Wigilia 2023

This year the matriarch (my mom) is hosting since her house is done up so well for the holiday and I haven’t decorated this year. I’ll be bringing dishes and finishing them there and am trying to make minimal mess in her kitchen, so have mixed up the menu a bit:

My menu:

1. Potato mushroom soup with a variety of wild mushrooms (some I harvested myself foraging earlier this year with a friend)
   
2. Smoked salmon dip
   
3. Shrimp cocktail with white horseradish sauce
4. Baked brie
5. Fresh baked bread (rye if I can find the rye flour)
6. Brussels sprouts with balsamic and honey
   
7. Cannellini beans with spinach
   
8. pierogi, various kinds - potato and cheddar cheese, & potato and onion.
9. broiled salmon with miso glaze
   
10. Kutia (barley pudding, or can be made as wheat berry pudding) 
11. Tropical fruit compote
12. Dessert: Kolaczki cookies by my mom, the best cookie maker I know.

More inspiration: Polish Christmas Eve Supper Recipe | The Spruce Eats

Covid vaccine

 

My son got the covid shot today - I’m hoping his efforts as a contact tracer will let us reduce spread of this illness and start lifting restrictions we live with today.

Watching Hogfather tonight

All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable."

REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"

YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.

"So we can believe the big ones?"

YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

"They're not the same at all!"

YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.

"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—"

MY POINT EXACTLY

Watch Hogfather on Amazon Prime