Kind: Notes

It isn’t the food, (well, OK the food’s pretty great), and it isn’t the gifts. It’s eggnog. I don’t consider eggnog food. It’s in a category all by itself. I think it’s probably what the angels and the righteous drink in the World to Come, and if I have my way it’ll be served at the Messianic feast, along with lots of other goodies.

Anyway, Trep has posted his recipe again this year, and since I’ve got a mixer now, I might actually make it. So without further adeu, here’s the recipe with instruction, and some well-chosen comments.

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 2 cups milk
• 3/4 cup brandy, rum or bourbon (optional but highly recommended)

PREPARATION:

1. All liquids should be very cold. Refrigerate in advance.
2. Beat the eggs for 2 or 3 minutes with an electric mixer at medium speed until very frothy.
3. Gradually beat in the sugar, vanilla and nutmeg.
4. Turn the mixer off and stir in the cold booze, whipping cream and milk.
5. Chill some more before serving (if you can wait… I never can).
6. Sprinkle individual servings with more nutmeg.

Makes a little over 2 quarts (after taking several ‘samples’ for quality control purposes)

What are you still doing here looking at the screen?! The kitchen is that way!

I’ve decided to get started on my new year’s resolutions early. This is because I would really not like to be in the position of coming up with something at the last minute, not paying attention to what I’m resolving to do, and thus failing at it because I give it less attention than it deserves. I’ve also decided that one of the things I’m resolving to do is to write something every day. I’ve been doing this, but I haven’t posted most of it. So I’m adding a little something to that: Not only do I want to write something every day, but I want to write something that I can post to either of my sites. This is because, like anyone else, I’d love to increase my traffic, and I also think it is a great way to track my growth as a person in several areas of my life.

So where does “Doing More with Less” come into this? More is of course the writing itself. Less is the fact that I’m either using a text editor to write things first, adding all the HTML markup there and then posting it to the sites using WordPress’s “add new post function”, or using my iPad or iPhone to write stuff down as it occurs to me as well as posting from somewhere other than the computer.

I’m of course still focusing on my health, and part of the writing task I’ve set for myself is to write more frequent progress reports of that venture. I want to do this because being able to go back and look at past thoughts and progress will allow me to see how I’ve grown and what I need to improve on in this area. But they’re also fun to write. So more of those during the coming month and year.

So here’s to accomplishing goals, and working towards the ones that will take more work to accomplish. Before I end, I’d like to know, (if you’re willing to share), what goals you’ve set for yourself, and what you plan to do to accomplish them.

I actually did a lot of work today. I fixed my ultrabook, which took a drive repair and a system restore back to a previous date. I cobbled together a WordPress plugin to allow me to exclude the date from posts on a case-by-case basis, and then I had a meeting for a web design project that’s in its final stages. Now, it’s time for fun, something I don’t think you can ever have too much of.

Most of the time, my fun usually involved Denise and Wil, who I’m trying to get writing more on his site so I have stuff to link to when I mention him in my posts. 😛 And on a lot of occasions, there’s beer and food involved. We celebrate everybody’s birthdays together, and the holidays, and we always manage to turn even ordinary days, and sometimes our problems, into something to laugh about.

I also like to play games, go places, and of course read and write code, which can be fun in its own right. But more importantly, I try my best to make every situation fun. Of course, there are limits, but I find that having fun is my best coping mechanism. If like didn’t have a hint of fun in as many spots as possible, I’d go crazy. And that would definitely be the opposite of fun, because I’d have to be committed.

I believe that life is too short not to enjoy it. This doesn’t mean I take the haedonistic approach. I don’t leave for pleasure for its own sake. But I think it can only be good to try to wrest as much joy as you can out of life, because you only have one, and if you spend all your time sad, it can only do you harm, and I’m not in to that. Somedays, this is hard. It’s not always easy to have fun or find joy. But I think if I try my best to do so, then along with being productive and loving and a kind person, the day isn’t wasted. And there’s nothing I hate more than wasted days.

Until next time.