… which smells a hell of a lot nicer than it tastes. I bought it from a stall at Belfast’s Christmas market, the beans ground while I watched, and today was the first time I actually made a cup (in a cafetière, if anyone’s interested) as a New Year treat.

It doesn’t taste bad or anything, it just tastes like not-especially-brilliant fresh coffee, without any maple syrup flavour. Oh well. It does smell good.

Also today, I am mostly … not recovering from New Year’s Eve

… because I have nothing to recover from. Unless a three-hour Father Ted marathon (first series), two thirds of a bottle of red wine, conversation with friends, and a 1:30 am bedtime count - I don’t really think they do. It was the quietest New Year’s Eve I’ve had for a while (although I might be wrong), not that I’m complaining. I do feel sorry for Marion though - she was supposed to be on her way from Portland OR to Juneau AK, but got bumped off her flight from Seattle so was stuck in a hotel. Although to be honest, I would rather have been hanging out with her in a Seattle hotel than mostly bored at home…

It’s time for me to start making some resolutions for 2009 though. I think they can be summed up as:

• lose 20 pounds or so (by June would be nice, by the end of the year should be easy) by getting more exercise (swimming!) and eating less junk
• read more poetry
• submit at least a few things (poems, short stories, etc) for magazines/competitions/whatever
• stay on top of the laundry

Nothing too complex or impossible! (Well, hopefully not.)