The Blue Party

The Blue Party

It was a dark, stormy, cold, rainy, yucky Monday morning in January when the parcel arrived.  Amid the usual get-ready-for-work rush, I stopped to open it.  The contents revealed a small bottle of blue nail varnish (polish) with an accompanying note from California daughter:  “Dear Mom,” it read, “I’m sending this to you so that you will know the colour of the sky here.  I know, because I painted my toenails with this, lay on the beach, put my feet in the air, and they and the sky matched perfectly.”  Ha.  Ha. Ha.  When I told friend Gil about this, she immediately replied, “All right.  Let’s have a blue party.”  So we did.  Blue-dressed contributors bought comfort food they liked when they felt blue.  Among the macaroni-cheese, boiled eggs and mayonnaise, and piles of chocolate renditions, there was not a lettuce leaf in sight.  Friends serenaded us with the blues —  guitars strummed as we composed many a version of “Woke up this morning…”  We watched the full length film “Dougall and the Blue Cat (Ooh I am so evil!)” while drinking blue curacao.  For some reason I baked a loaf of bread with a blue swirl in the middle. And in that cold blustery evening there was unforgettable warmth and laughter.

Cinnamon Toast

Here’s a simple something to make when you are feeling blah.  Toast one side of bread, spread with butter, sprinkle with a mixture of brown sugar (2 tablespoons) and ground cinnamon (1/2 teaspoon).  Grill until melted.  WAIT UNTIL IT COOLS A BIT (yes really).  Accompany it with a hot drink: either hot chocolate with gooily melting marshmallows, or honey and lemon in hot water (with perhaps a slosh of a tipple of your choice).  Best appreciated with feet in slippers in front of a fire, with a friend you feel so comfortable with, that you can both stare at the middle distance saying nothing. Like a cat.