kelly_chambliss | Better Than Ezra By Far

In our household, holiday success is judged mostly in food terms. Unlike Thanksgiving, I did not eat myself into a stupor on Christmas, but we had a tasty day all the same. Brunch was brioche French toast with sweet-potato/maple puree and toasted almonds (excellent) and bacon (which we love but don't allow ourselves too often) and mimosas with fresh-squeezed orange juice. The child was allowed his touch of champagne, too. Dinner started with spicy pumpkin-sherry soup (many thanks to

therealsnape for the wonderful recipe) and moved on to beef wellington, sauted sprouts with chestnuts, and roasted potatoes with rosemary. Dessert was brown sugar ice-cream with homemade dark hot fudge. (We stupidly forgot to bring the pate for the beef wellington, so my partner had to improvise with a paste of pine nuts and coriander. Delicious, although the absence of the pate probably means that "wellington" is a misnomer. But we're calling it that anyway.)

On the gift front, I received a graphic novel version of Pride and Prejudice, my favorite perfume, and .... a KINDLE! My excitement knows no bounds. It's all charged up, and my first book has been purchased (a Charles Todd detective novel), and I will probably soon bankrupt myself. Can't wait. Nothing will replace the pleasure of actual printed books for me, of course, but I love the idea of having a steady supply of light reading literally at my fingertips. Binge reading is one of the ways I deal with stress, and it will be great not to have to haul innumerable paperbacks with me on my travels. You should have seen me trying to carry a month's supply of reading material to Poland when we spent part of the summer there in 2006. (Books in English could be had in Poland, but the selection was small and the import prices were high. It's my own fault for not being multi-lingual, I know, but there it is.)

And just in case all this isn't a sufficient embarrassment of riches, the child's gift to me was -- hand-drawn pictures of McGonagall and Snape! As soon I'm near my printer, I'll scan these masterpieces and post them so that you can share the joy, too.

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Kindles are the stuff for long fics too. Paste the things into word, and send the doc in for conversion. You can paste up a long, chaptered fic and read it at your leisure.

L

What a great idea! Thank you; it probably would never have occurred to me. And it doesn't sound as if it will be difficult to do, either.

Hope you're well and are having a satisfying holiday.

It's dead easy once you set it up, you'll get an account, youremail@free.kindle.com, where you send the .doc as an attachment with no subject and no text. The file is converted, typically within minutes, and you are notified so you can download it. This is free, it can be sent to you via the wireless for I think 50 cents.

Great for long ones, or for favorites that you want to revisit periodically. "Trainspotting" is on mine.

Thanks, it has been pretty nice so far, sounds like your visit is going well.
L

Thanks! I'll really look forward to trying this. And I'm honored about "Trainspotting"! (There may be a short sequel soon.)

Sounds relaxing and delicious. Happy holidays, K. M.

And to you! I hope you and your partner have a grand and relaxing time and don't have too much New England white stuff.

I’m happy to hear about your holiday success. Also interesting that you’ve spent time in Poland. (I spent some time – less than three weeks, though – in Warsaw and visited Krakow, for a couple of days only, both in summer 2007 and in summer 2008.)

We were in Wrocław for a month and had a good time. The weather was so hot the first week that the town set up sprinklers in the main square, but it got cooler after that. The food was excellent.

Hope you've had a good holiday!

Your loot sounds fantastic! I got the sixth DVD and this is my second time watching it in 24 hours. To my delight (and horror...) I have already memorised a number of the lines.

The pictures sound fantastic as well! I adore getting art. I'm sure you got a number of smiles out of those. :) I am so pleased for you!

I'd give people art, too, if I were capable of drawing anything more than a (bad) stick figure! Enjoy the DVDs.

I miss the days of doing art! Seems that it switches off with writing. Bit of a bummer, since I think it would be great fun to illustrate my own story! And my friends' stories!

Dinner started with spicy pumpkin-sherry soup (many thanks to therealsnape for the wonderful recipe)
So glad you liked it! Rest of the dinner sounds wonderful, too.

And the kindle (my new word for today) seems just the thing.
Would it be noticeable during stressful meetings?
I can just picture it.
"Cough drop, Dolores?"
"Kindle, Minerva?" (This offer, with an understanding smile, made by Severus. What choice of book would he upload -if that's the term - for our Min?)

Severus is such a kind man, however much he tries to hide it. I see him uploading a nice magical murder mystery for her -- not too cozy, of course -- featuring a grizzled, laconic, sarcastic, brilliant wizard detective.

(oops -- I meant to provide a link to the kindle; hope you didn't have to do too much searching!)

Delicious, although the absence of the pate probably means that "wellington" is a misnomer.
Well, the cow can't complain any more, and it does sound delicious that way.

The presents sound great, too. Graphic novel P&P sounds like just the thing (I finished the non-graphic version by now and loved it) - and the Kindle! Sadly, its introduction has failed over here (so far) because they couldn't agree with a mobile phone company yet. But it does sound great for travelling. (Besided, even if you can get English books where you go, there's still the small matter of carrying them back. I've never had shoulders like after my backpack trip to England in 1993 again...)

I'm not even too sorry about the loss of the pate; I always feel bad for the geese.

even if you can get English books where you go, there's still the small matter of carrying them back

I actually had to leave my English paperbacks in Poland. I flew home only two days after that big scare about people planning to blow up British Airways jets by taking on board some sort of explosive liquid compound (August, 2006), so no carry-ons were allowed at all (except for medicine and baby formula and tampons, as I recall. In a clear plastic bag.) I had only one check-able bag with me, and by the time I crammed my carry-on stuff inside, there was no room for books. I left them with the desk clerks at the hotel and hope they went to good homes.

Unh! My heartfelt condolences! I hope they had good in-flight movies. A transatlantic flight with nothing to peruse except baby food ingredients and the TSS warning sounds like terror in itself. (Tampons in a clear plastic bag sounds like a lot of fun, though. "Excuse me, I see you have super pluses left...would you trade me one for two minis and a jar of apple/banana?")

Well, at least you can pride yourself in having done something to promote foreign language skills abroad...

Glad your Christmas has been nice -- and you even got fanart, wow! *is happy for you*

What lovely gifts you got this year, darling. The Kindle sounds dead convenient, but the art is just the sweetest thing ever, I think.

Your holiday meal reviews make my mouth water, btw. If you happen to have any leftovers, send them on over. ;)

You two are clearly raising that kid right, if he's drawing fanart as a gift!

Will have to try some of those food ideas...

Wow! Can I spend next Christmas with you? :D The feasting post has left me salivating...
I understand about reading making one bankrupt...I have thought many times about doing a "Dr. Phil-style" intervention on myself and posting my picture at bookstores all over town saying "DO NOT serve this woman!" lol..BUT,a girl's gotta have a few books, right?
I can't wait to see the Snape and McGonagall pics! That is so sweet!
Happy reading!

Ooooh you got a Kindle! I'm all jealous! I had an ebook reader on my gift list all year, but especially the Kindle turns out to be hard to get outside the US, so I'm still waiting a while. I love the idea of having a wide selection of books with me wherever I go, would save me so much agony when deciding which book to take on holiday. I'd love to hear your verdict on the Kindle reading experience in a couple of weeks!