me neither but i love the idea of a group of drunk santas on state street in the middle of the afternoon.
for some reason I read that as “dark santas”
with the amount of bile and self-loathing i have welled up in me i can assure you i would be the darkest of dark santas.
i think i can challenge you on that
My tree looks beautiful. I finished decorating it last night.
Ha, Kr said last night that her mom asked if she had a tree, and we had a good laugh because we have never known anyone in Chicago to have trees. I stand corrected!
For the record, I like Christmas trees, but considering I barely have anything on my walls, it’s not exactly a high priority. Is yours real or fake, Sarah?
I think Kingfish has done the Santa convention before, either in Portland or Detroit.
my first xmas in chicago (or oak park to be more accurate) the only place me and jen knew that was selling xmas trees was on harlem and lake, i carried a 7 foot tree from there back to our place on washington two blocks west of austin. my arms were so cramped when we got home i couldn’t put them back down to my sides.
OH BTW YOU GUYS: I just beat a parking ticket this morning. I had an in-person hearing with a judge, and I was totally like “Look, I wasn’t blocking an alley or parked in it, I had my blinkers on, and it’s a pretty wide alley, vehicles could totally move past me” and the judge said, “This notice says 11:31 AM,” and I said, “What? No, it was PM,” and she punched a few things into her computer and was like “You’re right, all the other tickets the officer wrote that day were at night, too” and I was like “Well, yeah, I wouldn’t have been in an alley at all at 11 in the morning,” and she was like, “The notice is factually incorrect, which is grounds for dismissal,” and I was like, “Awwww yeah, you just saved me $150” — or $145, actually, because I then took a cab to my office.
It’s a fake tree. My Dad bought it several years ago when my family descended upon a dorm room in Charlottesville for Christmas. It wasn’t even my sister’s dorm! It was someone else’s she was staying in during the holidays whom she barely knew. Anyway, we had my whole family there, and even the other sister’s boyfriend for a while (though the rents didn’t know about that). Anyway, when it was over, my dad said I should have it because I am the oldest (but mostly because I was the only one out of school and in an apartment).
I love putting up the tree. I didn’t do it last year because I was going to France. This year I’m going to DC, but screw it, I wanted it up anyway. It totally cozies up the place. I love it.
Did I mention I love it? Anyone who wants should come drop by to see it and maybe have something hot to drink and pet a cat.
Way to go, John!!
my apartment has a menorah (roommate is jewish, but i requested we bring it down because i think they’re pretty) and a single christmas ornament. i kind of like that level of holiday decoration.
xp yay on getting out of the parking ticket!
You need to go full-on nuts with the Chanukah decorations. I wonder how one would do that.
Yeah, I was super-nervous, too, because the woman who was before me was this Trixie (with an Old Town address), and the judge was totally playing hardball with her. She got a ticket for not having a city sticker displayed, and she claimed that she ordered one online, but it never showed up, and she went through all this red tape to follow up — and judge was all, “Sorry, it wasn’t on your car. That’s a violation.”
trixies be payin’
You need to go full-on nuts with the Chanukah decorations. I wonder how one would do that.
Potato latkes hung from the walls.
Odds are good we’re going to be in town next Christmas and that being the case, I totally want to get a tree. I’ve got this box of antique ornaments that belonged to my great-grandmother Elizabeth that I have carried around with me from state to state and stubbornly refused to get rid of and dammit, I want to hang them on a motherfucking tree. Also, dammit, I love Christmas, or at least the tree/music/hot drinks/decoration aspect of it and I am excited to have a chance to make Christmas happen my way.
Congrats on getting out of the ticket, John! We got two parking tickets in one day right before we sold the car and I was all FUCK THIS I’M FIGHTIN’ ’EM and I sent in the paperwork and then forgot to go to the hearing and Jeff was less than pleased with me.
Okay, I’m off to take an exam. Send me some positive, edifying vibes.
Hey, speaking of which I’ll be celebrating the end of Chanukah with breakfast at Ashkenaz deli.
Also, I had a jazz cd buying urge last night but was denied because (of course) the store didn’t have anything I wanted, but I just realized I can go to the Jazz Record Mart in a couple of weeks! This makes me happy.
and then forgot to go to the hearing
I nearly did this as well. I finally got my license in the mail yesterday after my speeding ticket last month, and I was thinking “Hmmm, I wonder when my hearing is for the parking ticket ... oh shit, I think it’s this week.”
