Favorite Things

Traditionally, the day after Thanksgiving I blast the Christmas carols.  Traditionally, a week before Christmas my family is ready to crucify me.

In any case, each December we choose and test-run a new album.  Last year we invested in and were disappointed by Annie Lennox's.  This time we bought and fell in love with KiHo'alu Christmas, Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar.  My favorite quirky album has got to be the one pictured here. Listening, you may find Martha Wainwright's "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year," incorporates all the wistful angst of scattered adult Christmases, while Rufus Wainwright's dark and dismal "Counting Stars," from its first dissonant notes makes my daughter and me giggle uncontrollably.  What are your seasonal music traditions?

Sweet Somethings for shipping

 In case you need gift ideas for shipping off, a few ideas spring to mind.  The first time I tasted pears courtesy Harry and David, it was as if I had never tasted a pear before--recently I found a great promotion slipped into the pages of Sunset magazine. Need chocolate with a twist?  Senor Murphy's, based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is wonderful, and I'm always sorry more people haven't heard of them.  Try the bolitas (fudge, surrounded by chocolate, then chopped almonds) or Twin Peaks, two almonds in a blob of caramel, dipped in dark chocolate.

Perhaps you're dashing off somewhere and need a hostess gift quick--swing by The Little Flower Candy Co. Pricey, but delicious and lovely to behold during Christmas time.
But I'll be you already knew that.

Feeling frugal, and like baking? Two of my favorites here and here.

Something different.

Now's the season for Fuyu persimmons.  They don't have to be mushy soft, or cooked,  like the Hamachi variety, to be palatable. Raw  these are firm, crisp, mildly sweet, with a flavor all their own.  Let me know if you're a fan.

Thank you for asking

Yes, still in the dark.  On the upside I have a very clean refrigerator.
I tackled it like a triage unit: what is the most vital and perishable?
That one was easy, we all know room-temperature vodka is vile.  I made sure to polish it off
before tackling anything else.  And after that, what could possibly matter?