kochleffel

December 27-29 are the only days that I don't think I could. I'll check each morning, except those days, and upload it if it isn't already done.

The latest forecast is for less snow than the earlier forecasts said: three inches tomorrow, one inch overnight, and another inch during the day on Friday. Because of a problem with the garage-door opener, I don't always put my car in the garage, but I did so this evening. I don't have to go out tomorrow--it's a work day, but the work that needs attention can be done from home--yet I may have to shovel snow several times, because of deliveries via both UPS and Fedex that are coming.

So they did! I wonder how they constructed the survey, because some of the results are strange. Also, it's noteworthy that some foods are the most popular in one state and least popular in another.

When I was on the Breakaway last year, we could only dock in Bermuda for one day, a short one, instead of the scheduled three. NCL gave OBC of $300 per cabin.

I just checked. There are a Dodge City airport in Kansas and a Dodge County airport in Wisconsin, but I don't think that you mean either of those.

Just in case you need help with menu planning, here's an article about the most and least popular holidays foods, for the country as a whole and by state. I'm surprised to see that biscuits are the most popular Thanksgiving food in New York, since in this part of the country we're terrible at making them. Probably they're out of a tube. And I was surprised by the unpopularity of persimmon pudding; if persimmons grew wild here it would be my favorite. To determine the most and least popular holiday foods across the country, we surveyed over 2,100 Americans, asking their opinions on Thanksgiving and Christmas foods, including entrees, sides, desserts, drinks, and even vegan alternatives. Read on to discover what we found. Key Findings The least popular Thanksgiving foods are candied yams and sweet potato pie. The least popular Christmas foods are persimmon pudding and fruitcake. When it comes to vegan choices, 45% are willing to try a vegan turkey alternative this year. With costs top of mind, 69% will search for budget-friendly holiday meal options due to higher food prices. https://crestline.com/c/most-popular-holiday-foods

I'm in favor of energy conservation but I think we need it more than one day a year. I like chestnuts but have never roasted them over an open fire. I haven't been to Aomori or anywhere in Japan; a Celebrity cruise that would have embarked from Yokohama in 2021 was cancelled. I've already posted about latkes; would probably like them with parsnip, but if it's not Hanukkah I'd rather have Roy's alternative. Actual dinner tonight might be cauliflower-crust pizza. Reservations for the Hanukkah dinner topped out at 65. Our kitchen manager had predicted 64 and was the closest, but there's no prize. There is some state of alarm, chiefly because a predicted storm could interfere with cooking on Friday, plus a trained chef who tested the main-course recipe says that it will be inedible. This surprises me, because it's a family adaptation of a well-known recipe that I have used myself, but maybe the adaptation isn't a good one, although the family is known for good cooking.

The dominant story of Hanukkah ends with rededicating the Temple and finding that there is only one small bottle of proper oil for lighting the ner tamid (perpetual lamp), enough to fuel it for one day but through a miracle it lasts for eight days, until more can be prepared. As a result, it's customary to celebrate Hanukkah with foods fried in oil. In central and eastern Europe, that meant potato pancakes, shallow-fried, so they are the archetypal Hanukkah food for many of us. There is a different tradition in the Middle East, where the preferred fried food is jelly doughnuts. This is considered an authentic Middle Eastern tradition, but jelly doughnuts were and are popular in central and eastern Europe, too, so I'm not sure. (When JFK said, "Ich bin ein Berliner," he wanted to say, "I am a Berliner," but "Ich bin Berliner" would have been correct. "Ein Berliner" sounded to most Germans as if he had called himself a filled doughnut. Incidentally, not specific to either pancakes or doughnuts, in French cooking à la juive, "Jewish style," means fried in oil (instead of pork fat). The miracle-of-the-oil story is a late addition, not mentioned in II Maccabees or any other, older history. There are several other explanations given for an eight-day celebration, but the one I consider most likely is that the original dedication of the Temple lasted eight days, so the rededication did also. Another reasonable explanation is that it was a delayed celebration of Sukkot, a harvest festival, and olives (for oil) are the last crop harvested the fall.

While I was at the TCM office, the house across the street caught fire. It's the home of a retired Episcopal priest whom I know well and who is close to the Jewish community. He was unhurt and the fire seemed to be on the third floor, but the water damage will be enormous. At least six fire rigs, including a ladder truck from my town.

