Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

Chapter 13

But in listening to the D major [piano sonata by Schubert], I can feel the limits of what humans are capable of - that a certain type of perfection can only be realized through a limitless accumulation of the imperfect.

Chapter 15

Our responsibility begins with the power to imagine.

I intentionally planned little to do over this holiday break, and it was great not to squander my free time on running around ticking stuff off my "to do" list.

Christmas eve was spent at Sandy's for brunch. It was a small gathering (us, Marsha, dad, Sandy, and Eric), but all the more relaxing. We then had turkey dinner followed by a couple vs. couple game of pictionary with dad and Marsha at their house and spent the evening there too. Naomi hoped to watch the Mr. Hanky Southpark Christmas episode again, but there was a Wizard of Oz in Canada episode instead.

Christmas day Terri and Al, Anne and Jim with Amie, and Joe and Betty came over for brunch. It was fun to watch little Amie open all her presents and then go a see Sango and Homer in the garage. The dogs were very good around her, except that Sango pulled too hard on the tug-o-war ring and scared Amie her to tears.

I bought one present this year, and that was just right. It was wonderful to not have the stress of gift purchasing ruining the holiday. Besides, the only people who really need any presents are kids and poor. The rest of us, I venture, would just as soon buy our things given the abundance and relative low cost of things these days.

On the 27th Jon and I drove up to Crystal Mountain, picking up Matt on the way. A long drive, but the skiing was worth it.

Winter dinner party

The braised African lamb shank just out of the oven. We added daikon to give it a wintery flavor.














Here's the entree with brown rice and swiss chard with garlic, cherry tomatoes and orange zest. The salad is mizuna with slivered daikon and celery dressed with sauteed bacon, oyster mushrooms olive oil, balsamic and rice vinegar.














For dessert, an original contribution from Michael. The cookies do not have a name, but they are wonton shaped pastry stuffed with spiced sweet potato custard and dried red cherry. After baking he fried them quickly. Served with vanilla gelato and some extra custard.














For fun we had a blind chocolate tasting of 6 brands. The hands-down favorite for everyone was the Endangered Species special dark (72% cacao).

Weekend in Seattle

Endocrinology exam on Friday was easier than anticipated, but I did not do as well as the GI exam, strangely.

Friday night Ben had a wonderful dinner party with beef bourginonne and plenty of great beer, wine and scotch. Elise is due now any day. BT, Briar, Brady, Tammy, Drew, Beth, and Dan were there, as well as another couple with two kids. Naomi had a splitting migraine and couldn't make it.

This weekend we drove up to Seattle with Marisol and Kimmy. Naomi and I had dinner with Alycia, Chris, Lindsay, Andrew, and all the kids. Afterwards the two of us retired to Alycia and Chris's house, where we had a nice time visiting after the kids went to sleep. Chris is a really nice, interesting guy. Alycia makes a great mom, but she was really destined to be doctor or scientist. Hopefully she'll find her career sometime.

Sunday we went to the Bodies Exposition exhibition. It was much more educational than artistic than I had anticipated. It was well attended and I sensed the majority of visitors were enraptured with the displays and found the commentaries engaging.

End of the the quarter

Last Thursday Naomi finished her quarter. I celebrated it for her with some specialty rolls at Masu East followed by pizza at Ken's next door where Yuliya and Akiko joined us.

Friday was the so-called winter prom, in the style of salsa. The space was weird - in a cramped movie viewing hall. The band was live and good - Cuba Ache, and the drinks free. We had a good time dancing at least. We went with Faisal and Jasmine, and also came home rather early, which was fine since the most enjoyable aspect of the evening was the conversation in the care to and from the dance.

Saturday mom came up for the Nutcracker matinee at the Keller. Before that we had sandwiches at Daily Cafe and some pastries at Ken's on 21st. The ballet was spendid, the three of us with big grins until curtain down. She is doing alright on her broken leg, but the soft cast is awkward.

Sunday we met Vivian for dim sum at Wong King's. The wait was long, but the food good, although I might prefer our little Chinatown Restaurant dim sum right across from Nike. Matthew joined us for the last 45 minutes.

Went to Ken's pizza with Jon and Cam then some drinks later. Cam complained about wine drinkers and Jon about Cam's not going skiing in BC.

Sunday I rode the Sauvie Island cyclorace with Jon. It was a mess, cookie-dough thick mud and corn husks making the riding extremely hard. In fact, I was unable to ride most of the course due to pounds of mud that accumulated around the brake calipers, more or less locking the wheels in place.