we were so toxified by christmas food that we didn't actually get it together until tonight, new year's eve, to have our latka/mushroom soup/caviar dinner! frankly, we haven't stopped eating since thanksgiving and ben got his cholesterol done yesterday -- i can't wait to hear the result of that.

last night we had vietnamese food with friends up near their home in lansdowne, and then visited the new h-mart korean grocery up in that neighborhood. we went back to h-mart today after going to the gym, and then had lunch at sitar india in university city -- then back into town for caviar, creme fraiche, a trip into di bruno's, and a quick run to the liquor store. at that point, we were in for the day. and night. and year! will it be a continuation of the monty python's flying circus marathon? will we break out the entire series of american gothic on DVD? who knows? but tomorrow, we will be industrious. anywhere one turns in this place, there's hardly any choice about that.

we have big plans for 2006 and will really hit the ground running, as so many of them are already grinding into action. this year is going to bring a lot of changes -- preparatory changes -- and the culmination or near-culmination of some BIG projects, as well as the starting of a few new ones. it's going to be a busy year, full of work. we are very much looking forward to every step of the process. well, not the one where they tear the staircase out and we can't get up to the second floor. that one leaves me panic-stricken. but the rest of it will be good, albeit nose-to-the-grindstone.

happy new year!!!!!

that was ben's request for a title for this year's hanukkah posting. there is a reason for this, although the reason is hard to photograph. it's the thing on the right; it's what i gave ben on the first night of hanukkah.

it's a menorah, and i think that's obvious. it's one of those "bubble light" things evocative of the 1940's (and ben and i do make an effort to pretend to be living in the 1940's as much as possible). i got it from the vermont country store, where ben and i have purchased many gifts for one another over the years -- hot water bottles, walnettos candies, brown bread in cans, jadeite mixing bowls. it's a lovely quaint site. and i was so excited to find this bubble menorah!

but a little perplexed when it finally arrived. because the box that it came in is labelled CHRISTMAS LIGHTS. CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS is printed all over the box.

we were both mystified. it's pretty obvious that this is a menorah, isn't it? even in the half darkness?

this is our "regular" menorah, which, of course, we will still always use. the cats love it.






this is maybe not the best photo of the cats "loving" hanukkah, but we swear, they come running when they hear ben singing that prayer and striking a match.

wow. it all just sort of swooped in, and then it was over.

i keep waiting for someone to ask me what i got, so i can say "spatulas".





alternately swilling pepto-bismol and drambuie, we undecorated today, so now the only festive remnants in the house are these organic ones (which still smell and look nice.) it's all about that return-to-normalcy: normal food, normal schedules, and a clean, spare look that we are craving.

actually, this is our room at the muse hotel on 46th street in new york. we managed not to set off any alarms by lighting our menorah. for the most part, changes like that are for the better in new york -- it's a real difference, being out in a pub in the evening, now that no one can smoke in the bars or restaurants. it makes it a LOT more fun to do.

ben and i switch off nights for giving gifts during hanukkah, and my gift -- returning to the hotel after seeing boy george in taboo on broadway -- was a bottle of origins "ginger cloud" lotion, which i have been mad for ever since smelling it on my boss's hands. i am supremely picky about smelly stuff and skin stuff, but this is magnificent. and you know how, in life, certain smells remind you of certain times and places? the smell of this lotion is always going to be times square, broadway, and boy george for me. mmmmmmmm! what beautiful things.

we switched off nights, giving one another gifts. i was a little bowled over by this one --- an antique egg scissor from germany, shaped like a rooster.

ben says these are the best latkes he's ever made, and i have to believe him. three kinds -- yukon gold, spinach, and purple potato. we ate them with sour cream, cherry applesauce, and irby's atomic sauce. we also had an amazing fresh mushroom stew (which looked so lovely with the enoki mushrooms floating in it) in the big beautiful new stockpot that ben's parents got him for hanukkah. along with francis ford coppola wine from ben's aunt lois, we had a VERY nice meal indeed.

ben's gift: a little book of french word puzzles. time to brush up on that french vocabulary.

you see here that ben has lit the menorah and said the prayer. but what is he looking at on the floor? what is making him smile? it is gibson -- who, last year, and now also the first night of this year, has sat down to watch the menorah be lit. he loves it.