(1) My TCM practitioner has diverse interests. He's Irish-American, and has a degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine and a serious interest in Asian religions. His office is decorated with a mix of Asian and Catholic religious art. He also loves Scandinavia, attended school in Sweden for two years, and is fluent in Swedish. This morning he posted a selfie on social media in which he is standing under a chandelier so that he appears to have St. Lucia candles on his head. I have an appointment with him at noon. (2) A friend from graduate school (the first time) started college at a Danish Lutheran college in the Midwest. Her family is not Scandinavian. So when other girls in the dorm got up early on December 13 and started baking cinnamon rolls, then arranged candles in their hair while the rolls were baking, her reaction was "Why would anyone do that?" I would have to pass on the meal, because of the sausage, but kale is the only green that I really dislike. With the sausage it might not be too prominent. I'd rather have Duck Breast a l'orange, although I'm not sure about pineapple and cucumber soup.

It's not completely fair of me to bring this up, but when I first considered cruising with HAL, I began reading the forum and there was a post asking why HAL roll calls were less active than those of [some other cruise lines]. Now, one reason is that HAL doesn't have any mega ships, so there are fewer passengers per cruise than on the huge ships. But the reply -- just one obnoxious person -- sounded really snobbish and unfriendly, and it was a while before I returned to the HAL forum at all. When I did take a HAL cruise, I found the passengers much nicer than most. Nothing like that is happening in the Spanish Farewell roll call, where pretty much nothing is happening at all. The combined roll call for the B2B is more active, but at the moment it's mostly about pre-cruise time in Athens. I've noticed that B2B passengers tend to post a more in roll calls; there's more excitement with a B2B and, of course more to post about. I'm also following that roll call, for discussion about the ports in Spain and Portugal and plans for the sea days, but it's true that it's very early.

I've made my flight and hotel bookings for Spain before the Spanish Farewell in 2023! I'll have four days in Madrid, then the day before embarkation in Barcelona. I wouldn't ordinarily book flights this early, but it's an award booking and the inventory could run out. I'll need a separate booking to return home from Fort Lauderdale. The flight to Madrid is on American, but the flight from FLL will probably be on Delta since I don't get a free checked bag on AA domestic flights. I sort of hope to find other passengers for the Spanish Farewell who are also visiting Madrid and might want to share a private tour there, but it's unlikely. The roll call for the Spanish Farewell by itself is moribund, and probably most will go straight to Barcelona. In any case it's been stated in this forum that HAL passengers know what they're doing and don't want to be hawked for other people's tours. The roll call for the B2B that concludes with the Spanish Farewell is very active but those passengers will already be on the Oosterdam and will have Barcelona as a port call.

Decorating gingerbread is not something I'm likely to do; if ambrosia refers to the Southern concoction of citrus fruits, sugar, and coconut, possibly with additions, I'll pass; and I wouldn't risk exposing the Junior Cat to poinsettias. Anything Alfredo is off my list unless it can be made lactose-free. I've been nowhere in Turkey except Kusadasi and Ephesus, last spring on the Norwegian Jade. We have s-n-o-w on the ground, but none remaining on the streets.

I should be able to do it through December 26, but maybe not on the 27th, 28th, or 29th, when I plan to be in Washington with only an iPad, weather permitting. The hotel in Rosslyn where I used to stay has been torn down so I'll be trying a different one.

If it's OK, I'll skip the wrapping (nothing to wrap except a gift card) and go straight to the libation. Which reminds me: I'm hosting the oneg and kiddush (receptions, basically, like a church coffee hour with no coffee) at the synagogue after the services on December 23 and 24, my birthday. Most of the time it is just a thimbleful of wine, a piece of challah, and optional cookies, but I'm adding cheese and wine on Friday evening, herring and Danish snaps on Saturday morning. It's a Danish tradition to have a round of drinks in the morning on one's birthday, and I brought the snaps back from Copenhagen. People often do this for a "significant" birthday, which this is not. That was last year, but in 2020 the synagogue had mistakenly approached covid as a food-borne disease and was still hinky about food last December. It happens that the liturgy for the Saturday morning is among the most complicated of any Shabbat morning in the year: readings from three separate Torah scrolls, a special Prophets reading from Zechariah, and full Hallel, the six psalms that are sung on every festival (it's the Sabbath during Hanukkah, and also the first day of the Jewish month). One of these, Psalm 118, is fairly long. Our rabbi has promised not to draw the service out to the maximum possible length. He mentioned that it is also Shabbat Festivus--he often commemorates secular occasions, such as the Fourth of July, in the liturgy. I asked that there be no Airing of Grievances, which for me would be too much like work.

I'm willing to do it when I can, but it would be best if one or two more people would share the responsibility. I'm not a naturally early riser, and I will be away for at least a few days, but any day that I sign in and see that it's not already done, I'll post it.

