Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! I swear I have abandoned my blog nor have I forgotten about you. Well if you are nosy like me and are wondering where the hell I've been...here's the last six weeks in a shortish list.

As with many of you no doubt, December was filled with many Christmas parties (which included four in one week at one point), which meant trying to cram four weeks of work into two (with many serious hangovers!), which was followed by a three week break back home in California (during which I managed to fit in a delicious lunch at the Chez Panisse Cafe, make tamales with my father (yes Johanna- I will bring you some when I see you next) and get conned into making Christmas dinner (which entailed making a stuffed and rolled beef roast that seemed to still moo no matter how long it was in the oven).

My immediate return saw me drop of my suitcases which were filled treats from home and have enough time to get back out the door, leaving The Boy at home, to ring in the New Year with a mate at the Kylie concert, which was totally awesome (in spite of my bizarre Mid-Atlantic accent that I've acquired over the years here, I am still a Valley Girl at heart), stumble home for an oh so brief slumber only to wake to be on top form to spend the day with the in-laws, go back to work for a couple of days so I could be inundated with emails and as I write this I am making a mental list of what I need to pack for a wedding I am going to this weekend in the South of France (with a hopefully spectacular dinner at Jacques Maximin).

I woke up jet lagged in the wee hours of this morning longing for a chance to sleep in but knowing that for once jet lag has given me a few hours of solitude to write, I can't complain. Life has been good to me the last few weeks and I intend to enjoy every minute of it before I return to reality, sleep or no sleep.

Xoch

PS- I promise to put fresh photos of my meal at Chez Panisse up soon but I can't seem to find my camera cable! If you are ever in California, the ONLY place to eat a burger is at In-n-Out!