Yeah, we just cook up ground pork with onion and a potato (cut up, mash as you go), spice it up with cinnamon, clove, salt and pepper, and throw it in a pie crust. I can give you more specific info if you want, but the written-down family recipe is total BS (as they are) so you may as well google.

"The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" by Alan Bradley

I liked it too, but not as much as my mother, who leans more to the cozy and YA sides of things, so yeah.

I loved it muchly, though I didn't like the sequel quite as much.

"The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" by Alan Bradley

I liked the first one, but thought that Flavia was a just a bit too much for me and I wasn't sure I would continue. I made it about 10 pages into the second one and put it down without looking back (which for me is saying a lot).

Yeah, I'm not sure I'll read the sequels. I can see the character becoming really annoying if overdone.

I liked the first one, but thought that Flavia was a just a bit too much for me and I wasn't sure I would continue.

That happened to me about 50 pages into the 3rd one.

I was thinking of making tourtiere for Christmas eve!

I've been taking cooking classes from this chef, and she did a column on Tourtiere: [link]

I just finished reading "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" by Alan Bradley

I read it and have the second sitting here, but haven't opened it. I really enjoyably the first one.

For SF/F readers - SF Signal has asked a number of folks to list the books they're most excited about for 2012: [link]

Speaking of SF/F books, I was wondering if we could put together a list of recommended "classic" works in the field, something that I can use to load up my new ereader with stuff to look at after the holidays.

I'll start with the two I always think of when I think of little-known (at least nowadays) works--A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter Miller, and "Nightfall" by Asimov. I'm always surprised by the number of SF fans who have never heard of either of these, especially Nightfall, considering it is Asimov.

Canticle is a great example of Cold War SF, very much a product of its time (published in 1959), and really fascinating. I love the way it goes through a future history of post-nuclear-war America, including another go around of the Dark Ages and Medieval feudalism.

And Nightfall is just such a great idea--what would happen on a planet in a multi-star system when all of the suns set at once? What does true darkness do to a civilization that only experiences it once every several millenia?

"If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown!"

Let me think on a list.