I am on sabbatical from the business I started with a friend back in 2007 and have been running solo since 2008. I do not imagine I will return to the back-breaking craft fair circuit I used to frequent, since my back is indeed in a fragile state. I still have some work around town in some shops, though they are running out and I am not replenishing their stock right now. I do have some work left here but I have not made anything new in a long time.

I spent a lot of money and energy this summer reaching out to new shops, but that was a bust. Perhaps I picked the wrong shops, or the wrong means (postcards) of reaching out. Or perhaps it was time for a break, which is what I settled on.

During 2010 I was in overdrive with a move into a home we own, a renovation, an intensive business class, a first wholesale show, and a share at the bustling Union Square Holiday Market. Not to mention a big high school reunion.

All of which felt like too much all at once and none of which I felt ready for. I suppose I am glad I did it all, but I can’t say that given those opportunities again under those circumstances, that I would do it again.

More than a year later I feel like I am still recovering.

“All the Finches did bible-dips. It was like asking a Magic Eight Ball a question, only you were asking God. The way it worked was, one person held the bible while another person thought of a question to ask God, like, ‘Should I get my hair cut short?’ Then the person holding the bible opened it at random, and the person asking the question dropped his or her finger on the page. Whatever word your finger landed on, this was your answer.”

As an agnostic, I prefer other texts. This morning I will use a book of Emily Dickinson’s poems. I land on the word “confronting.” Maybe I need to ask a different question.

I just spent more than an hour winnowing the categories here. And the posts within. Deleted some irrelevant posts, but kept most of them no matter how silly.

It’s a bit like looking at a time capsule of my life six years ago. I live in a different house – that we own rather than rent – , work in a different school, have added two dogs to our menagerie much to our cat’s chagrin. I have since begun a business and taken a sabbatical from it. Things are so very different and so very much the same.

Whenever I can, I walk over the Brooklyn Bridge as part of my commute to work.

I am decidedly crankier on days I don’t get to do this.

I got to walk over the bridge today. Yay.

Happy Lunar New Year. It’s the year of the dragon. I was born many lunar new years ago,  five days into the year of the ox.

The ox is powerful, calm, goal-oriented, and patient, introverted, and sometimes lonely and insecure. Compatible with Snake and Rooster.

I prefer to align myself with the rat, the year that was happening while I was in utero.

The rat is tenacious, charming, and clever. Loyal and generous to friends, greedy, envious, and manipulative on bad days. Compatible with Dragon and Monkey.

Plus, my husband is a full-blooded dragon, and we’re quite compatible.

Popovers
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking

Ingredients
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tbs melted butter
1/2 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 beaten egg

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Beat the milk, butter, flour, and salt together until just smooth. Add the beaten egg, beating until just incorporated.

Spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray.

Pour the batter into the baking cups. Place the pan in the oven. After 15 minutes, lower temperature too 350 and bake 20 minutes longer. During the entire baking process do not open the oven, or your popovers will fall.

Especially delicious with strawberry jam or drizzled with honey.

Every morning Daltron wakes up much earlier than he needs to in order to make me a delicious latte. I assuage my occasional pangs of guilt about this by periodically baking a fresh batch of these biscotti, which he has with his coffee.

5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup slivered almonds
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 eggs

Preheat oven to 325°.
Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Combine sugar, vanilla and eggs; add to flour mixture, stirring until well-blended (dough will be dry).Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead. Shape dough into four long rolls. Place two rolls on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Place the other two rolls on another baking sheet covered with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Bake at 325° for 30 minutes. Remove rolls from baking sheets to a wire rack, and let cool 10 minutes. Cut rolls diagonally into 1/2-inch slices, and place, cut sides down, on baking sheets. Bake 13 minutes. Turn cookies over, and bake an additional 13 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool). Remove from baking sheets; let cool completely on wire rack.

Yield: 10 dozen

Notes: Recipe is easily halved. The biscotti will keep, stored in tupperware or ziploc bags, for about four weeks.

It is highly unlikely that I will see another movie in the 2006 calendar year. And even if I do, how likely am I to see something that will break into the top 10? Not so very. It hasn’t been a great year for movies. There are at least two on the list that I saw in 2006 but were made long before.

With that in mind, here is my my current Top Ten:

10. Nacho Libre

9. The Devil Wears Prada

8. Word Play

7. Inside Man

6. Tsotsi

5. The Confederate States of America

4. The Fallen Idol

3. Dave Chappelle’s Block Party

2. Little Miss Sunshine

1. The Departed

Flags of Our Fathers – 45. Excessive Absence. (Mine. From the theater after the 90 minute mark.)

Marie Antoinette – 70. Occasionally funny and engaging. Out of its depth when wrestling with BIG QUESTIONS.

Running With Scissors 75. Fairly good screen translation. Excellent Bening, insufficient Baldwin.