Also, dammit, I love Christmas, or at least the tree/music/hot drinks/decoration aspect of it
My favorite part of Christmas was always Christmas Eve, when we went to church and then came home and my dad made a special dinner (like Moroccan stew or linguini w/scallops or fondue) and then we’d sit around the tree with coffee and homemade cookies, and Mark and I would exchange presents, and then we’d get to unwrap just one present from our parents, and we’d listen to Mel Torme’s Christmas album. Also the lights in the living room were dim so the tree-lights could glow.
My favorite part of Christmas is Jesus. I like to build a life-sized nativity scene and listen to hymns and hold my own private Mass in Latin and then roll on the floor in the holy nativity hay in religious ecstasy.
Is that what the kids are calling it these days.
This is the origin of the term “roll in the hay,” if I am not mistaken.
has anyone else heard the bruce mccullough album? specifically, “i just wanna say that i really love the baby jesus....” ?
I luvses that album. “Answering Machine” used to be the song on my answering machine. It was so long no one ever left a message. Perfect.
I can’t even see a manger without thinkin’ about him
i have two copies of that cd, one was jen’s but it wound up with my cds. i happened to be listening to it the other day. “that’s america” is timeless.
I can’t even see a manger without thinkin’ about him
i believe the quote is, “I can’t even see a manger without thinkin’ about him, eh?”
I’ve wanted to hear that album for years!
Would any non-Catholics like to attend Midnight Mass with me? I wanted to do it last year, but for some reason didn’t. I just think it would be fun to dress up real nice and watch a bizarre, antiquated ritual in a very pretty building. It’ll be like theater! Who’s with me?
i can not think of anything more depressing than going to midnight mass.
I do like Latin.
I’ve never been, is all. Maybe I’ll find out how depressing it is.
I’d definitely be interested in going to a Latin Mass — does anyone know of any that exist around here?
I’d definitely be interested in going to a Latin Mass — does anyone know of any that exist around here?
haha non-catholics. because Catholics are a bit creepy, yanno.
(should really capitalize consistantly but meh.)
i used to play violin duets with my sister at midnight mass every year at christmas.
i wonder if i should have a christmas movie marathon—elf, bad santa, and it’s a wonderful life.
Elf has that one girl with the funny name who is pretty.
Now you know.
Thanks Otto — yeah, I know where that church is. Right by the Chicago Blue Line stop.
When you’re a kid and you go to Midnight Mass, does that mean you sleep late on Christmas morning? Or is there just huge napping that afternoon?
no, we just didn’t get much sleep. when we got older we slept late on christmas mornings.
Yeah, I always wondered what went on in that church. Or any church, for that matter. I imagine fantastical goings-on.
Elves and fairies and chipmunks and dancing ponies and the like.
when you’re a kid there’s no such thing as sleeping late christmas morning. you crash later.
i wouldn’t mind finding a place with a polish mass. i’ll bet st. helen’s must have a few polish masses for christmas, it being the polish archdiocese of chicago and all.
Now you know.
that Catholics are Creepy?
xp, oh yeah, i loved those dancing ponies when i was little.
i think the most fantastical thing about our masses was chocolate donut holes afterwards. and my lovely violin stylings of course.
When my Indian mentee doesn’t understand something, she always says, “Why so?”. It’s really fucking cute.
And I don’t mean cute in an R. Kelly way, more in a chipmunks and dancing ponies way.
she always says, “Why so?”
Well, it’s depend.
Guys, I don’t know what to say. A senior citizens’ chorus has performed Sonic Youth’s “Schizophrenia.”
Go old people!
TS: apples vs. pears. Go!
they also performed a cold play song
pears.
An amazing pear at the height of its ripeness trumps all apples, but such a pear is a rare thing indeed. Outside of that ripeness window, pears aren’t very satisfying, whereas apples are just fine at least 80% of the time.
^^^^ correct
that seems right. I think it’s related to how I feel about pie v. cake, too: the best pie is better than the best cake, but in this fallen world one often gets better cake than pie.
Apples bore me lately. I can’t find any good Granny Smiths. I want an apple so tart I won’t be able to talk for an hour.
That said, I just has one of those amazing, perfect pears that jaymc described, so I choose pears.
just HAD
i would gladly pay a man tuesday for an apple pie today.
apples might be better than pears in pie. I don’t think I’ve ever had pear pie.
