italian place that used to be called Pinnochio’s. There’s a phenomenal pizza you can order in Amherst that I’d almost forgotten about. It’s made by Bruno’s and it’s their mexican pizza. Super spicy and delicious. For xmas we made an assortment of tasty food: gifte, cookies, bourbon cake, cherry torte, lamb w/ garlic, roasted carrots, beets, brussels sprouts and potatoes.

this is a post i’ve been working on for weeks, somehow, so all of this is old news:

I made lit crit lasagne a couple weeks ago, for the first time in a year or so. I think the big issue with the recipe is that I simmered the red sauce for too long, and so it’s not as liquidy and delicious as it was growing up as a kid. I also used 2% cottage cheese and neufchatel cream cheese. perhaps that was a bad idea?

For next time: consider using more sauce. One pound beef is *plenty* and 15 oz. tomato sauce isn’t quite enough. Instead, maybe use 2x tomato sauce, or even pasta sauce, and some real garlic – not the garlic salt the recipe calls for. This time I did use practically all the noodles and it was fine. I guess if you overlap noodles (5x/layer) but only do 2 layers that’s about right. Note to future self: I flipped the order of sauce mixtures halfway through, and it was ok: Olive oil on pan, noodles, cheese, sauce, noodles, cheese, noodles sauce, parmesan

I had a woodblock print of a sailboat (so Seattle) framed from my study abroad 6 years ago in Auckland, New Zealand. It’s my first time having anything framed professionally. I had S with me for moral and aesthetic support (right color black matte, larger frame than I might have otherwise gone with). It’s large and pretty imposing in the bedroom, but I needed something there, and I think I’m in danger of having too many photographs in my place and not enough other things. Prints work well, those fancy vinyl wall decorations are pretty nice, and I’m considering taking a painting class to end up with more colorful, textured stuff.

My high school class held its 10 year reunion at the Amherst Brewing Company after Thanksgiving. I was pleasantly surprised. Better than my 5 year college reunion, really. You have 4 hours to talk to anyone you want and then you’re done. It helps maximize your time somehow. Also the beer at the ABC is delicious. And maybe more things have happened that are worth talking about?

In addition to my class reunion, I had a great (and long) time in Amherst. I helped my parents clean out some stuff from the basement, got to spend a great Thanksgiving in Northampton with one of my Mom’s colleagues and his family, and even went to Boston to see the Joshua Bell and the BSO.

I’m still experimenting with salad dressings. In addition to the balsamic/oil/salt/pepper/mustard/brown sugar one, i’m realizing I like red wine vinegar in salad dressings. a lot. stay tuned