The delightful fun of the cookie exchange
The rush of the sugar high
The satisfaction of late night Hungry Jack’s

Toasting flour
Mixing in icing sugar (called confectioner’s sugar in the US)
And powdered milk
And melted butter
And pressing it all into the mould
Thinking of Abuela
And remembering Christmases past
And sharing the taste of home

​The delight of initiating
Americans
To their first taste of
Fairy bread

The satisfaction of sautéing onions and garlic
And fragrant spices
Adding chicken and crushed tomatoes
And letting it all simmer

More hot chocolate
Sugar and fat to mend a broken heart
Watching Spirited
Singing and dancing and comedy
To soothe a troubled soul

Today was a heartbreaking day
My former love and puppy driving across the country
To a whole new life
Without me
I couldn’t look at my screen
Or concentrate on work
So I pulled an Abuela and I retreated to the kitchen to make
A batch of lentejas
A big bowl of hummus
And a carrot/beet slaw
I shared the lentejas with a friend who got covid
And on the way home from work
Hanna and I braved the cold and got Hungry Jack’s
And the greasy burger and fatty fries and soft serve with chocolate fudge
Were the balm my soul needed

How wonderful to be able to call NYC home
It still makes my heart catch in my throat that I get to live here
How lovely to come home after work
And sit down with a bowl of noodles and dumplings peas

thankful for chosen family
thankful for delicious food
thankful for puppy snuggles
thankful to be here.

The joy of finding a fascinating book
In a thrift store
(The Suicide Index by Joan Wickersham
Heartbreaking, moving, beautifully crafted)
The satisfaction of scoring, and, later, peeling roasted chestnuts
Trying escargot for the first time
Devouring fresh lobstah so flavorful it doesn’t even need butter
Two helpings of cake for dessert and
Snuggles with an elderly gent of a puppy

I felt sad about baking cookies on my own
So Ralph came over with homemade chocolate milk
And then Al and I took a stroll around Bryant Park and window shopped at the Christmas markets
And finished the afternoon with iced tea and  banana bread