OK, I’m ready(plumping up the cushion on my chair)….oh, how’s Miss Peanut this morning? Better?

Pasta for Thanksgiving. The holdiday is a day off from work and the time to see family (ick or reverse ick).

I don’t celebrate or condone the celebration of the genocide of native americans or the triumph of euro colonialism in the lands where the native indiginous people lived for years. Rather then respect, embrace and work with them, we have herded them into reservations and not honored our “treaties” with them. Now we let them set up gambling operations for our indulgence in this hideous addictive (Bill Bennet) activity.

We bought my ex pat sister a Kindle. She is an avid reader and can get books anywhere there is cell phone service and not take down treads in her thurst for knowledge. We’re waiting for the review. In general as the economy tanks we are reducing our spending and cutting out all the non essentials. I am about to reduce my everything cell phone plan with email and internet to basic service as well. I don’t use all the other features by a few mionutes a month and it is simply a waste, despite how cool it is to read FDL while walking the dogs!

We are doing Thanksgiving at my daughter and SIL’s house this year. We are all very spread out now so it’s good to get together. We’ll be doing the turkey – we found a local farmer that does grass-raised, so we’ll have to start the bird in the morning and cook it ‘low and slow’ – grass fed tastes wonderful if you cook it that way. If you try to cook it the same way commercial(corn fed) ones are done, you get to eat shoes.

She’s improving. Still a low-grade fever, but much less of the scary, croupy cough — so she’s moving in the right direction. By mid-week next week, she’ll be back to better…

Good morning all! Michigan is bringing a knife to a gunfight today, but I’ll cheer nonetheless. I’m off to deliver some Thanksgiving food baskets, a tradition my church does every year.

Alton Brown at Food Network has an awesome recipe for a turkey that includes brining. It was the most juicy turkey I have ever eaten. My brother in law bastes and stuff (Alton no-nos) and my daughter jokes about how dry it is.

Go Blue, beat the Bucks!

A thought for (((((Katymine))))), if this can be forwarded to her, thanks

Broccoli ‘may help protect lungs’

A substance found in broccoli may limit the damage which leads to serious lung disease, research suggests.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is often caused by smoking and kills about 30,000 UK residents a year.
US scientists found that sulforapane increases the activity of the NRF2 gene in human lung cells which protects cells from damage caused by toxins.
The same broccoli compound was recently found to be protective against damage to blood vessels caused by diabetes.
Brassica vegetables such as broccoli have also been linked to a lower risk of heart attacks and strokes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7612813.stm

Oh yes, the cough is THE WORST. It’s like it’s shaking the poor little mites apart. Gak. But this is major progress; bravo. I’m sure it’s cold there; it’s 18 here..with the sun.

I believe this is the Alton Brown recipe, if I’m not mistaken. Saw that episode of his show — he cracks me up. *g*

18 here as well this morning. Brrrrrrrrr….must go out and fill the bird feeders. But I think I may wait until it warms up a little.

We still have brussels sprouts in the garden, so I’ll be harvesting those for dinner this week too.I’ll be brushing the snow off them, but they are still good, as is the kale. I’ll be digging the kale out of the snow bank in January to cook up and eat. nothing like garden veggies in the middle of the winter.

Mmmmmm…this one is calling my name: Pumpkin-Date Loaf With Cream Cheese Swirl.

Tis the season for fresh cranberries; buy extra and freeze without washing for availability out-of-season.

Cranberry Torte

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 C. butter, melted. Add gradually to eggs to avoid “cooking”.
• 1 1/2 C. granulated sugar
• 1 C. plain flour

Mix in sequence ‘til blended.

• 1/2 – 1 C. pecans, coarsely chopped
• 1 pkg. cranberries (approx. 3 C.)

Add to batter and mix well.

Divide into two (2) greased & floured pie tins.

Bake 350 degrees F. approx. one hour.

Easy and quick to make with few dirty utensils. Freezes well. Thaw & warm for reuse.
Tart enough for breakfast and great as dessert w/dollop of whipped cream.

I had a lung disease called Histoplasmosis when I was seven. I STILL have a hacking cough as a result of it.

Oooh — that sounds simple, nummy and great for Thanksgiving breakfast munching. Thanks!

Sounds like MSNBC’s got Jane up next. CHS – thanks for the notification!

Mornin’ Christy and Firedogs,

Jane is up after the current commerical break.

“blogger fears” whatever

This is a nice Cranberry Relish recipe that we always had during the holidays when I was a child.

Cranberry Relish Recipe

Preparation time: 15 minutes.
Ingredients

* 2 cups washed raw cranberries
* 2 skinned and cored apples
* 1 large, whole (peel ON) seedless orange, cut into sections
* 2 cups granulated sugar

Method

1 Set up the grinder with a medium-sized blade on the edge of a table with a large roasting pan or bowl to catch the mix as it grinds. These old fashioned grinders tend to leak some of the juice down the grinder base, so you may want to set up an additional pan on the floor under the grinder to catch the drips. If you don’t have an old-fashioned grinder you can use a grinder attachment on a KitchenAid mixer, you can chop by hand (though that will take a lot of work), or you can chop in a food processor (be very careful not to over-pulse, or you’ll end up with mush).

