Tis' the seaon...

So today it’s Friday – at long lovely last. It’s been a busy week – school, my Birthday, shopping, work. I am ready to go home and get “toe up” as my dear friend Charlie would say. Toe up usually involves a glass of wine…so even better.
Dinner tonight will be easy as my adopted daughter from school, Alexandra (who I affectionately just call “baby”) made me some beautiful Puerto Rican pasteles which appear to be similar to tamales. When I peered inside the bag that she gave me, they were all tied up like fine looking little presents. What is better than a homemade gift you can eat! They are traditionally made around the holidays but they sound so delicious, who wants to limit them just to December. They are filled with green banana plantain, yautia (don’t know what it is but it sounds exotic) potato, olive, red peppers and pork. Not too spicy she told me. She is an amazing cook, young and fearless, so I am sure they will taste divine. I feel fortunate that she included me in her gift giving because when I asked her what she did on her two days off, she told me “I made your pasteles!”, which leads me to believe they must take a considerable amount of time and effort.

My own gift giving on the other hand is not going as smoothly. Being thwarted by the need to be able to pack gifts into my battered suitcase as I head to Seattle, I am at an impasse. My family does a little gift exchange on Christmas morning. My sister Stephanie insists upon presents. She loves getting gifts but interestingly enough, she is also the best gift giver. We will all be ninety and she’ll still be demanding a gift exchange. “Honey, it’s a backpack for your walker”. Unfortunately, this year I have been slow to shop, which therefore rules out one of my all time favorite things in life, free shipping. Now I’m down to the 2 or 3 day ship. Which is so expensive, I am certain it’s where websites make half their money on slackers like me. Therefore, I am looking at gift cards, which seem so horribly unoriginal but let’s admit everybody secretly loves getting one. You get that card and it’s like having a temporary sugar daddy. People say it’s so boring, but believe me when I shop with a gift card, I am not bored! Four women who I work with gave me a gift card to Sur La Table – a cook’s hallucination of heaven on earth and I have already spent that card three times over! So thank you my sugar ladies. I think I am going to buy a ravioli press. See, that’s another benefit of a gift card, its pure spontaneous shopping. You treat yourself to something that you probably wouldn’t buy yourself. So dear family, when I arrive on Wednesday for a five day stay, don’t be upset when you see me pulling my trusty little black carry on luggage behind me!