Hah!

( Twelve Days of Christmas meme )

Three Random Things

1. First, and most important: I talked to my parents (my dad's home from the hospital). My father sounds good -- a lot more cheerful than any of the times I talked to him before he got sick, ironically (or perhaps not ironically). I don't think it was faked, either. My father is notoriously awful at faking cheer. My mom also gave me a health update that sounds very promising. Thank you to everyone who sent good wishes.

2. It's snowing. It's not sticking, but there are beautiful white flurries coming down. Prr! (I don't like the cold -- we need to get more wood for the fire! -- but the snow is lovely.)

3. I've been experimenting with BPAL scents lately. Here's the results of my first batch of trials, gathered at random from friends (and at a club in LA).

( Antique Lace; Depraved; Black Phoenix; Libertine; Samhain 2005 )

I still have Coyote, Dragon's Eye, Bow and Crown of Conquest, and Centzon Totochtin to try, plus two more sets of imps coming to me. (And I'm flirting with the idea of getting some of the anniversary scents this year -- Mechanical Phoenix in particular looks fascinating!)

Recipe: Tom Kha Gai (Thai Soup)

Made this today. I was surprised by how similar it was to the tom kha gai I get in Thai restaurants. Not exactly, but gratifyingly close! It's adapted from a Cook's Illustrated recipe.

This can be made with chicken, with shrimp, or, for vegetarians, with extra mushrooms or tofu.

( Tom Kha Gai )

(no subject)

The snow did stick, after all.



( and it's beautiful )