retreat!

I have gained 10 pounds since I left Amsterdam, darned impressive. I'm hoping it's the kind of 10 pounds that can come off pretty easily with a month of exercise, vegetables, and beerlessness.

However, we've still got a couple of tricky wickets to navigate before we can start going backwards. Tonight: Team Trivia at the old faithful Suburban Tap, which usually means beer and some kind of Tex-Mex thing.

Today, Dennis decided that it would be a good day to make gnocchi, and actually it is: cold, overcast, everyone's off from work so there are lots of hands. So we'll freeze a big batch of standard gnocchi, and since we've also got leftover sweet potatoes lying around, I wanted to try a version with those. If I had more time I'd love to experiment with a flourless version, using Parmesan to bind the gnocchi, but...some other time.

Then, we're having a couple people over for New Year's Eve, looks like we're having some kind of chicken wing cooking contest. And finally I'll make collards and black-eyed peas for New Year's Day, cause dayum some good luck wouldn't hurt anyone at this point would it. Some possibles:

Collard Greens and Andouille Soup.
Braised Collard Greens With Cranberry Beans And Andouille.

+++