Cross Town Thoughts
‘Tis the season for fortunate Cashews. The Catholic-Jewish combo produces spoiled but beautiful children.
Hanukkah, Chanukah. 8 nights of presents, gelt (money), dreidels, dancing. Gathered ’round the table, they get lots of treats. Zovy-boom and vodka. No, that’s not it. Candles shed their sweet light to remind them of days long ago. Transliterations and latkes. Bah-rook, no toy? They’re annoyed. Happy Menorah-kah.
Then in a coupla weeks, they get Kristmas. Oy.
If the world doesn’t end on December 21st, then:
Trump. Rove. Grover. Rush. Foxbots. You’re all fired.
Solidified Congressional divide. Teapots.
Zzzomney & AynRyan. Clint’s empty chairs.
Social media. Anti-social.
Reality shows. Drunk friend-jumping plastic people.
Tiger. Lance. Football injuries.
Global instability. For real.
Benghazi. Benghazi. Benghazi. For ratings.
Sandy.
Sandusky.
Sandy Hook. 12/14/12
Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
Defending Jacob, William Landay
The Cat’s Table, Michael Ondaatje
The Chaperone, Laura Moriarty
The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton, Elizabeth Speller
See reviews on Books page. Ondaatje’s cubistic ship story was beautifully written. The others caught my attention for clever and thoughtful premises. NYTimes list does not match mine. Several appear on my 2011 list. It hasn’t been a year of great writing. ManBooker List and Prize a total disappointment. Disagree with Mantel’s sequel getting any accolades. Hope 2013 will be better reading.
GOOD
RecipeDetours
Bruno Mars
Christina Hendricks as Joan on MadMen
Grandma’s 80th Golf Open
Obama re-election
Madison Square Park & ABC Kitchen
BAD
Hurricane Sandy
Sandusky
Sandy Hook
Happy 175th Birthday to Mount Holyoke College. First and still all-women’s liberal arts school in the United States. Mary Lyon rocks. Speaking of women shaking, excitement in Springfield’s strip club scene. Explosive. Lucky no one seriously injured. G-strings only slightly tattered. Poles pulverized.
In keeping with consumption theme of the weekend, new flat-screen and Mac-Pro purchases achieved. Red Saturday. Great to have mAdBen home again. 
Thanksgiving for wonderful family gathering! Slide show.
My favorite- Cornbread Celery Apple Stuffing.
Most requested by Colitti’s- Sausage Mushroom.
Stuffington Side- Twice Cooked Turnip.
RecipeDetours.Com
Terrorists. Bad guys with guns. Al Qaeda. Mean mob. Attack. Opportunistic violence. It’s post-Quadhafi Libya, for Pete’s sake. Arab Spring. Winter. War. Battle. Skirmish. Words. CIA. FBI. NSC. Men and women misbehaving.
Incompetence. Distractions. Who cares? The world is in turmoil. Lessons learned and fixes for the future. Rather than parsing language to describe tragic events of the past. Geez! Get a grip. Small talk. Big problems.
Stuffington prep. I’m assigned my mushroom sausage stuffing. Homemade hot and sweet meat from Frigo’s in Springfield’s South End. Our local version of Little Eataly in an old neighborhood hard hit by last year’s tornado. This year’s holiday hostess, JeanJean will deconstruct a turkey in Jacques and Julia’s way.
Family gathering in a week. Bed & Breakfast will be full. Yay!
70% of Americans said this was one of the most important elections ever. Jack Cafferty asked why? He read what I said, “The country has passed its tipping point. Both parties need to grapple with how to balance an aging and diverse population’s needs without going completely broke. If civility doesn’t replace sniping, the Mayans may have been onto something.”
Kudos to Axelrod, Messina, Plouffe. Brilliant tactical campaign. Let’s hope Obama picks just as strong a White House advisory team and Cabinet to lead us through the tough challenges of the next four years. Exhale. Bon Weekend.
Side Trek . NYC 