Holiday mashed bob

It's been a busy week. Much driving, much food, much visiting, late nights. Drove the last guest to the train station this afternoon, and have been enjoying a quiet, rainy, delightfully dull day at home since then.

Backtrack to last week. Three busy days in the office. On Thursday I attended a funeral, which was sad and heartwarming and funny and moving. That evening my sister-in-law arrived from Missouri.

On Friday, shopped for a few last gifts, plus an inflatable bed for the next set of guests, arriving Saturday. Went to a matinee - the new Sherlock Holmes movie. I enjoyed it immensely, which is probably partly because it is good and partly because I rarely see movies in the theater.

Saturday, Christmas eve. Drove to Atlantic City to pick up son and his lovely Bulgarian girlfriend from the airport - they were back from a week in Cocoa Beach.  I made tofu baked with barbecue sauce for dinner, and Rosa was energetic enough and inspired enough to create a traditional Bulgarian Christmas Eve dish for us all - it's called bob, which means beans. Mashed bob!

The liquid part, poured over the top, is made of simmered olive oil and paprika.

The real taste sensation, though, is the ground garlic and walnuts, which is mixed on your plate with the bob. A little scoop of bob, a little scoop of ground garlic and walnuts -- it's very good! Rosa said it is eaten only on Christmas Eve - Bulgarians have a whole different set of traditional dishes for Christmas day.

And then we stayed up till 1:00 a.m. playing Settlers of Catan.

Christmas day. We all woke up early and piled into the cars and headed toward Millersville, to see daughter, daughter's partner, and the grandkids.

Brunch, presents, games, more food, etc. Back into the cars and home again. Quesadillas for dinner.

Monday - we all decided to go to the movies again! This time it was a 3D movie, Hugo. Fabulous. I love, love, loved it.

Tuesday everyone relaxed at home, which in some ways was one of the best parts of the holiday.

Wednesday son and girlfriend drove back to Ithaca, sister-in-law flew back to Missouri, and I sat around and read.

And later that night:

Birthday cake! I made it to 60 - I'm officially old.

I must say, it's not too bad. As they say, much better than the alternative.