Pear pie sounds like it would be good, though.
pear pie would be full of mushy goo. Pear cobbler would be possible, I guess. But really, anytime you cook a pear you end up with something more suitable for spreading on taost than anything else.
it’s a little awkward to say, with the alliteration. but it sounds delicious, yeah.
spreading on taoists? sounds kinky.
What’s the diff betw a pie and a cobbler?
I think I’m hungry, guys. mmm, mushy pear goo.
The tao is the way to all things kinky and pear-flavored.
baked pears can be good, if they’re soaked in booze and drizzled with ganache.
Pie has a top and bottom crust, and you eat it woth a fork. It has shape. Cobbler is fruit compote with something crunchy or doughy baked on top. You eat it with a spoon.
cobbler=pie w/o bottom crust, right?
vs.
ooh... pecan pie.
baked pears can be good, if they’re soaked in booze and drizzled with ganache.
I am going to gain weight this holiday season. Oh yes I am.
omg porn\\
omg, you can’t post stuff like that unless you can produce it immediately for me to EAT!
Note to self: buy country apples at farmer’s market on Sat and make pies this weekend. Roommates will love me, house will smell amazing, breakfast covered for all next week.
I thought about starting a thread to post pictures of delicious-looking food on, but then I remembered that there are a lot of Britishes about.
...who would inevitably post things like black pudding and stewed tomatoes?
For folks that were at TT last night, the TASTY JEWISH DISH I was thinking of last night is KUGEL.
I thought kugels were those little personal exercises.
...who would inevitably post things like black pudding and stewed tomatoes?
Or whatever the fuck this is.
It is the anti-cobbler.
I love kugel.
I know, I know, hoary, unfair, and unfunny. So sue me.
No Kenan, that’s kegels.
Oh, right.
I think there are classes for that at the health club upstairs.
hey, how did the game of f/m/k go? i totally would have gone to tt if i’d woken up at 4:30 instead of 5:30.
We didn’t get to play f/m/k, unfortch. But we did talk about some hilarious things from back in school daze... And, just in case you guys thought I was kidding about “Is internet commerce will change our lives” ... I give you this: http://www.awesomecs.com/ospwww/ecommerce/ecom1.jpg
And right now the business on the Internet has become more than you can imagine , you not just can buy or see the stuff from the Internet , you can also bidding for the stuff from the Internet.
wow, just.... man, my brain can’t take it. impressive. two thumbs up, WAY UP, for that.
yay, Dan!
This is where you can start ignoring me...
I HATE HATE HATE my coworker Hemroid. I hope a reindeer sticks his antlers up her ass. My boss asked me if I knew where she kept a particular file. I looked for it and didn’t see it. So he asked me to call her and ask her where it is. So I did (she’s at the jobsite and at home today). She said, ‘There are a few of those papers in this file, some over here, some over here... I’ve never kept track of that account.’ So I pull this, that, and the other file and give them all to my boss who is standing behind me waiting. I say, everything is in here but it’s completely random. If you like, I can call the bank and get everything from them together. He says, I might have you do that, but for now let me see what I can find in here. I scurry away.
Anyway, she just called and asked me which months were missing from the statements. I said, I have no idea. I just gave him everything. She’s like WHAT?! You didn’t pull out the statements from the other files?! Me—No. I just gave him everything to go through and offered to contact the bank. She—Well, you SHOULD have pulled them out. You really should. Now he’s going to be upset with me for not having it all in one place!
I know. It’s not my problem. It’s her job. But also, IT’S HER JOB. Why is she going off on me for not doing a good enough job covering up her own fiasco? Grrr.
In better news, it’s Friday.
Kugel is amazing.
Hey neat, I’m using a “gibberizer” for work:
Çhìçågö ìs gìbbêrìzêd
what does evan have to do with that?
ha ha
I love cobbler. I’m sure I mentioned I made peach cobbler a few weeks ago. It was spectacular, if I do say so myself, especially considering it isn’t peach season.
Speaking of it not being peach season, I have found that frozen peaches are pretty good for baking with! Throw peaches in a baking dish, sprinkle with sugar/cinnamon/nutmet, top with mounds of biscuit dough, and bake until dough is brown. Maybe at 350 degrees? It’s flexible. AND DELICIOUS.
Ì’m pöstìñg ìñ gìbbêrìsh för thê rêst öf thê dåý.
Kugel is amazing.
I belatedly realized I should’ve called you when I was racking my brain trying to remember what it was called.