How’s your first week of 2010 been? Mine has been pretty good, even if I did have to go back to work for a whole five days in a row. Seriously, though, it’s been a generally positive, laid-back start to the year. If that’s the tone for the next 51 weeks, I will have no complaints.

Here are three beautiful things from the last seven days:

1. The series premiere of Chuck is a lot of fun and gives us a little insight into a show we hope to add to our repertoire when it opens its third season on Sunday.

2. One of my Christmas presents from Rudi was a new mouse for my computer. It’s small and doesn’t require finger gymnastics to use. Oh, and it’s a lovely dark teal color. (Actually, it nicely matches my current sock-in-progress.)

3. We are in the upswing for daylight hours. I headed down the hallway this afternoon at 4:15 and could still see sunlight on the building across the street.

So, how about you? What’s been beautiful in your life thus far in 2010?

Take bread (ciabatta, in this case):

Slice it and add toppings. (We chose turkey, parrano cheese, mustard, and arugula.):

Pre-heat the grill to high:

Grease the outside of the bread. (We opted for a light spray of olive oil.) Place the sandwich on the grill:

Now, this is apparently where regional differences come into play. If you are a restaurateur in D.C., you will close the lid only until faint lines appear on the bread. At this point you will serve the sandwich.

If, however, you are from someplace civilized, you will know that panini are cooked sandwiches and, therefore, the sandwich should not be removed from the grill until the contents are heated:

If you wait the extra few minutes that it takes to actually melt your cheese, you will end up with the perfect cooked sandwich:

Delicious!

This week’s Booking through Thursday question (on Wednesday night):

Barbara wants to know:

What books did you get for Christmas (or whichever holiday you may have celebrated last month)?

Do you usually ask for books on gift-giving occasions or do you prefer to buy them yourself?

I love getting books as gifts. Love. I especially love it when someone shares a book they’ve loved (Karen is especially good at this), but am also happy when someone sees something that looks interesting and thinks of me.

I mean, who wouldn’t want to be thought of while in a bookstore?

I got three books for Christmas this year (not counting the Book Blogger Swap gifts I received last month):

1. Hollywood Knits Style from my brother and his partner
2. Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters from my friend Sam
3. Shades of Grey, the new Jasper Fforde novel, from Grey Kitten

I will be tearing into the Fforde novel as soon as I finish The Complete Persepolis tomorrow (because it’s already a week overdue to the library…).

I can’t wait!