It’s that time again, boys and girls!
1. Do you enjoy the cold weather and snow for the holidays?
No!
2. What is your ideal holiday celebration? How, where, with whom would you celebrate to make things perfect?
I’d love to see my sister and brothers and their families, any time, any where.
3. Do you have any holiday traditions?
The only thing I try to do with any consistency is make my son’s favorite cake for his birthday, which happens to be in December. Some years are more successful than others.
The cake is multiple layers with a mocha mousse filling. Last year, it took me two tries to make the filling because I couldn’t get the whipping cream to “set”. This year, I messed up the chocolate ganache that is supposed to drip abundantly from the top, and I forgot the instant coffee for the mousse.
One year, I was particularly stressed and threw together stale chocolate cake and some old pudding. I will never forget his baleful look at the “welfare cake”.
The cake is tricky because the recipe is probably 30 years old, and it calls for ingredients that no longer exist. So, every year is an experiment. I’m closing in on it, though, and maybe next time, it’ll be perfect.
4. Do you do anything to help the needy?
No good deed goes unpunished: the other day, I stooped down to throw a dollar in the Salvation Army pot and hit my head on the sharp-pointed sign that wishes everyone “Happy Holidays”. The bell-ringer laughed uproariously. Bitch.
5. What one gift would you like for yourself?
I’d like to know my father’s name and anything about him.