2 Run fruit through a grinder. Use the entire (seedless) orange, peels, pith and all.

3 Mix in the sugar. Let sit at room temperature until sugar dissolves, about 45 minutes. Store in the refrigerator.

This looks yummy:
http://www.foodchannel.com/rec…..ranberries

Trust me on this one……ya gotta try it! Smooches to my cousin for passing it along from a friend of hers.

Jane is up on MSNBC tv right now.

The most we might ask of our Maize and Blue against the Buckeyes is, “Don’t embarass yourselves any further” and yeah, why not add their pathetic, but rich, coach to the unemployment roles.

ooo, can someone who is watching live blog it for the, sniff, rest of us who don’t get cable? Puhleese?

Jane is on MSNBC! She’s doing great as usual.

I’d like to say how sorry I am that your coach is having a bad year…but I can’t. *g*

You are a good egg to do that for the people of your area. Years ago when my son was little (he’s 14 now), someone had the local church deliver he and I a Thanksgiving dinner. I’m telling you….it was such a surprise and so wonderful….and needed! ;-)

Shorter Jane: We’d like more hints of progressive policies and follow-through on campaign promises, and we intend to push for them. Joe Lieberman sucks, and here are several reasons why he’s an untrustworthy weasel. Better foreign policy please.

Thank you, Christy. I’m wondering if this is a little bit of “we’re sorry” from MsNBC for all the ’shop lifting’ that seems to have been going on lately.

Morning all, Jane ripped into Joe Lie and Christy MSNBC showed your pumpkin pie picture.
Go Sooners beat TT

Jane rocks MSNBC!

“Well we must have really scared them because they wouldn’t give their name”

Way.To.Go

Super job she did! Came across as totally reasonable, non-rabid, intelligent human (vs. dfh *g*). Got asked about liarman and made good points about his ineffectiveness as committee chair.

Truly, that was a complete chickenshit maneuver — that person wouldn’t give their name to give a quote about liberal bloggers? What a baby…

Hmmm, hey, Rachel..if you are reading here…we’d like to suggest Ms Jane Hamsher as a very very worthy substitute when you need a night off? Hmmm?

Jane looks fabulous. glowing skin and oldnslow is in there talking about her gorgeous blue eyes :D

she intelligently (of course) batted away one of their precious binkies about how ‘all of us’ are frightened by BO’s ‘turning away’ from us by appointing so many Clintonistas – by explaining most us understand the difference btw primary rhetoric and the need for experienced folks to hit the ground running –

of course Alex Twitt had to use the money quote about us getting the shaft with the Lieberschmuck tragedy – Jane again explaining that had more to do with the Senate and not BO, yadda, yadda, yadda. Very matter of factly pointing out his failure to investigate Katrina bec that’s what Republics wanted. Also got in the amount of graft overlooked by everyone but Waxman

That was a lovely little piece of snark. :-)

Morning! It’s definitely cold here in the south. I have a water feature, (little fish pond) at my new (older house but new to me) digs where I live. The pond has ice on it. The little mutt didn’t seem to mind going out though. Sorry that I missed Jane on MSNBC

The failure to do real oversight on that graft and missing budget money turned up by the last two audits is a huge, huge problem. Lieberman should have been removed as chairman for that reason alone — failure to do his job being an enormous, glaring problem in my book.

What MSNBC show was Jane on just now?

Tag! You’re “it” for excellent summary!

frankly Toby, it’s looking like we are just one more in their tired ol bag o tricks

“center right”
“clinton drama”
“outraged bloggers”
“outraged bloggers who overestimate their influence:

I had to nudge our dachshund out the door this morning, and even then had to stand there and make her go on the frosty yard. She ran right inside, curled up on her blanket in front of the heater vent and looked at me disgustedly until she warmed up again. As though it’s my fault it’s nippy outside. *g*

BTW, for those who didn’t see it, that quote was a response to Twitt asking Jane about an anonymous quote from some hack that liberal bloggers must not be as powerful as they think they are because Lie-berman was fellated by the Senate.

Regular news — just the morning broadcast.

I know Harry Reid was scared when he was doing his press conference about how the Democrats were thrilled with keeping Joe, because when he said, “This is the change we can believe in” (or something to that effect), his eyes were closed while he was attempting to form an “ok” with his fingers. He knew he was backstabbing the Netroots because he couldn’t even look us in the eye (the camera…because he knows we watch everything the Critters do!).

Jane did a fabulous job in pointing this out this morning. They are scared of us.