We got some s-n-o-w this morning, not so much as to make roads impassable and I don't think it will stay, but I don't need to go anywhere today. For a moment I read App as appetizer, but I suppose it means device apps. Our SPCA will give bags of pet food to anyone who asks, but the location is hard for the humans of many needy pets to reach. I have given cat food to a food pantry but I'm not sure that they really want it there. I'm not qualified to comment on the Billy Sunday quotation, but a friend who is a Methodist pastor often posts in the same vein. I didn't really like the idea of butternut squash risotto, but I mentioned it earlier to a friend who is a culinary-school trained chef, and he thought it would be good. This morning I taught Hebrew and Prophets classes. As soon as I finish lunch I'm going to try to nap with the Junior Cat. She has tried to give me sleeping lessons but they haven't really worked.

This is Black Box Riesling, 2020, from California. It's slightly sweet, a bit more than I like, but it doesn't have enough character to stand on its own if it were dry. I like it better as an aperitif than to complement a meal.

A long time ago I was involved in raising funds to convert a small college library from Dewey Decimal to Library of Congress numbers. I was amused to learn that the main tools required were a computer terminal (for access to OCLC, since almost every book would already be listed there) and an electric eraser. Now I maintain a synagogue library where some of the volunteers would like to implement the Dewey Decimal System, not that they plan to do the work themselves or even know how. In face, Dewey isn't a good system for a very specialized library, because most of the books have the same general subject and too many receive the same call numbers. There is an adaptation of Dewey for Jewish libraries that provides more granularity, and I have worked with a trained librarian to implement it, but it's more complicated than we need or could cope with. Chili, any kind, wold be OK with me, but what I had tonight was the same turkey-veg casserole as last night. I've made a hotel reservation in Arlington, Virginia, for part of the week after Christmas in the hope of seeing the current exhibitions at the National Gallery. It can be cancelled up through Christmas Day if the weather forecast is unfavorable.

In honor of today's meal suggestion I added baharat seasoning to the casserole for tonight's dinner, and then remembered that baharat is more typically Arabian than Moroccan. Please don't accuse me of cultural appropriation when it's just a lapse of memory. While it cooks I'm drinking Riesling, not a local one, just cardboardeaux. Thanks.

I would probably be OK with either the Moroccan meatballs or Roy's alternative. I often use Middle Eastern spices in cooking, although not specifically Moroccan. Will pass on the drink unless it's made lactose-free. Two news stories to share. The first is about group A strep, which we were discussing yesterday, specifically "invasive" cases that can become life-threatening. “Rates of iGAS are highest at extremes of age — in children and the elderly,” Michael Marks, an associate professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine told The Post. “This is not fully understood but may reflect immunity.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/12/06/what-is-strep-a-infection-symptoms/ The second is about a sheep dog who, protecting his sheep, killed eight coyotes, and was nearly killed himself. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/09/sheepdog-coyote-attack-killed-eight/ I'm managing a Hanukkah dinner and concert on the 18th, and it's very wearing. The musicians are very easy to work with; it's the dinner that's the problem, especially accommodating various dietary needs (vegan, gluten-free, low carb), which the constituents expect but the volunteer cooks are not very sympathetic to. (At least they're not telling me "There are no vegans" or "There is no such thing as celiac disorder," which the prior generation of cooks said.) Low carb cannot really be accommodated when potato latkes are the main event, but I'm insisting on vegan and GF options. It's fine for the cooks, who get the applause if most of the people are able to eat the food, not for me since I receive the complaints--and our constituents are indefatigable complainers. I said last night that I'd retire today if I hadn't invited a rather famous speaker for the spring.

The almost-tortilla pie worked out well even though most, maybe all, of the ingredients were wrong; I especially liked the shallots in it. I made it in a brownie pan, not because of the day, but because the flatbreads were rectangular.

I'm at my office, after starting a Carbonite full restore for a new computer (not the one I'm using). I might as well go home, since it won't finish today. When it's complete, all the files from the old computer will be in one new folder on the new one and then we can choose which to keep and where to place them. Yet today, if possible, I need to shop at the big supermarket. I've postponed it several times and it will be less crowded this evening than tomorrow morning. In addition to regular shopping, I want to start stocking up shelf-stable foods for a winter emergency. Dinner tonight will be non-tortilla pie made with the flatbread that I actually have, aduki beans, shallots, tomato sauce, and cheese, with salad.

I didn't try iguana, but I did have goat at an open-air restaurant along the road to Westpunt. It doesn't taste like chicken, but you might mistake it for beef. I've eaten goat a few times in the U.S. but the goat here wasn't as good (or the preparation wasn't).

It houses the Gouverneur de Rouville restaurant, which is very good. There are outdoor dinner seating on the long balcony and bar seating on the smaller one, plus an interior courtyard with more tables. Once the manager mentioned to me that most Americans seem to be in a hurry to pay their checks and leave even though, in the evening, there is nothing else to do.