How Will You Ring in the New Year (2020)?

[spork]

"Scent of soup," haha.

I'm working on conference papers and some administrative tasks. I know I won't have time for this stuff once the semester begins, because I'll again be overloaded. Luckily the wifey is temporarily on another continent, so I don't have to worry about keeping her entertained.

[backatit]

"scent of soup" :D. Have had that experience, and didn't love it. I do love good restaurants but I prefer the type that doesn't want to starve or slosh you into the bargain. An experience shouldn't involve scavenging for food after you've eaten ;). But the cocktails do sound lovely.

[ciao_yall]

Uncharacteristically, Renee and I went out last night. A new restaurant we wanted to support was offering a fancy eight course NYE dinner. Would we like to do the cocktail pairings as well? Sure.

I'm still hungover. We stopped off at our favorite cocktail place first for a drink. Mistake.

The dinner was amazing--in that tiny portion way. Which I am generally in favor of. But damn these were *tiny.* A lettuce leaf and shavings of veggies. Two bites of beef and a shadow of broccoli. Scent of soup.

But each course came with a fucking magnificent cocktail. The first few were low ABV, stuff like an Italian amaro with soda and lime. But they quickly got serious.

So on nearly empty stomachs we soldiered forward. The gin drink with fennel and house made specialty bitters. Brandy with lime, ginger beer and saffron. Rum with allspice and I'm not sure what. The bourbon drink is a blur but goddamn it was good. Oh and they kept bringing champagne. And tiny tiny mouthfuls of food.

The table got blurry. We asked for extra bread and they brought a tiny purple bread stick and a rumour of butter. WE SOLDIERED ON.

Thank God for Uber, amirite? At home we pulled out some leftover holiday cheese and crackers and fell on them like famished wolves on an elk calf. We hit the bed like the Titanic finding the bottom of the North Atlantic.

At the last minute I thought to swallow two ibuprofens and that is the only reason I am half alive to tell the tale.

Had one of those dinners a few years ago. We ate a lot of bread that night.

[Anselm]

So I sat in the dentist's chair for 3.5 hours.  The dentist said there was an abscess and I had long roots, making the job more difficult.  That was his polite way of saying that I have a big fat head.     Today I am feeling much better and yes, I am grateful I was able to get this done quickly. 

Tuesday night I did the usual routine of watching the festivities on TV with my parents.   We did a few shots and ate herring.  ABC channel 7 in Chicago had their weather reporter Cheryl Scott perform a dance routine, just like last year.  She is worth watching if you can find the video.