Happy Thanksgiving!

Cranberry man always dresses for dinner.

Much as I eschew overly processed foods, store-bought baked goods and all the evils of trans fats, HFCS, etc., Thanksgiving is wrought with exceptions. Like stuffing. I really like Stove Top more than any from-scratch variety made with love. The stickier and gummier the better to absorb the gravy. And cranberry sauce? I do not want any of that gourmet crap with actual cranberries. It has to be from the CAN, preferably still in the shape of the can with the little lines and everything. Pumpkin pie is another one. I made one from scratch. Once. Cooked the pumpkin and all that rot. Wasn't any better than pastry made from canned pumpkin. Though I'll still make my own crust (foolproof recipe available in the Pseudo Gourmet, do you have a copy?). And I'll tell you someting else. Those pre cooked birds from Jewel? They're awesome. And no clean up. Norman Rockwell would be so proud...as long as we got him drunk first.

This year I won't have to worry about over eating cuz Odie's coming home. Hahaha. That's a little joke on account of the brother figure has what moms might refer to as a "healthy appetite." Post-meal entertainment usually entails the rest of us sitting around chatting and watching Odie eat. It's been so long since he's been able to travel, I'm rather excited about rekindling the family tradition.

Speaking of thankful, I'm thankful that Lenore sent me more pictures from Lake Lure.

And thanks to Joules for sending me a photo of her with her Perky Potholder Pumpkin Carving Contest prize! Niiiice!

80 Years Young

Happy birthday, Dad!

Hold the Onions

One of Lenore's hospital visitors came in her Italian ice cup.

Lenore came through her liver angiogram and the RFA very well, and should be coming home today. The doctor said he was able to "cook" 90-95% of the tumor, and there's a chance he could go in later and fry some more when Lenore has her other surgery on the 30th to take the alien being out of her abdomen. Aside from a couple of nasty burns on her legs from the electrodes (no extra charge for that, thanks), she's feeling pretty good and will come home today. She's already clocked in about 12 laps around the hospital floor. Someone told her it’s four laps to a mile. I’m not sure how many extra calories you burn lugging an IV pole and a bag of pee, but I’m sure it’s considerable. Chemo won't start 'til after xmas, which bodes well for her travel plans.

Shout out, too, to our dragon boat Lynda, who's also getting back on the chemo train starting today. Cancer sucks -- how much more of an understatement can that be? Internet hugs to both of these brave gals, with an extra sprinkling of electrons on top.

In other news (before all this hospital stuff), I cashed in on my birthday dragon from Roland and Amy, only when we got to the restaurant it was CLOSED. Luckily Joules was there to suggest we try the new (to us anyway) Thai place in Algonquin that also has sushi, so we did, and it was splendid. I did not try their dragon, though, because I wanted to also sample the Tom Kha Gai soup (delish) and the ginger dressing, which every sushi place seems to serve on their salads (also good, but not as good as Kaminari or Bistro Wasabi). So I got something that was similar to a dragon, but not as fancy or pricey.




This is Lenore's -- we all liked the scallopy dishes.



Amy got duck in a curry sauce, and it was HOT.



Everyone did a fine job of documenting their food, but only Roland and Amy consented to action eating shots. Well, Joules did kind of since there's actual food in her chopsticks. Lenore consented not to hide under the table, so that was a success as well.





Also, I need to post these pictures of a spooky house in my 'hood, because I made Lenore stop the car and wait for me to get just the right shot, which didn't turn out so great anyway. The guy who lives there came out of his house while I was photographing it, which was just a little awkward, but then I offered to e-mail him the photos and he was good with it. Anyway, I thought this thing, whatever it is, on the side of the house was superbly creepy (plus I like the shadows) and all the lights and mist in the yard were well done too.




Speaking of mist...Lenore found this picture of me taken in D.C. It's very superhero-ie and mysterious. Maybe I'll use it for Facebook.



And speaking of photos...co worker Jesse showed me a really easy way to stitch photos together, so here are a couple of pano attempts from Lake Lure.

Prizes!

Just a few of the pumpkin contest prizes mailing soon!

Democracy Doesn't Always Work

Especially with pumpkins.



I asked my co workers to help me judge the pumpkin contest, only I neglected to remember that "decision making" is maybe not what you would call a "high performance skill" in our office. What resulted was a confusing collection of multi-pumpkin ties for 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

Holy gourd glop, Batman, I need more judges!
So then I enlisted the help of several more co workers (the power of unsanctioned employee e-mail usage!) and changed the parameters to just one vote for the top pumpkin. You would think this would be a little less confusing...but you would be wrong.

What resulted was just more votes for virtually the same amount of ties. (sigh)
But in a way that's good news, because, like T-Ball, everybody wins! Every pumpkin got at least one vote for first place, so snaps all around. Also, many judges commented on how great all the pumpkins were and how hard it was to pick just one. So, in keeping with the friends I keep, some, in fact, totally ignored my instructions and gave me multiple submissions for different reasons (technical merit, cuteness, spooky factor...)

We did have one stand-out for first place, and that was Rachel's Spooky Witch Tree (on the left). Yay for that!


Second place was a neck and neck race between Todd's penguin, Ronda's Edward Scissorhands, and Austin and William's mummy.

Lenore's Tiny Ghost, Austin and William's Scary Ghost, Ronda's Chuckie, Joules' Headless Horseman and Josie's Spooky Tree garnered all the votes for third place.

Thanks to all the participants and judges. I'll contact you for addresses so we can send you your Perky Potholder Prize!

Contest Results + Scenery

My co workers agreed to judge the pumpkin contest. These are the same people (and I include myself in that lot) who take 3 hours to decide where to go to lunch (we have a preponderance of Libras), so, long story short, I do not yet have results. I do, however have a 5- to 6-way tie for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I think we're going to have to enlist the help of an IT person and maybe a spreadsheet. We'll get back to you.

Meanwhile, do enjoy some scenery from our recent Lake Lure, NC mini vacation. Lake Lure, you may or may not know, was where Dirty Dancing was filmed. The actual location, which was a boys' camp, is gone now, but you can still see the foundation of the lodge in the photo below.



This is the raging creek in the town of Chimney Rock (home of...Chimney Rock!). Lenore asked me if I'd rather live in the mountains or on the ocean, but I think I'd rather live near a burbling creek (as long as it doesn't flood!). The sound is so relaxing.



And here is Lenore, safety professional, balanced precariously on a rock ... without a net! Laura speculated that she probably had an inflatable PFD in that fanny pack though.



Wildlife was abundant, however we didn't see any. Well, we saw lots of deer, raccoons, a lizard (in our room!) and a snail. And Tommy claims he saw a bear cub, but we were (and still are) skeptical.

I would LOVE to be able to grow rosemary like this! People grow this stuff as ornamental shrubs in NC, and I am way jealous. I pilfered sprigs whenever I had the opportunity.



You can view a few more scenes from Lake Lure on my Flickr page. Click "show info" to view all the clever comments. I may need to re upload these in a higher resolution, I think they look a little fuzzy.

Later that same moment...
(OK, I just added some at a higher resolution...but now they might take a long time to load. It's a trade-off, people!)