Brussel Sprouts (and other January doings)

In general, experience has proven that veggies taste best (and are cheapest) when you eat them during the season in which they are supposed to grow. This mentality works well for someone like me, who can get a bit obsessive about one thing (right now? Lord of the Rings, black bean tacos, and Mat Kearney) before suddenly wanting nothing to do with it for a while because I am so bored. I do well with seasons--remember how in love with fall I was a few months ago? Now nothing sounds better than spring.

When it comes to food, I feel perfectly comfortable gorging on one meal over and over while the star veggie is in season (spring = asparagus frittata and ginger chicken with snow peas, summer = chicken with haricot verts and feta-crusted tomatoes, fall = butternut squash pasta as often as Jason will let me make it) because by the time boredom sets in it's already time to move on. You notice, of course, what's missing from that otherwise steller menu. January, of course. Seriously, what grows in January?!? I'm not much of a veggie aficionado (I eat them, but I don't love them), and by the end of January I have seriously done about as much damage to sweet potatoes and squash as I can possibly stand.

So Friday night we tried out brussel sprouts for the first time in our adult lives. Jason and I both gave them a hard, skeptical look as they sat on our plates, looking for all the world like the bitter, mushy greens we knew brussel sprouts to be. Except that they weren't. They were quite tasty (in a green, vegetable sort of way, so don't get too excited). Per Bon Appetit's feature on them last month, I sauteed them in butter and then simmered them in chicken stock with herbs. You should have seen the surprise on Jason's face when he tasted them. He even ate my leftovers (let's be honest, even at 30 it's rare when I finish off all the vegetables on my plate). I think we're growing up.

Speaking of greens, kale is next on the list. Anyone have thoughts on kale? Like it? Have a way to fix it that doesn't leave salad haters (me) running? I'm mulling over the idea of joining a CSA this year, which is a bit daunting for someone who prefers ANY type of fruit over ANY type of vegetable, since I know at some point in the year we will be buried in leafy greens.

Hard to believe, but we're actually doing more than eating our veggies (but you get the drift that none if it is too exciting). Our past few weeks have been filled with:

Traveling: I love going to Idaho, but I have to confess that it'd be nice if the trips were a little more spread out--we were back in VA for two weeks after Christmas before I loaded up my carry on and flew back for the annual work tour of Idaho's Second Congressional District. It's a pretty long four days (though two dinners at the Sandpiper made it a little easier to swallow, and I do love staying in hotels). The silver lining came on Thursday night, when I headed up to McCall with my parents (are we noticing a trend here?) for the annual Bunn family weekend in the snow. While I missed having any time in Meridian, we had a blast up at the cabin--Jason was the only thing missing! It was really too cold at Christmas to do much outside, but the weather was warmer this time, so we went cross country skiing. So, so fun.

Waltzing: In an effort to make my 30th birthday as classy and grown-up an occasion as possible, Jason gave me a private ballroom dancing lesson. Between a busy schedule and a broken ankle, we only got around to doing it on Thursday night. I had a wonderful time--I think dancing is like floating. Jason...well, let's just say that Jason was a good sport.

Bussing: Jason has been getting re-acquainted with the bus and metro schedules in the morning since he started his new parking space-less job after New Year's. We're back to a "normal" schedule in the morning, where he is up before me...and I confess to loving it a little too much. It's been interesting to see how his Hill experience has impacted him so far. I miss having him around.

Organizing: Ah, organizing things. The sense of faux-control that an organized closet/pantry/bedroom gives me is exhilarating. Take, for instance, my new 4-week menu. Or the alphabetized DVD collection. Or the plan to tackle one room every weekend until our house is immaculate. This weekend's project was reorganizing the pantry and cleaning out the freezer. Somehow we ended up picking up the Spare Oom and spending an unplanned three hours organizing our disastrous office without giving more than lip service to the pantry or freezer. Oh, well, next week. The label maker has been busy.

A Finished Family Room

Tonight I put pictures in the frames in the family room and said, "Wha-la!" Apart from a teeny bit of woodwork on the banister, our family room is finished and beautiful!

Before:



After:The project included sheetrocking, putting in insulation (for which we are grateful, as it's freezing right now), painting, redoing the light fixtures, and putting in new carpet and baseboards. Most significantly, and unfortunately something you can't see well from the pictures, Jason and his dad moved the wall where the TV is back about two feet, adding a good chunk of space to the family room and allowing us to watch TV without feeling like we're sitting in the front row of the theater. We LOVE it. Jason did such a good job getting it all wired and finished up!

While I'm posting on the basement, here's a picture of the library (which is notoriously hard to photograph), painted a crackly orange that I love. vastly prefer to the old color. Jason, how do I love the, let me count the ways: 1. repainting a room we'd already painted. 2...

A New Decade

Remember 1990? How much we talked about the turning of the decade? This time around, I totally forgot that we were launching into a new decade. I suspect that turning millennia last time around--and our wildly unfounded Y2K fears--sort of overshadowed any future decade-turning.

So far, 2010 has been pretty spectacular. We started it off with a make-your-own-pizza party here with a bunch of friends, and since then we have pretty much spent it in sweats. To date this year we have slept in, watched movies, and read January magazines. I honestly don't know how I am going to go back to work on Monday.

I'm having a bit of a hard time letting go of Christmas this year. Last year the tree was down by the end of New Year's Day and I was ready to wipe my hands of the whole thing, but this year it is still hanging on, dropping needles onto the rug, and I just can't seem to be too bothered. And can someone find a reason for me to leave my twinkle lights up for a while longer? January needs twinkle lights, don't you think? Something to balance out the piles of dirty snow and frigid, hopelessly short days?

There are nice things about January, though. Like organizing things. Tonight I went to Target on a mission to get my cleaning supplies and bathroom cabinets organized, and I feel a bit better about January now. And, with no projects in the queue (pictures of the finished family room coming soon), we can spend our weekends hibernating the winter away. Not bad things by any stretch of the imagination.