hey jud

We started by celebrating the New Year at First Night Boston where the ice sculptures are crowd pleasers and our favorites. Again this year the sculptors had to contend with warm temperatures so by the time we got there, a chunk of dinosaur tail had already fallen off. However the night was just perfect for walking around aimlessly, as flaneurs do, seeing everything but not getting too cold.

The next week our celebrating continued with a trip to New Hampshire. Along with enjoying a birthday lunch out, we all had a fine time skating. Well not me, because I didn't have any skates. However I had an equally fine time as 'Zamboni Girl', getting the ice in shape for the hockey players. If you look closely you might notice the historic skates (1970's vintage) on Peter, who later commented that, while skating, he'd felt like a Chinese woman with bound feet. He was still looking good though, and was much appreciated as the hockey coach.

The blizzard began pretty much as predicted. Unfortunately I was in the Galleria Mall, quite aware of the after-holiday bargains, and foolishly unaware that the snow had begun. What that means is our car is parked in the 'back forty', the street five blocks away where we end up parking when our own street is already full, as it was by the time we got home around 6:30 pm last night. From that point on, the snow just kept on coming. Peter was out early to shovel, but I stayed in to make authentic French onion soup from my Christmas present cookbook, Bouchon. I figured what better time to make a soup that required five-hours of caramelizing onions. Later when I realized that I also needed a baguette to complete the soup's topping I headed off to Johnny's and discovered lots of folks and families out enjoying the snow, sliding down the snow-covered hills between the monument and Warren Street. Fortunately, we haven't lost power and are now engrossed in watching the Patriot's game while eating the onion soup. It's a delightful combination of total New England sports spirit combined with Brasserie Balzar memories. Stay tuned tomorrow to see if we're able to locate and dig out our car.

Oops! I hope the suspense hasn't been too much for you, but yes we did locate our car. Tuesday, the day we dug our car out, was a glorious blue-sky, sunny day. On the way to our car, we saw some unfortunate examples of buried autos, example 1 and example 2, whose owners might have a bit of difficulty identifying them. We also spotted a house allowing back door visitors only, and the ever popular winter beach shot, where beach chairs mark ownership of the parking spot. But on to the purpose at hand, the all-important identification and recovery series, where the intrepid shovelers locate the car, pose with shovel ready, remove car, clear snow down to pavement (yes, pavement - we adhere to only the highest standards), and return car to parking spot. Rest assured that we are now also resting, and preparing offerings to appease the snow gods, at least in the vicinity of Charlestown.