March 08, 2003 - 12:55 p.m.

Food, Friends, and Disney

I had the best time I have had in months (possibly excluding the cruise) last night! I got together with friends to watch Lilo and Stitch (such an excellent movie - not at all typical Disney) and The Emperor's New Groove (also funny and non-traditional). Since the get-together was mostly my idea but was held at a friend's plce I volunteered to cook dinner for everyone. I really like cooking, and don't get to do it much. I made a delicious cake from the latest issue of Cooking Light magazine, raspberry almond torte with chocolate ganache. It turned out really well! I also made sausage and pepper risotto, garlic bread, and a field greens salad with pears, dried cranberries, and pecans (the Ken's Raspberry Walnut vinagrette I bought worked perfectly for that combination). We also drank the champagne I got from singing in the cruise talent show.

Everyone was in a very silly mood, probably mostly due to it being Friday, but it was exacerbated by the silliness of the movies. We laughed SO hard. Real eye-watering belly laughs. It felt so good to laugh that hard.

Alas, in addition to giggle attacks, I was experiencing the beginning of a massive allergy attack. It continued through the night, which meant I woke up about a dozen times to blow my nose. Today it has mostly robbed me of my energy and left me with a very chapped nose. :(

I babysat for the kids this morning while R & S went to pick out granite for new kitchen countertops. I can't blame them for not wanting to bring the kids along on that outing! The kids and I went outside in the sunshine (and approx 40 degree temperature - woohoo!) and played in the snow. We used beach buckets to to build snow castles, which was really fun.

No big plans for the rest of the day. I think I will read some more of my Venice guidebook and just be a couch potato. :)

today's project: chateau de neige

musing about: how my sneezes can be powerful enough to tire my ab muscles

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flutter back - fly ahead