A lost post. Found. Shared.

Originally written and posted somewhere on January 7. So much promise and focus for 2009 that is so wrapped in this dream to walk each morning in to a kitchen. To see my life continue to unfold with a kitchen at its core. Enjoy ...

Literally rolling. Too many cookies, cups of hot cocoa (with requisite marshmallows), dinners out, and too little time at the gym. Oy! At least I can still squeeze into my jeans (thank god for the invention of stretchy fabric). I'm waiting for my croissant dough to chill enough for its next two turns so I'll take this moment to reflect (and to avoid doing other work I know should be done).

The end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 is leaving me with a lot of hope for what the rest of this year has in store for me. Christmas this year was spent in San Francisco. We walked the city streets, ate delicious food, visited the most sublime little bakery at the Ferry Terminal (I will be attempting to replicate those little delicious french macaroons at some point during my little vacation), watched my favorite holiday movie of all time ("A Christmas Story") and another ("It's a Wonderful Life") that I want to make part of my Christmas Eve tradition. I ate freshly baked croissants dunked into potato leek soup and cinnamon rolls washed down with many cups of coffee. Talked about my dreams and plans over a glass of wine while staring out at the city landscape. Indulged in a seafood stew and I promise there are embarrassing pictures of me in a lobster bib somewhere; they will stay hidden for as long as possible. There was salmon and dinner rolls, chocolate cheesecake, and sushi for an early afternoon lunch (before the long trip back to NYC). There was early morning coffee and bagels and great conversation. Great conversation at every turn. Promising. Inviting. Intoxicating.

Back home in NYC there was Christmas morning recreated (sort of) with the family. My baking dreams all realized in the form of cake servers, thermometers, cake pans, loaf pans, popover pan, a scale, another cookbook. My elephant dreams satiated with a little iron sculpture and a clock on reclaimed redwood from a wine barrel. My heart happy.There was a trip through the Zoo's Winter Wonderland with a four-year-old who made me run from tigers to giraffes to reindeer to sea lions to decorating cookies amid ice sculptures. A nap desperately needed but never achieved. But overwhelming love felt as she wrapped her hands around my neck, her napping head on my shoulder, and the tender tone of "I love you, Titi."

There was New Year's Eve party where midnight struck as I was in my kitchen with my man, pouring champagne while we both laughed; the apartment full with family and friends ringing in the new year while watching "Big Trouble in Little China" instead of a crystal ball dropping. If time with friends, family, me in my kitchen, my man laughing at my side is what 2009 has in store for me then I can not be more blessed. There was more time with family. Loud. Full of food. Good food. The kind that satiates more than just physical hunger. Grace was said, I held your hand, and I smiled.

Movies were watched (lots of movies). There was Doubt, Slumdog Millionaire, and the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Which left me, curiously, appreciating the fleeting nature of life and how important it is to live each moment to its full potential, without fear, without doubt, but with hope and love and promise.

And then there was ice skating. My first time. I didn't fall. But I laughed and squealed a lot. No pictures. Sorry.