So, starting Monday, should we crash their phone systems for old times sake? LOL

MSNBC News Live – I think her name is Witless or something like that

Yeah, I don’t get cable either. Waiting for the day Jane is on the MTP, Washington Week, Face the Nation panels etc.. That’s change we can believe in!

Morning all. What’s shakin’ on Shakedown Street this morning?

Reid has a bit of a different responsibility above and beyond his own, personal feelings about Lieberman — once the caucus voted as they did, he had to put a public face on what happened. Whether he liked the result or not, it’s his job as majority leader to make the best case out of it publicly.

My favorite part of the whole kabuki was Reid trying to prevent Lieberman from making any statement, pointedly keeping him away from the microphone — physically at one point blocking him from it. And then Lieberman flouncing up to it anyway the moment that Reid finished speaking and began to walk away. If that isn’t symbolic of the entire Lieberman problem in a nutshell…little egomaniacal weasel that he is, couldn’t pass up a moment in the flashbulbs if it killed him. Absolutely no regard for decorum or leadership wishes — it’s always, ALWAYS all about what Joe wants when he wants it.

It really is Lucy with the football and a whole herd of Charlie Browns always being willing to not kick it.

Buenos dias!
That’s great news that the Peanut is on the better side.

Hope Jane gets up on youTube in a bit, don’t get MSNBC — and I’m not complaining. Glad to hear she ripped that turkey Lieberman

.
Speaking of turkeys:
For a juicy turkey, cook the bird upside down for the first half.

And get a fresh turkey at the farmer’s market if you can.

If you’re lucky, you’ll have an expert carver to serve it up.
Here’s a carving how-to with Chef Gordon Drysdale from cooking.com

Ouch!!!

Oh yes – finally get rid of the tired old white guys. Jane on Sunday Morning. Great idea.

Alicia Twitt Witt.

Why yes, I am still disgusted by his smarmy treatment of the Mountaineers for his own greedy, personal, lying gain. Why do you ask? *g*

I don’t get this.

Could anyone explain the attraction to me?

Thanks. Sorry I missed it. I must see it later on the tubes. Do you suppose that the tv heads had hoped that Jane would come off like a loose cannon for their amusement and edification? Jane’s Lieberman quote was hyperbolic. I guess that’s why they wanted her to appear – so as to discredit her – write her off as a loony lefty. Of course, she would deflate their hopes. She is brilliant. So are you.

We always have the truth on our side, though it is hard to unbury it from the mountains of center right rhetoric.

Lieberman will not fade into the night. His Meet The Press interview tomorrow, might be interesting, but I refuse to watch. He hasn’t put his knives away and will still use them willingly. I think that every dem that voted for him to stay in his position should be forced to watch his past interviews for 24 hours straight.

i have a thanksgiving suggestion: a few days ago our friend audrey here at the lake mentioned that things have gotten very tough. she can get food from the food pantry, but that doesn’t include fresh veg or meat and it’s been a while since she had either. if folks here are willing to take her at her word, as i am, would you consider sending her a few dollars via paypal (left panel, scroll down) for some thanksgiving turkey and veggies? it wouldn’t take much and together we could share both spirit of giving and of giving thanks.

thanks.

fyi – a few years ago in a haloscan thread we were discussing the bobbleheads – and some of us thought they could simply be failed MBA’s who happened to be telegenic – hence their chronic incuriosity

Nope! – I looked a lot of them up, and everyone of them had gone to major J schools – Ms Witt (USC) included. sigh

btw, have enjoyed watching Shuster (Michigan) getting snarky with it in KO’s chair this week

Good morning, Christie.

Does Peanut have a favorite book or two right now? I’m meeting for the first time over Chritmas a 4-year-old great, great niece and I want to give her a couple of books.

I knew he was the not the right guy for the Wolverines when it became apparent he was going to shaft the Mountaineers for a big payday. Look at it this way your loss is our loss. Glad to hear the Peanut is on the mend.

Brining the turkey will also insure a moist bird.

The list of new, fresh and insightful voices would have to include David Sirota, Thom Hartman, Christy Hardin Smith, Marcy Wheeler, Bob Cesca to name just a few. There are plenty of voices out there that need a platform on the corporate media toobz.

She loves any number of books — but the Olivia book series is a particular favorite. If you want a Christmas book, there is one in the series that is very, very cute.

Morning everyone. Thanksgiving dinner will be at my house, as always. My son will be coming in from CT for 5 days, one of which is his birthday. The 6 20-somethings (my 3 and my sister’s 3) have lots of partying planned. There will be a major party on the Wed. night before Thanksgiving as a lot of their friends come home. So, we’ll see how dinner goes when everyone will be hung over.

Have a good day all. I already copied the Cranberry Torte recipe and the spices for the Turkey. I’ll check in later to see what other goodies, I missed.

don’t forget Ari Melber – man was he good, scary smart and very comfortable on air. oh, and easy on the eyes – the hotness

btw – who is the tall fella with the long silver hair we’ve been seeing a lot of this week ? Boyce ? also very good

Thanks so much, and sorry I mispelled your name.

