Take bread (ciabatta, in this case):

Slice it and add toppings. (We chose turkey, parrano cheese, mustard, and arugula.):

Pre-heat the grill to high:

Grease the outside of the bread. (We opted for a light spray of olive oil.) Place the sandwich on the grill:

Now, this is apparently where regional differences come into play. If you are a restaurateur in D.C., you will close the lid only until faint lines appear on the bread. At this point you will serve the sandwich.

If, however, you are from someplace civilized, you will know that panini are cooked sandwiches and, therefore, the sandwich should not be removed from the grill until the contents are heated:

If you wait the extra few minutes that it takes to actually melt your cheese, you will end up with the perfect cooked sandwich:

Delicious!

This week’s Booking through Thursday question (on Wednesday night):

Barbara wants to know:

What books did you get for Christmas (or whichever holiday you may have celebrated last month)?

Do you usually ask for books on gift-giving occasions or do you prefer to buy them yourself?

I love getting books as gifts. Love. I especially love it when someone shares a book they’ve loved (Karen is especially good at this), but am also happy when someone sees something that looks interesting and thinks of me.

I mean, who wouldn’t want to be thought of while in a bookstore?

I got three books for Christmas this year (not counting the Book Blogger Swap gifts I received last month):

1. Hollywood Knits Style from my brother and his partner
2. Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters from my friend Sam
3. Shades of Grey, the new Jasper Fforde novel, from Grey Kitten

I will be tearing into the Fforde novel as soon as I finish The Complete Persepolis tomorrow (because it’s already a week overdue to the library…).

I can’t wait!

I’m feeling kind of tired tonight and all the posts I want to write require activity — either the setting up of photos or the writing of other posts that have to come first. So you’re getting a sort of placeholder post instead.

I cast on a sock tonight. It’s the first new sock I’ve started since September and I felt a bit rusty for a few rows.

It’s a lovely sky blue color of yarn that I won in 2008, and the design will feature beads of either pink or purple. I’d show you a photo so you could weigh in, but that would require action and energy. So, tomorrow, maybe…

Tonight, it’s enough really just to have knit for a while…

Recycling is a good thing. That must also apply to New Year’s resolutions, right?

One year ago today, I resolved to entertain more.

I failed miserably. I think we managed four five gatherings last year. And for the exact same, pathetic reasons as last year.

That has got to change. It’s bad for my mental health. (And, yes, the clutter is also bad for my mental health. Think of what a boost my mind will get by tackling both those things in the upcoming months…)

I’ve read that the more specific your goal, the better a shot you have of attaining it.

I therefore resolve to entertain once a month.

That gives me 27 days to clear off a couple of chairs and the table so folks can come over.

Rudi and I bought ourselves a new board game while we were in Connecticut with the explicit plan to invite people over to play it with us.

Mum and Dad gave us a panini maker, after tiring of hearing me complain for the millionth time about how D.C. fails to understand that the machine is meant to cook the sandwich not just put lines on the bread.

So that’ll be the January portion of my recycled ultimate goal of 12 “events”: An evening of board games and panini.

I think that sounds like a pretty good thing to strive toward, personally. Wish me luck in getting there…

Tomorrow I head back to work after a luxurious 11 days off. I feel ashamed to admit that it doesn’t seem like it was enough time when I know that there are people who didn’t get to take any vacation time at all during the holidays.

I’ve never aspired to be a lady of leisure. And yet that seems to be what I crave right now: time to do the things I enjoy. I don’t feel like I’ve read enough or knit enough or talked with enough friends during my break from work. I didn’t bake cookies and I’m still not done writing out my Christmas cards (apologies still to you folks with names that start with late letters in the alphabet), let alone Christmas boxes to friends.

I did catch up on sleep. I watched movies. We spent nearly a week with my family. I hung up our Christmas cards today. We saw friends here the last few days, including at a lovely low-key party this evening.

But I’m greedy. It wasn’t enough. And clearly what that means is that I need to work on re-prioritizing my free time so that I spend more hours doing those things that I feel like I haven’t gotten a chance to do during my break. Less tv. Less time on the computer. Get to work earlier so I can leave earlier. Just spend more time with the things that actually matter.

And, in the mean time, I’ll head back to work and start accruing some more vacation days.

Did you know that January is Hot Tea Month? No, me neither.

But it is, and I have signed up to share my love of tea with you throughout the month as part of the Hot Tea Month Blog-a-thon. Each week will bring a question or theme to speak to.

This week’s query:

“Tea as a mood lifter: How does tea improve your day? What is your favorite time for a nice, hot cuppa?”

I admit it: If you came to me upset or distressed or in need of comfort in some way, my first action after giving you a hug would be to put the kettle on. A hot cup of tea might not be able to cure what ails you, but it certainly will help make it more bearable.

I drink tea all day long. Rudi is usually the first one up in our household and he nearly always makes my first cup of tea. This is probably the crucial cup of the day, the one that lures me out of bed with the promise of a hot mug to wrap my hands around as I sit in front of my happy light. It helps me adjust to the idea of being awake and serves as a reminder of the nice things in life that sometimes seem far away during the early part of the day.

The last cup of tea before sleep is also a good one. It serves to relax me, to give me a final chance to pull my shoulders away from my ears before heading to bed. Caffeine doesn’t seem to affect me, so again it’s the warmth of the cup cradled in my hands that helps lull me through to the next stage of the day.

There are other times, of course, that call for tea: after a chilly walk, on a rainy afternoon, when chatting with a friend — either in person or on the phone — or curled up with a good book. That cup (or pot) of tea seems to be one of several puzzle pieces that fit together to just make the scene come together correctly.

Tea is, after all, a magic elixir. It’s just dried leaves and water, maybe with a little sugar and milk mixed in. It doesn’t sound like it could be the drink of gods. And, yet, it can in turn offer strength, comfort, energy, or relaxation. What mere mortal could ask for more?