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It started nicely enough. We took a vacation together for the first time in ... well, we don't remember how long. We chose to go to San Francisco. Why? It's a food town, and we have friends who moved there last summer. We enjoyed it thoroughly, and plan to visit other cities ... even if it means forcing days off! (And yes, it's our own fault that we don't take vacation days, for fear of the work that will meet us when we arrive back at work. Yet it's never killed us. That's a lesson to be learned!)
In fact, our new travel philosophy is to go to places known for their food. Which means it is unlikely we will ever be going back to Indianapolis again (no matter what kind of Star Wars conventions they promise). Though we did find one outstanding Kansas City-style barbeque pushcart there once (but none of the natives were willing to try it out), and a lush chicken velvet soup at a defunct tea shop. Ask, we'll let you know where they are!
Early in 2008, Maki became full-time; a few months later, she was Director of Marketing. Then later in the year, she was demoted back to Manager — the company was bought by a larger, San Francisco-based software company, which added at least a layer or two of hierarchy up top. It's been a rollercoaster experience, having to learn new systems, new procedures, new rules, take certifications, etc. She did try to quit a few times but was told to go back to her room and finish her projects. The upshot has been an adventure and a few trips to San Francisco!
Brian's assistant will be retiring this Easter. Brian also hurt his knee and spent the last quarter of this year affecting a signature waddle. Fortunately, it's healing on its own, with no surgery needed — just in time to shovel the snow falling around us! Last year was quite dry and warm, so no snow to deal with. This year, he's run out of salt. And it has snowed enough for Brian to state that 75% of snowstorms happen on Saturdays. Wonder how that stat happened?
Good news is that he can stop worrying about the church building's pitched roof — most of it was replaced in two big projects in late winter last year. It's now free of leaks for the first time in living memory! Now he gets to move on to repairing the water damage from years' past and worry about things like why does the boiler keep cutting out?? He's also fallen off of an old ladder when changing lightbulbs. Time for replacement elevation devices!
In the category of bad but ultimately good news: Maki's parents have both been seriously, and separately, ill this year, too. Happily, they are survivors and have incredible resilience. Chemo, radiation, neurologists, pulmonary specialists, surgeons ... as a family, we're learning way too much about the medical systems. We've run into many frustrations, and have also met very capable and wonderful people who have helped heal us. Diligence and patience are important, of course, but we feel fortunate, indeed!
This was a milestone year for Brian, who turned his odometer at "14,610 days," and we celebrated by inviting some good friends for the weekend. We played Wii, PS3, watched a Broadway show, ate prodigiously (seriously, it was amazing): at home, take-out (including the most wondrous chicken tikka masala), and at many a fine establishment. And in honor of the Olympics in Beijing, we had dimsum at a great dimsum palace in Chinatown, and gave each other medals with titles like, "Biggest Bitch." No prizes for guessing who deserved the medal (versus who got it)!
Brian received so many generous and heart-felt gifts in a really really wondrous food and laughter (if you haven't seen the comic summary of the weekend on our homepage, check it out). The final meal together was the group-making of a birthday version of eggs benedict: gougères topped by smoked salmon, sautéed spinach, poached eggs, and jalopeño lime hollandaise. Even though some of us freaked out at the new-found knowledge of what, and how much, is actually IN hollandaise ...
Then other friends came and made Belgian style brownies and salted oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, washed down with our ghetto Dark 'n Stormies. It was a great birthday weekend! We've started to understand what the big deal is about birthdays, and are looking forward to the next celebration. May your celebrations be as awesome and full of mirth and friendship, as well as great food.
Our BFF got married at the end of this year, too, in a huge fête in Boston on the week it was 1°F / -15°C, with windchill. Fortunately, he foresaw this and put us all into the hotel where the nuptuals and the reception took place. It meant we were coddled in our own world for a few days, with people we most wanted to be with, anyway. What an ideal way to celebrate the end of one year, and the start of a new life! It was a wondrous way to enjoy our chosen family.
We had the opportunity to make the wedding cake, though it ended up featured at the rehearsal dinner, for convoluted reasons. The cake topper was later duly shipped to California, where it arrived broken. Fortunately, we'd packed krazy glue in the box. Brian also had the honor of officiating the wedding — amazing amount of faith people have in us, eh?
Another close friend took Brian up on the offer of expertise in construction and experience with roofing, and created an event we now refer to as "Roofestivus". Yes, he actually trusted us with tearing out and laying in a new roof on his house in DC! It's a way fun way to experience each other in different contexts, and reminded us why doing stuff that make us look foolish is a good — even a great — thing. Though admittedly, we are rather expensive labor for a very mediocre job at roofing! (Last we heard, however, it's still holding dry.)
We've assembled and cooked the second and third turduckens of our lives, and it's become kind of second-nature now as long as we have a turkey, a duck, and a chicken on hand. Maki's workmates were invited to help with Thanksgiving leftovers, and they did such a good job, it necessitated the second turducken of the season. It's the roast of the year! Cut it down the middle, just to show off the lack of bones in the layered birds.
And though we've arguably perfected our chocolate layer cake — having made it for birthdays, Easter, weddings, etc. — we have never managed to write the recipe down, and so we get to re-discover it each time. What's consistent? Ganache filling and frosting! Other cakes have included ice cream layer cakes, lemon poppyseed, chocolate tiramisu, cheesecakes, coconut layer cake, banana chocolate bread pudding, banana bread ... if it's your birthday, come on over for a cake! (That's what happens at work — birthday boys and girls get to choose their cake and Maki wakes up early to bake them.)
Easter Sunday brunch and the day-after-Thanksgiving dinner are solid traditions in the RibShack (the ersatz nickname of our hovel on Madison Avenue). Be sure to garner an invitation, even for the days following — there are plenty of leftovers, and we have it on good authority that they are better than some people's primary meals. ;)
As in years past, we've been blessed with visitors from afar (shout out to Megan and Livvy, who is angelic most of the time), with and without families, to see New York as a destination, or en route elsewhere. Brian built a loft to sleep two individuals, and we have air mattresses and some sweet leather couches (very comfy, we slept in them for a few nights when our bedroom was airing out after a flood). Our kitchen is large, we have a lot of fridges and freezers, and we live in midtown — come and visit and stay awhile! (Maki promises to be less cranky than you remember her, and Brian is always a fun host about town.) We have lots to show you, so I hope you can come for a meal or longer.
A parable for the new year: the all-company Christmas party is no longer being held, and each office had to spend their own budgets and make their own plans for the holidays. So, in the NY office, we stretched it out and had three — including a bowling party with little stuffed animals as prizes, a Yankee-swap with North Carolina-style BBQ lunch with pulled pork, mac 'n cheese, pit beans, and bread pudding (which came out to $3 a head), and the official one held in a bar by the new parent company, which unwisely did not limit us with drink tickets. When dealt lemons, there are many pleasurable ways to make lemonade, right?
Have a good and better year, personally, healthwise, work-wise ... everything-wise, really. And keep in touch!