Happy holidays! Mihir and I settled in for our second Christmas in Texas. Personally, I'm not used to the weather. Obviously, there is no snow. Visually, the DFW area resembles a Michigan October. The leaves are turning orange-brown and falling. The air is finally cooler. We've had a couple of overnight frosts, but as I write this, we're anticipating a high somewhere in the 60s. Not holiday weather, as far as I'm concerned.
We've had fun this holiday season. In mid-December, we attended a Christmas party at the home of Mihir's new boss. Kevin and Connie Howe were very gracious hosts, opening their beautiful home to Mihir's colleagues and their guests. They gave us a wonderful bottle of Blue Rock wine, which we intend to enjoy tonight, along with some cheese we bought.
It was Mihir's idea to concoct this triple chocolate trifle. We had dinner with Mihir's colleague, Alex, and his lovely family on Christmas Eve, and we took this for dessert. We made the whole thing, absolutely from scratch. We even melted the chocolate for the brownie base, and the chocolate pudding. It was hard work, and we made a colossal mess in the kitchen, but the result was to-die-for. Dinner with the Kolvalskys was sushi, salmon, and Saki to drink. It was wonderful.
Our Christmas day was quiet, just the two of us and Alfie. We saw a movie, Charlie Wilson's War, with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. Charlie Wilson was a Congressman from south Texas, so there was a great deal of buzz about the film in these parts. It was only an okay film, in my opinion. After Forrest Gump, Philadelphia, and all those other movies, Tom Hanks is always just...Tom Hanks. He was far too recognizable to make me believe he was Charlie Wilson. Oh well. The story was interesting. Earlier, we saw Atonement, based on Ian McEwan's breathtaking novel. It was a wonderful film, but of course it wasn't as masterful as the novel, which I read earlier this year.
So that's a recap of much of what's kept us busy during December. Tomorrow starts a new year. Stay tuned for our adventures in 2008!