You are welcome, and no big on the name — there’s a bazillion permutations on Christy. (I was meant to be a Christopher, anyway — my parents hadn’t even picked out a girl’s name. Surprise!)

You’ll get a kick out of the Olivia books. They are seriously a hoot. *g*

Just reading your words about Joe and his actions that day makes my blood boil, Christy! As you pointed out, he is an egotistical maniac. For what again? Oh that’s right! Protecting George Bush and the Cabal from any scrutiny or responsibility in their high crimes and misdemeanors! As Jane and others have pointed out time and again on FDL, Joe has not earned his right to hold a gavel. He’s not a Democrat. He’s a right wing wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Nope! – I looked a lot of them up, and everyone of them had gone to major J schools – Ms Witt (USC) included. sigh

And that actually appears to be the problem. The very best reporters that I have known or known of in my life, very rarely were Journalism majors, if they even got a degree. Many of them (such as my retired reporter sister) majored in something like English and just had an insatiable curiousity about things and wanted to be able to tell others what had happened.

J schools offer nothing much more than a get along/go along conventional wisdom on how to not rock the boat.

My mom always made that cranberry sauce too. Her mother called it “winter strawberry” back in the day when there wasn’t much fresh fruit available in the Iowa winter.
It’s great on a sandwich too — sliced turkey with a spoonful on top.
My mom also used to make special rolls — as do I and now my daughter, who posted the recipe on her blog. To me, they are the ultimate Thanksgiving leftover, with turkey and cranberry sauce
I also started making piecrust using the Cooks Illustrated tip of using vodka for part of the water. Like a miracle — it’s damp enough to roll well, but still bakes up flaky — and the alcohol disappears without a trace.

eCAHN — there are a couple of others that we read over and over this time of year. Snowmen At Night, The Mitten, and The Snowy Day. All of them are beautifully written and illustrated and The Peanut loves them.

Lieberlenslouse showing up on MTP tomorrow…more of the same….

One day at work we were yacking about how some of us were born with difficult complicated names. (My maiden name is Polish ….) After wryly watching for awhile, one woman said: How many ways do you think there are to spell Chris Reid?

Female, young, attractive, continually makes a fool of herself. Turkey killing interview, anyone?

Actually, the greatest penalty Lieberman could have suffered would have been..that no one would be interested in seeing him, or hearing from him, or having him on talking heads shows…THAT would have driven him crazy. He lives for the attention.

Ooooh — also, pretty much anything by Robert McClosky, although Make Way For Ducklings is her fave. (Can you tell we read a lot in this house? LOL)

Time to move last years frozen c-berries along. This sounds perfect.

Pulling together all my layers and heading to the farmers market shortly. Brrrrrrr. Got to support those local farmers.

Best cranberry recipe I have is from Williams Sonoma. Cranberry, pear, and candied ginger sauce. May even have a spot of booze in it. Don’t think they’ve published it past including it in one of their early printed catalogues. Have often thought it could be adapted for pie filling.

Oh, here it is – perhaps I’ve posted it before:

Ginger Pear Cranberry Sauce

1 pear Comice
juice of 1/2 lemon
3 cups fresh cranberries
1 Cup sugar(I use less)
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger
1/2 t ground cinnamon
cook chopped pear with lemon juice add cranberries along with sugar, water
ginger and cinnamon. simmer gently stirring occasionally. let cool

ooh thanks for the vodka tip, am on the perfect crust quest – sometimes the ice water works perfectly and the very next try not so much X~o – if you’ve ever watched any of the biggie televised bake offs – the bakers always ask to turn off the cameras when they prepare the crusts. lol

Thanks again. The girls (the one I haven’t met and her 8 year old sister who I met when she was 4), live in TN, so I’m not sure how much snow they get.

exactly.

A book that makes a great gift for children of all ages is The Man Who Planted Trees. A delightful video was done in the 80’s with narration by Christopher Plummer (I think). Great envirnomental message and the difference one person can make. Another great video is the “Red Balloon”. Make sure you get a copy from a reputable source and not a pirate copy.

Depends on where they live in TN — if it is in the mountains, they probably get a bit like we do in WV (depending on the year — some years lots, some years not so much). But all of those books are a good read for the adults, too, which is a blessing about the 12th time through the book in a week’s time. *g*

G’morning, peeps. Oh, wait, wrong holiday. Been intermittently lurking. Can’t keep mouth shut forever, even when I have absolutely nothing to say. *g*

Good Morning All.

Hey Christy. Sorry to hear about the Peanut’s troubles. Here’s to her and her mom having a good Thanksgiving week.

Gave that to the older girl 4 years ago iirc. It was one of my childhood faves.

Is Letters from Exile the right link?

There’s also a great book entitled Miss Rumphius that is a fave of ours, about a lady who plants lupines to beautify her neighborhood.

