appy New Year! I was so happy to be home this year for New Year's Eve, instead of rushing off to the Abode right after Christmas for the Suluk winter session. Although there is something entrancingly beautiful about spending New Year's Day in silence, in the snow. This year I was mostly silent anyway, and spent the day walking and sleeping and contemplating. Then M. came home with a group of hungry friends as they had been hiking on Mount Tamalpais all day, and we all had dinner together here at home.

And speaking of dinner, I'm launching a new section of Toasted Spiral focused on food: Repast. I have long felt that food and hospitality are gold mines for spiritual practice, and when I cook and bake it is scarcely different from prayer. Repast is just a fun little blog that will have quicker entries (with pictures), links, and recipes. Since it's faster-moving I hope I'll be posting more often there, which inshallah will lead me to write here a bit more while I'm at it.

Please stop by and feel free to post your comments or email me with your feedback, recipes, and ideas!