Food and Friends

Took the day off to relax. Made breakfast: Asian pear and apple slices,
dripped with lime juice, sprinkled with
brown sugar and cinnamon. Pancakes, from scratch (no mix), with whip
cream, also made from scratch, sprinkled with raspberries and covered
with real 100% Vermont maple syrup. Bacon. Eggs, fried in the bacon
fat. Discovered that the pancakes cook much better in the bacon fat
than in butter. Orange juice. Coffee. Dining room set properly with
freshly ironed napkins, silverware, flowers, cream, and sugar.
I'm getting the hang of this.

The most important ingredient--spectacular company. A friend
from San Francisco I've only had the pleasure of meeting a few times.
Good company, great conversation.

I love to entertain. I've known this for a while. I like to cook, and
I'm not horrible at it. This I've just learned. Cooking seems to
impress. I've been told that I'm "service oriented", although I'm not
entirely sure how to interpret that. But I'm not saying it's wrong.

A few weeks ago, I cooked dinner for another special guest. I put
hardwood charcoal in the grill and made beer-can chicken (seasoned
with chicken rub, coated in olive oil). Baked potatoes and roasted
garlic, with rosemary, drizzled in olive oil. Grilled corn, served
with chili powder and lime juice. Bruschetta. All from the grill.
Served with a cheese platter, an apple and pear platter, and plenty
of wine. Everything came out perfectly. Ended up turning the
leftovers into chicken melts and fried potatoes. That was the first
roasted garlic I had ever tasted. It was _amazing_. I had no idea
garlic could ever achieve that consistency.

Cooking these meals, for the sake of impressing company, has
been a remarkably theraputic experience for me. Work has its ups
and its downs. When I do nothing but work, I find that my mood
tracks the ups and downs of each workday far too closely. It's very
reassuring to be reminded that I have
a purpose in life other than to work, and to know that I can become
proficient at something other than software development. I can
operate something other than a computer, and operate it well.
I'm developing a grounding rod, for my stress, through friendships
and hobbies. Perhaps, at last, I'm learning how to live.

Now I'm heading up to Shoreline Park, on this cool and sunny December
day, to read some more of
Vernor Vinge's
A Deepness in the Sky.
Planning on making this day end as well as it began.