Christy – thanks for all the helpful links above – just now working through the organic stuff – the sides are my favorite part of the day.

mr cbl (oldnslow) makes very traditional but to die for sweet potatoes – he now makes double and freezes half just so we have ‘em for the leftovers

Morning, barbara!

As for cranberries, got some cranberry vinegar steeping. Rice vinegar, honey, cranberries, heat in a double boiler for 10 min, put in jar to steep for a month, strain out cranberries. Use on your holiday salad.

as if that’s ever stopped me :D

how’s your brother doing ?

Morning everyone. If you’re thinking gift cards this year, here’s a list of stores that will be closing some or all stores after the holidays.

Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)
Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide closing
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine’s to close 150 stores nationwide
Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January
Cache will close all stores
Talbots closing down specialty stores
J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots)
Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots)
GAP closing 85 stores
Footlocker closing 140 stores mo re to close after January
Wickes Furniture closing down
Levitz closing down remaining stores
Bombay closing remaining stores
Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January
Whitehall closing all stores
Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.
Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick )
Macys to close 9 stores after January
Linens and Things closing all stores
Movie Galley Closing all stores
Pep Boys Closing 33 stores
Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores
JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.
Wilson Leather closing down all stores
Sharper Image closing down all stores
K B Toys closing 356 stores
Loews to close down some stores
Dillard’s to close some stores

Say more? I am the designated sweet potato person (again) this year. Family goes wacko when I mess with the tried and true. Best Thanksgiving of all was the year I removed all the furniture from the family room and we ate Thanksgiving dinner in a circle on the floor. Why? Beats me. It just felt, oh, I don’t know, closer to the earth or something. I was a serious case in those days.

Whoa! You should put that up on Oxdown — that’s a useful thing to know!

Frosty MN smoochies to you and Peanut (and Mr. Reddhead and his dad).

What do you want to bet that Lie-berman runs for President again as a Dem.

yes. her name, audrey, is just above the link. thanks SD!

I will, it’s on my list of things to do this weekend.

yes barbara, hope he’s mending well.

I imagine you cbls have a fabulous meal

Bwahahahahaha.

Christy, you turned me on to Heifer International and it was useful all year round. Thanks for that!

Food pantries and homeless shelters are in greater need these days. And there’s other things we might not usually think about. Blood services facing shortages when bad weather forces cancellations of drives in places where we’re pretty sprawled out…like the Dakotas.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every family that’s hosting a Thanksgiving this year would ask the guests to bring canned goods and then they take ‘em to a local shelter or food pantry or church or charity? A way to make Thanksgiving dinner last a little longer for everyone.

thanks MM, that’s gong to make the rounds via email.
I’ll wait til you make it a formal diary tho. wow, gives new meaning to Happy Holidays.

Good mercy! Frightening to see the length of that list…….thanks so much for helping us plan ahead wrt the gift card issue.

Heh heh. Leave it to you, Dragon, to sum it all up in a coupl-a woids and afix the purty bow.

All I was thinkin’ was, they couldn’ seem ta bawther findin’ some noble soul rescuin’ a REAL ice-bound bambi, so some dingbell standin’ in front of her Thanksgiving turkey’s last few twitches had to suffice.

Since she’s self-styled as such a whiz – at field dressing. I trust they made her pluck it and trim the gizzard, preferably not in purrloined Neiman Marcus doodads.

photoshop someone? ANYONE?! *meow*

Just wanted to make sure I was knocking on the right door.

Done. Wish I could do more.

He’s still here with me and feeling better. Bowel obstruction surgery is tough stuff — especially when it’s the third time. He is such a kind and gentle man (we run the gamut in our family *g*), and as a vulnerable adult (mental retardation), his life is pretty complicated. But he doesn’t know that. And let me tell you, you never, repeat NEVER, want to do wii bowling with him. His latest best game is 210, as part of a 590 series. Booyah!

Thanks for asking about him. Blah, blah, blah . . . .

Also speaking of cranberries, I have finnally been successful at jam making. On page 204 there’s a recipe for blackberry, cranberry, pink grapefruit jam that’s to die for.
http://www.amazon.com/Big-Book…..038;sr=1-1

(((katymine)))

Re Heifer International and the like. Last year I bought a goat in honor of my sister-in-law. They send a card to the honoree. We showed up on Christmas Eve with a token gift, and I eventually inquired about Heifer. She had no idea what I was talking about. Apparently tossed it as junk mail. So maybe have such cards sent to yourself and deliver it.

Has anyone heard how Ms. Katymine is doing? (((((KATYMINE)))))

My opinion…Lieberman won a battle but lost the war. And by winning that battle everyone is explaining why they hate his guts wanted him out. So a lot of people who only heard him spout off about bipatisanship are now aware of why he’s so reviled.

Me too. done.

