My dream spatula, meal sharing, and spreading holiday cheer

I bought Sweeteeth chocolate for a friend for Christmas.  It is staring at me.  Is it wrong to eat someone's present?  

I am so in love with this Gir Spatula.  I want to shout from the rooftops how happy I am that someone finally made a spatula without a seam for food and crud to get stuck in! It's probably too late to tell Santa, but it's definitely on the birthday list.

In all other things in life I am not, but for some reason when it comes to cooking (utensils,pots,pans, etc.) I am a minimalist. It's like I'm stuck in my college years dicing onions with a steak knife.  (Yep, I still do that.) I just haven't acquired the nicer things most cooks treasure.  I make do. As I melted chocolate in the microwave in a Tupperware bowl this evening (chefs everywhere are cringing), it dawned on me how absurd it is that I don't own a good set of glass bowls.  How did I make it this long without glass bowls?! New Years Resolution #1: update kitchen ware. 

I love this blog post by Kate Connor about a stereotypical writing day.   If you ever wonder what it's like to be a writer, this will answer your question. At least for me. The last line is priceless: And that is why writers are fat.  Amen sister. 

There is a new website you'll be interested in.  It's MealSharing.org, a social networking site that allows you to share home cooked meals with people around the world.  Say you're traveling across the US or to another county.  The site hooks you up with a home cook!  You can sign up to share a meal in someone's kitchen or sign up to host travelers in your home or meet up with people to share a meal. Super interesting, right? 

I've spent the entire day in my kitchen baking for the holidays.  I've made mocha cookies, oatmeal butterscotch cookies, coconut cookies, fudge and pretzel peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate. Tomorrow is another day of the same.  It's hard work spreading holiday cheer!