Happy New Year to you!

We had a good time at our friends' last night. They brought out their raclette grill for us. I bought one for John for xmas, so I'll have to post pictures of it when we finally get around to using it, but it is basically a type of indoor grill. The top is sort of like a griddle; our friends put a couple of dishes to keep hot on there. Then there are little non-stick pans that you slide under the griddle surface, and the heating element cooks the contents of the pans. Cheese is the most important ingredient, because it melts and browns wonderfully under there. Yum! Hannah had fun grilling the various pre-chopped foods and even ate some grilled veggies.

After the food and the conversation and the midnight toast, we went down to the street and shot off some fireworks. New Year's is the only time the plebes are allowed to use fireworks, so everyone and his dog were out there. At one point, it was so smokey that we couldn't even see one of the bottle rockets we had just sent up. It had snowed while we were eating, so there was a lovely layer of ice on everything. Despite my (inner) fear that someone would slip and crack her head open on the sidewalk or have an eye shot out, the fireworks were a real hit. The only damper on the night o' fun was when I stepped into a giant fresh pile of dog-doo on the way home. I hate dogs.

I just remembered something I haven't told John yet, and I know he is going to be crushed. If you happen to hear a faint cry of "Whyyyy?!!" from the other side of the Atlantic, you'll know that I have informed John that our grocery store no longer carries Charmin. Not even non-winter scented white.

I missed John and his sweet ways while he was in Chicago. He's in the kitchen right now, murmurring to the cats while he feeds them their favorite wet cat food.