Home, sweet home

The holiday travels are over. A little hectic, but mostly good. Part One took J. and me (separately – J. flew, while I drove up the following day, with a detour to my parents' house in N.J.) to Schenectady, NY, to spend Christmas with her folks. It was my first ever actual Christmas there despite the amount of time J. and I go back, and I am happy to report that I escaped mostly unscathed. I even cooked Christmas eve dinner – pan-seared salmon, roasted sweet potatoes and spinach sauteed with garlic, preceded by a romaine lettuce salad with a walnut-gorgonzola dressing. Dead-simple and delicious, it came off without a hitch, even on J.'s parents' glass-top induction range. Everyone loved it, and the food snob in me was happy to have an opportunity to introduce people to salmon that hasn't had the life cooked out of it. Christmas morning was spent opening presents, the worst part of which was the fact that no coffee was made until after the entire affair was over. Next year, I'm marching into the kitchen and making a pot, manners be damned. In the evening, it was J.'s mother's traditional Christmas dinner -- ham, kielbasa, pierogi and sauerkraut. It did not feature anything even remotely green or crunchy, but was delicious nonetheless, simply because I never eat that kind of food. For someone who professes to hate cooking and is utterly incapable of relaxing in the kitchen, she did a great job. J. and I drove home the following day after meeting an old friend of hers for breakfast.

It has been said that spending winter holidays with a family gives one insight into its workings and dysfunctions that is otherwise unavailable. I have to agree. Though I've known these people for fifteen years, the visit did give me a new appreciation for some of the things that go on under the surface.

Part Two kicked off last Saturday, when, after two days at home and work, we drove back to Fort Lee, N.J., for New Year's eve with my parents. On Sunday, we spent the day in Manhattan, attempting to go to MoMA but failing. It was so insanely mobbed that we would not have been able to see a thing, and since admission is now $20, we bailed. Instead we walked around, J. did some shopping, and we had some coffee at La Lanterna. We had dinner back in Fort Lee, at Silver Pond – for my money, one of the best Chinese restaurants in existence. It was great to have a quiet day to ourselves. New Year's Eve, of course, was my mother's traditional big dinner, and it was as delicious as always – I can't think of a single occasion when it didn't come off beautifully. We drove home New Year's day, managing to beat the traffic for the first time in years, and catching up on sleep upon arrival. It's great to to be home.