new names, moments of bliss and food

once again playing catch-up on the reverb10. i got a bit stumped on the dec. 23 prompt and then christmas came and well, you get the idea.

december 23 – new name: let’s meet again, for the first time. if you could introduce yourself to strangers by another name for just one day, what would it be and why?

this question stumped me. mostly because i feel like a julie (i use julochka because there are a lot of julies out there and all forms of julie are always taken online), so nothing else comes readily to mind. i've always disliked my middle name - kay - because i don't think it goes very well with julie and it just never felt like it fit me.

but when i asked my sister, she immediately rattled off "penelope, gwendolyn and chloe." which i frantically scribbled down. i said out loud, how do you spell penelope and husband answered - "it's like pineapple with more l's." which was very amusing, if not entirely true.

i also asked husband, because let's face it, jens-peter isn't really the coolest name ever. and he gave the odd response of "heinrich." i think hope he was kidding.

i guess if i had to choose something for me, it would be something with a russian flavor - natasha or sofia or anastasia.

december 24 - everything's ok: what was the best moment that could serve as proof that everything is going to be alright? and how will you incorporate that discovery into the year ahead?

i have to say that it's fortuitous that i fell behind on this, because this moment came yesterday. we (and by we i mean husband and his eldest) cleared a skating rink out on our lake. they built a little fire beside the lake, where we could warm ourselves and some spiced apple cider. i made a batch of little bite-sized mushroom tarts and we ate them together with full mugs of spiced apple cider. we took along a bag of those lovely orange peel-able clementines and they got gorgeously cold waiting for us to eat them in the basket - their bright wedges springing cold and sweet in our mouths as we gobbled them up. we were out there for most of the afternoon - racing one another and then skating through the snow (new skates are sharp and the snow covering the lake was light) to the other end of the lake in the purplish-pink light of sunset. again and again, all afternoon, i was aware that this was exactly what we were here for. and that everything would be ok.

me, taking pictures. taken by my sister.

december 25 - photo: sift through all the photos of you from the past year. choose one that best captures you; either who you are, or who you strive to be. find the shot of you that is worth a thousand words. share the image, who shot it, where, and what it best reveals about you.

photography was a big part of 2010 for me - my 365 project helped me notice my surroundings and live more in the moment that i think i ever have. it may be that a great deal of what 2011 is about for me is taking pictures, so i have chosen this photo, where i'm doing exactly that. taken last summer by my sister, during a 4th of july fishing derby at a lake near our hometown.

from the garden

december 26 - soul food: what did you eat this year that you will never forget? what went into your mouth and touched your soul?

we moved in may - a bit late to plant a proper garden, so we didn't have a whole lot of garden produce this year, but we did find, to our delight, that there were 12 rhubarb plants already on the property. and so we had rhubarb crumble and cake and i made a gorgeous pink rhubarb juice that was turned into a summery rhubarb fizz with the addition of a bit of gin. food from the garden has to be the best kind of soul food.

brilliant pink rhubarb juice

rhubarb gin (or genever) fizz

december 27 - ordinary joy: our most profound joy is often experienced during ordinary moments. what was one of your most joyful ordinary moments this year?

is it just me, or are these starting to repeat? i think i already answered this one. here.  and possibly also here.

that said, i find that i still have something new to say about it....those moments when i most often experience joy during an ordinary moment i'm cooking. that has been curtailed a bit by my depressing old kitchen, but i have gotten it back of late. as recently as making dinner this evening...squeezing an orange over the duck we had for dinner, peeling and chopping veggies, sipping a glass of white wine, sprinkling snow of flaky salt over it before putting it all in the oven those are the moments when i most consciously feel joy in the everyday.

and now, once again, i'm caught up - only a few days left of reverb10.

let them eat lego

the weather makes a very huge difference...on saturday, it would have been easy to sit around moping about how our visitors couldn't come after all. but somehow, because the sun was shining, we didn't let it get us down. on a whim, we decided to drive over to visit our best friends near the lake where they live over on the so-called devil's island (shh, it's the one where copenhagen is located). we needed to go check our house over there anyway, so we decided to go a day early.

i packed up a jar of rhubarb syrup, a bottle of hendrick's (polly, please bring more when you come in july!), a loaf of freshly-baked bread and a bowl of hummus and we were on our way.

we arrived just in time for dinner and to enjoy the last few glorious hours of sunshine on what was simply a perfect summer day. we had great conversations, good burgers, awesome cocktails and loads of laughs. husband declared that international aid to promote democracy is wasted until everyone has clean water, enough food, shelter and legos. and we laughed. i think even he was surprised that he had added legos to the list, but we had spent most of last week at hotel legoland, so perhaps it wasn't that surprising.

sometimes it's good to give in to spontaneity. life is short. and so is summer.