I really hesitated before posting this photo because I figured most of my readers have made New Years Resolutions, swearing off rich desserts that will add inches to the waistline.

There is nothing more enjoyable than savoring a favorite dessert - and this, Lemon Bisque, is one of mine. I made it for New Years Day, with the comment that most of my kids, especially my son Rue, loved it.

Lemon Bisque is the most simple dessert to make, just lemon jello, evaporated milk, honey, a little fresh lemon juice, and a crushed vanilla waver crust. You have to beat the milk and jello separately, when they are quite cold, and before the jello congeals. Then they are blenderized together until frothy. The whole works stiffens in about an hour, and is so heavenly and light. Problem is, the honey is addictive, the lemon is tantalizingly refreshing, and the crumbled wavers so crunchy and sweet, that second helpings follow the first. So, one must set boundaries before even cutting this little delight. When Rahmat saw me setting it up, he asked "How long before we can cut into that?" The aroma is heavenly.

Well, speaking of aroma, I spent most of New Years Day puttering in the kitchen. I planned to serve Stuffed Sweet Peppers, with a vegetable-couscous filling, Fish Croquettes, and our usual tossed salad. Supremely tasty, and easy on the budget.This time of year we managed to find the most gorgeous huge sweet peppers at our local Fred Meyers, and I filled them with a layer of onion/carrot/celery, followed by a layer of sliced leek and garlic, and then finished off with a layer of couscous mixed with tumeric and parsley flakes. Since this was going to bake for 40 minutes, I blenderized several sweet Mandarin oranges and poured the juice and pulp over the top. Then I placed a bit of Provolone cheese and a bit of bratwurst on the top. The extra couscous was mixed with currents and sliced almonds, and placed around the bottom of the pan. The extra leeks slices were placed nearby on top. I drizzled olive oil over everything to keep things moist.

These Sweet Peppers and squash were an experiment last week - hey, when prices are good, I'm immoderate, and these gorgeous peppers were perfect for a filling of red wheat, currents, and vegetables - cauliflower, onion, carrot and celery. I think a bit of fresh basil works good with red wheat, and the tops are drizzled with olive oil. Of the two sweet pepper fillings, I enjoy the red wheat more than the couscous. It is so chewy and nutty compared to the light texture of couscous. However, it takes an hour to boil the stuff, and then one must let the filled peppers roast for 40 minutes, basting the tops with olive oil from time to time.

I bought a can of Jack Mackerel this summer, thinking I'd do some croquettes, and finally I got around to it. I'd heard awful things about mackerel, that it was cheap fish and greasy...and the 15 oz. can only cost 99 cents. So, I was prepared for the worst - but the thing about croquettes, is that with a mixture of rice, fresh parsley, a little lemon juice and garlic, one can disguise just about anything. I was going to try it, and I was simply amazed at the results. Not greasy, not a strong fishy smell, just flavorful and a perfect compliment to the couscous and peppers. I mashed the mixture into little balls, brushed on a layer of egg white, then rolled them in corn meal. Here, they are resting on a rack for 30 minutes before being deep-fat fried. I served a tossed salad also, and that was our New Year's Day meal. The Lemon Bisque was dessert.

We were able to connect with all of our kids before the holidays were over, and fit in a bit of a hike down at the Mima Mounds with Taraz, Megan and Rahmat. Unfortunately, I stalled to take a few photos, and spent the remainder of the hike looking for them. They'd hiked on ahead, taken a different loop, and I found myself hiking completely alone for over an hour, rounding one mound after another. Finally, I left the walking trail and climbed one of the mounds, so I could scan the horizon. (With double vision this is tricky. I covered one eye, then another to see which one might work best. Both petered-out, so I tried listening for distant conversations. But, all I heard were the sounds from a nearby shooting range.)

Eventually, I managed to see everyone in different locations, probably scouting for me. Well, it was too far to shout, and the rain stated to fall. I headed back to the car, hoping they'd do likewise. I'd dressed too lightly, hoping for an uphill climb. The Mima Mounds were a nice little stroll, but nothing that kept the body temperature up.
The entire circuit is only a half mile, about a 30 minute stroll, partly through these woods.
The Mima Mounds support a native prairie grassland unique to the southern Puget Sound region. The soils are very well drained, formed on an outwash plain when glaciers melted about 11,000 years ago.The prairie soil has many cobbles and round stones, favoring plants that thrive in dry habitats. This is a bunchgrass prairie that changes from season to season, depending on native plants. Sections of the prairie have been purposefully burned to restore it. Other areas are left unburned to allow refuge for butterflies and other species.

We cut short our hike, once we all found each other, and decided to take our picnic lunch to Taraz and Megans's apartment rather than find a shelter away from the rain and cold. Rahmat was ...always is...famished. I had to laugh at his enthusiasm as I opened thermoses of Minestrone Soup and spread out buttered whole wheat bread for dipping. I brought out salad fixings and some truffles, and that was our lunch.

We spent the rest of the afternoon sprawled on the floor, going through a 'relationship quiz' from the Gottman Institute. Gottman wrote the popular book "The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work" .Needless to say, we had many laughs reading the passages from the book, and learned a lot about each other. It was a fun way to spend the rest of the afternoon, and it sure beat sloshing about out in the rain.

I'd like to offer an interesting essay I found online at Edge (touted as one of the year's best essays. ) "Moral Psychology and the Misunderstanding of Religion" is written by Jonathan Haidt, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia. Haidt does research on morality and emotion and is the author of "The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom". I printed out the article, and I'm still studying it, as well as all of the critiques by The Reality Club in response to the article. Just fascinating stuff.