but I always get confused, because the work week starts on Sunday, not Monday. It's been seven months of confusion. I invited two neighbors over for a dinner meeting (new year's resolution #5: collaborate with friends) on SUNDAY, but I meant the last night of the weekend, which is tonight. So today when we woke up, and all day, I had the dinner in mind, planning the menu, the meeting agenda, the shopping trip. We went to the fish market and got lobster and some lobster-like thing, a deep sea bug, visited our friend Mohammed the Bangladeshi security guard, went to Abela's and got walnuts and frisee. And we stopped on the way and had lunch at Abu Dhabi's first organic restaurant Eat Smart, so much fancier than the name implies, but really, it was a day planned around the dinner. We got home and I put Iola to bed while John started on the lobster salad and broccoli soup, and then I made the walnut pie and canapes with cured kingfish that we only cured because I had forgotten to ask for steaks and we didn't feel like cooking the whole fish but didn't want it to go bad. It was getting later and later, and first I felt relieved because I had time to run out and buy milk for milk punches. Then John asked, suspiciously: did you invite them over for Sunday? And I realized my mistake, and felt really stupid. But it was ok! Because it is all ready for tomorrow, and now we'll make it look so effortless; the kitchen will be clean, the table set, and we'll say: well, we prepared like we normally do, a day ahead, in between free-lancing and taking care of the baby. We find it's so much less stressful that way.

Here are the photos from today...
       
and at Eat Smart:    ... these are all photos taken with my phone, so they're shabby except when the light is perfect.

But wait! There's more news. Our friend Dan Engber passionately defended his critique of the wind chill factor on Fox News, Nathan Deuel reflected on Saudi Arabia while home in NYC, and I went running, but not as much as some people do.

And one more thing! I've been releasing the details in real time on Facebook, but I shouldn't neglect it here: we are coming to America, for the first time in 8 months, for a week. We'll be in NYC and WDC between the 18th and 25th, approximately. We are so excited. We are braving a 13 hour flight and a lot of wind chill, I mean chill, to be there, and be there so happily.