i came out of my bedroom this morning to find my pink kitchen walls swimming in rainbow dots. the rainbow maker was working! although not as dazzling as a disco ball, it was enough to leave me mesmerized for the time being as i tried to catch the colors (a few dozen) with my hands. the rainbows projected far enough that some of them were going into the living room. by noontime the sun was eclipsed by my upstair neighbor's deck, but by the afternoon the sun was back again and once more rainbows were dancing in my kitchen.

manny came over in the evening bearing wings. it was also our annual christmas present exchange but unfortunately his present hadn't arrived yet, so only i got presents: a miniature lawn gnome for my indoor plants collection and a thai cuisine box kit, featuring all the necessary ingredients to make pad thai, jasmine rice, and tom yum soup. we tried the maple syrup flan for dessert. because the syrup layer was just too watery, when i inverted the flan there was hardly any sugary layer on top; looks like the best option is still to melt sugar in a pan and pour it into ramekins.