December Tulips

These tulips some friends brought on Thursday evening were upright when I put them in a vase, but as soon as their stems hit the water water they start growing again. The stems must be trimmed every day as without it they would soon all be dragging on the table. There is no controlling them as they seek the light but they are most entertaining to watch.

Less entertaining was other friends' story when we met them for a beer last night. Rarely do I say that because I don't really like beer, but this place is unique and so is their beer. they make one called 'Working for Tips' which is made with redwood tips instead of hops which I like. Less good was the story of their daughter and her boyfriend whose visa renewal application was just turned down with no reason given. He has gone to school and worked in this country for many years and it never occurred to them that they might need a Plan B. Now he is in Mexico with no possibility of coming back for the foreseeable future. He will probably lose his job and she will probably leave hers and this country to go to Mexico. Lives turned upside down at the stroke of a pen. And these are people with families and resources and lawyers. I can't bear to think about the thousands of people who have neither....

I spent much of the day up to my eyeballs in gingerbread dough and Nana K's sugar cookie dough.
Both are in the fridge wrapped in plastic. Over the next few days I will assemble the gingerbread houses and make the sugar cookies which are both pretty and delicious. At least I hope they are. 

I thought the sugar cookie dough seemed awfully stiff and realized that I had forgotten to add the eggs. I put them in, along with the cream, at the end of the process instead of at the beginning. It remains to be seen whether the order in which the ingredients are  added really matters. I used to watch a program on television called 'America's Test Kitchen' in which the reason for such things was painstakingly explained and tested. The shortcuts for doing things seemed awfully clever until I realized that they weren't really shortcuts. The upshot of it all was that I didn't want to cook any of the things they made.

A quote I heard the other day: Hatred corrodes the container that it's carried in.