I'm thankful this year for Peter Jackson, because Hubby and I have a movie to watch in a theatre on Christmas Day, ie, King Kong. We felt kind of lost the year after Return of the King. There's a really nice theatre one town south of us that's never very busy on Christmas but has one of the few Dolby-certified sound systems in the county.

Holidays are a trial when you're trying to watch your blood sugar.

I've had good luck with London Walks, FYI. They're very walky, and also informative. Not too lamely wide-appeal, not too snobby/boring.

Kind of sucks when it's raining a gale, but even so, I got a lot out of it.

Thanksgiving is a process, not a day. It is an acknowledgement that we're winter beasts trying to keep warm with extra calories; it is a time-marker for the shopping cycle; it is a football holiday; it is an event to plan your month around. All of the winter holidays, and all of their slightly-weird importance, revolves around the fact that winter sucks and we all need reasons to endure it. Presents and pie and racks of beef are reasons to endure a lot.

Okay, Martin Luther King day is not quite the same, but that is January, and thus well on the way toward the sun not setting at 4pm.

Spinach: creamed

Mmmmmm. Seriously. I'm such a spinach whore. Would you mind posting your recipe, or is it so simple and obvious that I'm going to feel like not just a whore, but a singularly silly whore?

It's Laurie Colwin's Creamed Spinach with Jalapeno Peppers, juliana. If there are any leftovers, it makes the ass-kickingest morning-after-Thanksgiving omlette filling ever.

[eta that I know "chop the spinach fine" was in the original recipe, but who are these people who do not have access to frozen chopped spinach aka Best Convenience Ingredient EVAR? Also, I skip the celery salt b/c I never have it around the house, and there's enough salt in the cheese and butter that it's not necessary to add more.]

Hard sauce is a blob of softened butter with a dash of vanilla and a metric buttload of powdered sugar mixed in and I eat the pudding mostly to get to the sauce.

What Jesse said. And although there's alcohol in the vanilla, I don't substitute by volume.

I mean, is there any such thing as a dash of rum? I think not.

Aimée -- would strappy heels include mine?

I'm going to be so disappointed this January when I don't have an excuse to go back to London for two weeks.

Snork:

[link]

Okay, that headline made the eyes bug out.

Okay, that headline made the eyes bug out.

don't forget the giggling

Okay, that headline made the eyes bug out.

Almost copied and pasted it, but didn't know if it would be too much or too little misinformation.