a dry Christmas

A Merry Christmas, everyone! Now is the time to enjoy Christmas, and that's what I'm hoping to do.

Yesterday, after getting home from Mass, I had my hot cereal as usual. I thought it wasn't my imagination that the water pressure was not one hundred per cent, but my brother had gone out to find a newspaper, so I just kept on. Then I saw a white truck drive by with flashing lights - from the water company. Well, after a bit our water petered out - it was Christmas Day, and by noontime we had no water.

A water main on the corner gave out and it wasn't for at least an hour afterward that I got the official email saying they hoped water would return by later in the afternoon. We were going to Joanne's; I looked up and down the street, wondering how my neighbors were going to cope. By 2:15 we were very glad to leave and go to a place with two toilets where we could wash our hands as often as we wanted.

It was a good visit, a nice dinner and all was well here when we got home. What do you do if your water stops and company is coming? Wait, I suppose, until everyone shows up and then all just go out to a restaurant somewhere. But on the way to Joanne's it looked like a lot of places were closed.

There are many areas in the world which still do not have running water and I thought of them, too. But they have a familiar routine for dealing with it. The mind thinks of all manner of things at such times. I also thought about composting toilets. But it was a good day, and today was a quiet day at home.

My aim was to make a nice dinner, and when we were done I said we'd better see what the Polish lady had given us - she had told my brother to wait until Christmas! Well, it was kind of heavy and it might have been a fruitcake, but it wasn't.

It was the gingerbread! The gingerbread that I've never forgotten, the gingerbread I've wanted to try and copy, the first thing she ever made for us (my brother really - she doesn't know me from Adam). The gingerbread! Would you think a person could get so excited about a dessert? And why have I never tried to copy it?

Well, the only gingerbread recipe I'm familiar with is Anna's and it's dark and soft, not suitable for this. You can see this is lighter, and it's a regular cake consistency. It's a quickbread and she cuts it in half. The last time there was apricot preserve in between, but this time it's a dark fruit spread. She's apparently flexible. It has a chocolate coating, not ganache - that stays soft, doesn't it? This doesn't come off on the paper wrapping. The gingerbread is a nice, spicy flavor. To my way of thinking, it's a delightful dessert! Dziekuje bardzo, dear lady! I need to just find a gingerbread *cake* recipe, and just try to copy it! After we've eaten this, of course.