Happy New Year!

Yesterday morning Amelia spent a few hours with my Dad, cleaning his house. She is a nicer person than I am. We always said that time was the best Christmas present. I worked on some cooking. I made quiches and cookies, a special Martha Stewart recipe, and started some French bread.

We went to lunch at the Last Resort. We had to wait a while, naturally, and sat down about 1:45. As we were leaving the restaurant, I ran into Jaamy, the owner/manager. We know each other slightly and said hello. I told hm my daughter was applying to work there and he said, "where is she?" I introduced them and he put a note on her application, "see J.Z." Nice. I always wanted to be influential. It doesn't necessarily guarantee her a job, but I was tickled. Some of us went to Agora, an interesting bazaar-type consignment shop down the street. I actually found a copy of Janet Evanovich's "Eighteen" book. Hardcover for $4. It seemed auspicious.

At home, we went into full party preparation mode. Amelia made vanilla pudding, so she can make banana pudding today. She provided the recipe and Molli cooked the Hoppin' John. I rolled and cut out and baked the cookies, although they made me swear a lot, falling apart and sticking. I ended up just cutting a bunch of circles and sprinkling them with colored sugar, instead of putting on the egg yolk wash and breaking out all the neat shapes I have in my collection. The bread was ready to bake but we had to leave, so we stuck it in the freezer. It's thwaing now and will bake in a bit.

Amelia left for dinner with friends. Molli and Adrian went to dinner alone together at Porterhouse, where she also told them she was looking for work. Ray and I went to the movies with Becky and Kent. We saw "This is 40," which was crude, but had some funny and/or real moments. Molli picked us up and we spent a little time at home, while I whipped together the meringues that had to get in the oven overnight.

I was done before 11 and we walked over to the community center and saw in the New Year playing poker with about 10 of our friends and a bottle of champagne left from the wedding. A very satisfying end to the evening.

Meanwhile, Elisa had spent the night at a skating rink with her friend Chyna and a lot of other kids. I said I would pick them up about 6, but I was sound asleep when the phone rang. I jumped into some clothes and the car and drove through the dark with not much company. It was quite amusing to arrive at the Skate Inn, where there were lots of lights and loud music and some zombie-like children. They seemed to have enjoyed it and now she is, of course, asleep, as is everyone else, probably for hours.

I am about to start the jambalaya and corn bread and get this year going! Happy New Year!