Cold cash and warm hugs. It’s what’s for gifting this year. Plus finding extra, gently used warm things to pass directly to the local food pantry ASAP.

Planting native lupines is a very good thing. Lupinus perennis is a host plant for the catepillar of the endangered Karner Blue Butterfly.

I saw the still on Huffington and couldn’t go any further.

Morning to you all! Cold but clear here in northern Arizona. Just got finished making chai and all is well.

Glad Jane straightened out people this morning across America. The DFH’s have a national reach. I wonder if Joe has figured that out yet?

Much happening around the area today. The city of Winslow(where you can stand on a corner) has its Christmas parade which is zoo. Alot of Hopi folks go down for that. (I have to go there to tomorrow to pick up new coats for young kids here who folks can’t afford to purchase very much for their children. They will get distributed by some of child welfare programs here and my wife has identified kids at her small school who really need jackets.) At one of the villages the Wootsin ceremony is occurring. It represents the struggle between good and evil. Guardians patrol the edge of the village to keep evil out while the kiva societies perform the ceremony. It is an extremely serious ceremony for the people. Hopi do this to maintain balance for the the world.

I haven’t seen anything since Monday, or was it Tuesday.

frightening indeed -

waited on a group of 15 yesterday and couldn’t initally figure out why they werent the usual convivial late friday crowd – turns out they were Regional and General Managers for Home Depot – let’s just say they all had a list . . .

and, have been wound up in some personal business (we’re all fine) and paying such close attention to Lieberweasel debacle, was gobsmacked to hear yesterday, Citi is cutting 50,000 jobs and in the same report that GM stock is less than $3 a share . . . what year is it again ?!?!?

Well, from the list of side effects she linked to, I’m sure she’s going to be out of the loop for awhile. Poor thing. Some people just have more bravery than the rest of us!

I do. Everyone wants to see what stupid thing she’ll say next. It’s comedy of the highest order.

New thread up top with THE JANE VIDEO!!!!

Thanks so much for your list — a great service to us all. Also, re shopping — have some definite preferences/prejudices. Prefer to do small/local but sometimes you simply cannot find what you need
unless you go to a “big box”. Have successfully converted my entire family to Costco and Target because of
their management practices. We all will drive miles to avoid Walmart.

I first learned of Target (before they were national) about thirty years ago when my FIL was director of the MN arboretum. He had come from Chicago and was astounded by the terrific corporate citizenship of the MN companies. Target was number one on his list when he needed donations — whether money or in kind gifts.

I remember that there was some principle among at least the Twin Cities headquartered companies that they all would contribute a certain percentage of their profits to community organizations. Hope that’s still the case.

me either – looked straight outta South Park

Wish I could do more.

thats why i thought to ask. we can do more when we do it together,.. and besides, there is a blessing in the giving as well as the receiving. *g*

Recipe for humble pie for Norm (hopefully): 1525 challenged ballots in the Franken/Coleman recount. Coleman’s lead down to 120 votes. Absolutely sick brother Garry was rush-hospitalized and couldn’t vote. Urgh!

Morning everyone. Don’t forget to save some gravy for turkey pie. Buy or make pie crust. Steam the carrot and potato, mix it with frozen peas at room temp., finely chopped celery, and pieces of turkey. Yum!

You’re wise. It’s awful. The guy in charge of doing ‘the deed’ kept turning toward her in shocked disbelief at how clueless she was. I imagine he’d be fired if he stopped working. Whoever plunked her in front of the camera in that precise spot had a wicked sense of humour. *blergh*

she pops in.
she got a boost from a blood transfusion this week.
which is a good reminder for us to donate blood, that’s the best thing we can do for her. pass it on.

The diary is posted with the listed. I’m glad to share the info, just sorry that it’s necessary.

I gotta go. My lurk-a-holic tendencies must be curtailed this week. At the moment, our Thanksgiving decorating scheme seems to be stacked canning equipment, pots & pans, et al. lining up for our anticipated move next spring. hmmmm.

(((Katymine!)))

(((barbara’s clan)))

(((Peanut)))

(((All you wonderful pups)))

May everyone know peace and good health, and love. Gobs of love.

I read the 3yo post. That in itself was heart rending. Hoping to hit the Lotto next Sat, my b-day, so’s I can give it all away.

22 Nov 1963. JFK.

the world would be a better place if you hit the lotto every saturday. your generous spirit, for all living things, would i think mean the $$ would be put to good use.

Yes, it is that day. It is my mother’s birthday too which for many years kind of made if sad for her.

Thanks MM!

For young children, we love Jan Brett’s books, beautifully illustrated and many of them are winter-themed.

http://www.janbrett.com/booklist.htm

This will be my first year going gluten-free for Thanksgiving dinner. Argh ~ not sure if I can pull it off.

eCAHN -

Do you have a tested recipe for plain ol’ cranberry preserves/jelly? Have been ordering some from New England as ingredient for one specific recipe and then got hooked for general use….gets kinda expensive in combination with S/H charges.

