Nutella or Hazelnut cocoa spread, either way, very tasty. I received a big jar from NB for Christmas. For the last few nights, I have been eating it by the spoonful as my late night dessert.

Then, I thought it might have a better use in some sort of large dessert, but no recipes came to mind and there are none on the jar. Good ole internet, found me a ton of recipes http://www.recipegoldmine.com/nutella/nutella.html.

I was surprised to find drinks using Nutella too. So, now I have to try making some of the delectables mentioned. One cheesecake recipe calls for a whole jar of Nutella. I think I'll stick to some cookies to make it last longer. Yum. Yum!

400 thread count sateen sheets-did I say I love them? No more 250 count cotton sheets for this household. What have I been thinking or missing all these years? AS and NB told me about their encounter with high thread count sheets, and then they were obsessed about getting some of their own. So, not to be outdone by the "kids", I had to try some too. And, lordy, what a luxurious feeling sliding in and out of bed. Thus, the B's have arrived, our bed will never be the same. Next time maybe I'll get the 1000 thread count Egyptian sheets ( I never knew such a thing existed).

Take a quiet time out, get a hot cup of chai, snuggle up in your favorite easy chair, and read the adventures of a mole, a toad, a rat, and their friends. I just finished reading The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.This children's classic is nothing heavy duty, earth shattering or mind boggling. It is just a nice fantasy. BF gave me this little hardcover book. I even enjoyed the pictures. It would be fun to read it aloud. If you can keep my secret, I did read it aloud to Mudge when I started reading it the other day. He wasn't a very attentive listener- he fell asleep. At any rate, it's still a fun story and we could all use a little reprieve from the woes of the world.

Chef BF is back at it. He is off work for a few days so he has been doing kitchen detail. Yummy for me, because he made chicken pot pie with a phyllo dough crust.

Now, I won't complain, but he went to a lot of work and the crust just popped off in three or four layers when it came out of the oven. And, the kitchen was a mess with dough all over the place. The dough had to be broken up and mixed in with the chicken. It was very tasty, but very messy.

BF is a risktaker and after this try, we decided that the regular pie crust is just as good as phyllo. He doesn't have to cook tomorrow because I made beef with barley soup. Maybe he will make homemade bread to go with it. Yum! He's a really good bread maker!

Cashmere- did I say I love it! It's so soft and cozy. I found a gray cashmere sweater at Goodwill which I wore to bed most every night last winter and then the beginning of this winter. It's totally worn out.

Then I have a black turtleneck cashmere sweater that I wear mostly under my vest. Moths somehow found it in the drawer and riddled it with holes. So, I found a new black turtleneck and it's cashmere.

I even have cashmere socks. Luxury, vanity. I'm too old to worry about what others think. Again, cashmere- I love it! I'd have cashmere underwear if I could. :)

M.C. Escher(1898-1972)- isn't his work weird and wonderful? I got out my Escher books and calendars because I am teaching tessellation to my 6th grade art students. I'm emphatically impressed!

You know, sketched lizards coming off of the paper realistic and then back on, stairs leading no where, stairs going up and then change perspective and people are going down the stairs, a head peeled like an orange, and on and on. The guy was really amazing. Even Lindsay Lohan likes Escher.

Maybe it has some thing to do with his name- Maurits Cornelis. At any rate, its great to see the work of such genius. I hope the kids are impressed as much as I am.