Well, I had some pretty strong comments on Siun’s piece night before last that weren’t very kind to the ultra-right Likudniks.

I can imagine. Years ago I was looking at a calendar of historic events and found that the Sand Creek Massacre happened on my birthday. A bit of reinforcement for the way I think about things.

Oh, and here’s a list of Thanksgiving Cocktails

I’m all for the Ginger Snap.

Perfect pie crust.

2 cups gen purpose flour.

One cup butter flavored Crisco, cold from the fridge.

One tsp Kosher salt.

1/2-one cup ice water.

One sheet plastic wrap laid out on the counter.

In a mixing bowl blend flour and salt.

Cut in Crisco. I use a butter knife to start and a pastry blender (the one with the wires in a semi-circle)to finsh. I get it to the size of peas at the larges. Don’t smash or stir, chop. Goal is to get little blobs of Crisco surrounded by flour.

Add 1/2 cup water and FOLD the dough by hand. Scoop up from the bottom. Dough will absorb water and get sticky. 1/2 cup will probably not be enough. DO NOT WORK THE DOUGH. The dough that did not quickly get sticky needs a bit more water, I would put in 1/4 cup and do a couple more folds. The dough will be sticking to your fingers, let it. As soon as all your dough is sticking together transfer it to the plastic sheet, wrap gently into a ball and refrigerate for a least 1/2 hour and good up to 4-5 days.

Handling the dough a lot warms the Crisco, which melts and mixes with the flour and water and makes good leather.

Prepare your filling.

On a wooden cutting board or counter top (I have Quartz) deposit one hand full of flour. Flour your rolling pin good.

Remove the dough from the fridge. The 2 cup recipe will make three nice thin 9″ crusts or two thick with a bit left over.

The dough is sticky. Our goal is to gently spread it into a circle without it sticking to the pin or the rolling surface. We use a lot of flour to achieve this goal. We do not want to handle it too much, but we need to get it round.

Take either 1/3 or 1/2 of your dough, cut it with a knife and put it on the flour. Put more flour on it. With cupped floured hands gently form a round disk, like a fillet.

Take your pin and roll out in all directions to make about a 6-7″ disk. Add flour to the top, sprinkle it on and gently pat it. Grab the edge on one side with both hands and flip the disk over. Add flour. We should be able to spread out this disk to the right size for the 9″ pie plate at this time without sticking. You can tell when the dough wants to stick, it gets damp looking.

Check your sizr by putting your pie plate over the dough. Your disk needs to be big enough to fill the pie plate and have about 3/4 to 1″ over the side.

Roll the dough onto your pin. Put the pin at the top away from you, grasp the edge of the dough gently with fingers of both hands, put dough against the pin and roll it towards you. Put the pie pan where the dough was. Lift the pin and position the trailing edge of the dough just outside the pan closest to you and unroll the dough into the pan. Position gently with fingers if needed.

If you are doing a one crust pie, fold and crimp edges as desired. Fill and bake. 425 for 15 minutes, 350 until done.

If you are doing a two crust pie, fill the pie and set aside. Do the top crust as the bottom. It doesn’t need to be quite as big unless you have heaped the filling.

Roll top crust onto pie. I cut around with pie about 1″ to smooth the edges. I put my fingers under the crust and finger tips on the edge of the pie pan lip, then cut down onto fingers with a dull knife. First foint works for thin edge which my wife prefers so that’s how it is.

I then roll the crusts under and crimp onto the edge of the pan. We are looking to seal the edges here, so a bit of a pinch is good. Decorate as desired. Cut slits in top of crust. Odd # seems lucky to me. Sprinkle with suger. Bake.

You know you did it right when folks complain the the crust is too flaky.

my mom used to be a reading teacher and a principal and she would get authors in to visit and autograph books…..

one of her favorites and mine is

Trinka Hakes Noble’s Apple Tree Christmas

Trinka was raised in rural michigan.

here is her amazon page.
http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF…..038;page=1

one of my friends makes this, and gave me the recipe, it is easy and sooooo good. i’m not a fan of bananas ‘in’ things, but i like this. and you don’t have to add much sugar.

The recipe for cranberry-banana marmalade is:
l bag cranberries
3 med. ripe bananas
1 T. lemon juice
1/2 to 1 c. sugar (to taste)

Put cranberries in large pan with small amt. water. Cover and cook until they pop. Mash bananas, add sugar (or wait) mix them with cranberries and cook. Bring to boil, stir, taste ,adjust sweetness and add some nutmeg if you like that spice. Put in jars that have been sterilized, seal and place in boiling water bath for 10 min. (or not, if you mean to eat right away).
These amounts can be doubled and I always make it to taste since cranberries and bananas vary in sweetness. If you like cranberries more than bananas adjust accordingly. Have fun with it.

(((((CHRISTY))))) It is scary to hear those little coughs in the night, too. I’m glad you are on the other side of it, and she’ll be well by Thanksgiving!

These look GREAT! I am bringing the makings of one of these concoctions to my sisters! What a great idea. I wonder which would make a good “virgin” version for the younger set.

bread making today…. just didn’t want to step on my earlier comment re audrey.

will have to take a look. expect i may agree with you… *g*

Thankee, darlin’ -

If you cross paths with one with nothing but cranberries, please let me know.

thank you!

there is a little park with a statue of ‘the boy and his dog’-forget the name right now, man…. dedicated to him in my hometown. right across from the courthouse downtown with a bench and landscaping. quiet little spot right on the corner..

he was an incredible man. timeless books.

i have one, have to find it, or remember it. or will call a friend, cranberry nut. her favorite thing.

i have an easy recipe for cranberry orange bread that you can make in a bread machine on the fast cycle, but can’t find it either. did a search last night for it, still looking. uses orange juice instead of orange peel.

cbl at 123===OMG!! that is ‘hella’-funny! i tried to describe it to one of my friends last night who came over for dinner and help me set-up my new indoor herb/plants area, and i started laughing so hysterically that i couldn’t talk!!!and then they showed it on olberman and we both lost it!!

====
here is the soup i made yesterday and another that is good, from herb club. is a nice amount, not too much. yesterday i doubled the stuffed pepper soup, enough for us to pig out and enough left for today. simmering right now on the stove. boil in the bag brown rice is 2 cups, so, that makes it even easier. and an old neighbor taught me to boil/drain meat i am using in something else, loove doing it that way. start with cold water so it will crumble as you stir it up and boil it…for charity pizza night mom and i would precook 15 or more lbs of sausage, was a breeze doing it this way…i converted her.

i boil the rice in the bag, then the meat, wipe out the pan and make the soup…one pan. can’t beat it.

Stuffed Pepper Soup

1/3 – 1/2 lb sweet Italian sausage
½ C sweet red pepper diced
¼ C minced onion
¼ C water
¾ C chicken broth
1 10 3/4oz condensed tomato soup
1/8 t garlic powder
dash pepper
3/4 – 1 C cooked rice

Crumble sausage, cook, drain and add onion to cook slightly. Add water and
peppers. Cover and cook 5 min. Add broth, condensed soup, garlic and
ground pepper and bring to boil, simmer on low, covered, 20-30 minutes. (I don’t simmer this long)
Stir in rice and heat through. Leftover soup will become like stuffed
pepper filling as the rice absorbs more of the liquid. Delish both ways.

Corn Leek Chowder

2 C chopped white portion of leeks
¾ C chopped onion
1 large or 2 small garlic cloves
1 T olive oil
3 C low sodium chicken broth
1 ½ C cubed peeled potatoes
¾ C frozen corn or 1 fresh ear sliced off cob
¼ t ground pepper
4 t cornstarch
1 T cold water
½ C half-and-half
¼ C shredded cheddar cheese if desired for garnish

Saute leeks, onion and garlic in oil (I use oil and butter) til tender but not browned. Stir in
broth and potatoes and cook 15-20 min until potatoes are almost tender.
Stir in corn and pepper and cook 2 min. Add cornstarch water mixture and
bring to boil. Cook, stirring 1-2 min until thickened slightly. Stir in
cream and heat through over low. Garnish each serving w/ 1 T cheese.

we west coasters are always last to the table, but just in case anyone with east coast roots is still around I thought I’d ask. The parents are coming the day AFTER thanksgiving, and I plan on having a “Thankless dinner” or the opposite of turkey. I’m guessing the opposite of turkey is fish, I’m planning on some great recipes I got here, the mussels and tommy yums coveted crab cakes. I’d love to do a perfect new england clam chowder. Any suggestions?

Recipe for the Wingnut Thanksgiving:

Kool-aid Pie

Ingredients
1 graham cracker pie crust
2 packages unsweetened Kool-Aid powdered drink mix
1 (8 ounce) container Cool Whip
1 (14 ounce) can condensed milk

Directions
1 – In a large bowl combine Cool whip, Koolaid& Condensed milk.
2 – Stir with spoon until mixture is well mix (lump free) Pour into Pie Shell (mixture will be thick and you may have to spoon out).
3 – Smooth out top of pie with back side of spoon.
4 – Place in frig.
5 – for 1-2 hours.
6 – Serve Chilled.

– My favorite, all-time spice mixture for roast chicken and turkey. Divine — especially if you rub the spice mixture in the night before so the flavor soaks in well before you cook it. But it does make the broth a bit too spicy to use for pan gravy, so be forewarned to get an extra box of chicken stock if you want to make homemade, and do make use of the neck and giblets in that case for better flavor.

Things like this are why I keep lots of frozen ice cubes of homemade chicken stock handy — you don’t have to worry about excess salt this way.

urgg, gak, oh lordy the sugar rush.