Centerfield

Good will, peace, blah blah blah...

Here's the real question: What's everyone putting in their egg nog? Whiskey, brandy, rum? Not vodka (yuk!) or gin (double yuk!).

I'm partial to making real hot cocoa with milk and some half and half and half and some exra unsweetened cocoa added to give it a dark chocolate kick.

And then you add some peppermint schnapps and top it off with whipped cream. Or with Fluff, a regional New England delicacy which horrifies out-of-staters.

I never EVER put eggnog in my rum! Shudder. Nasty stuff, eggnog.

I put whiskey or brandy in my coffee sometimes, on the rare occasions that I pollute good whiskey or brandy with anything. (Feel free to pollute middlin' whiskey and brandy with your choice of flavorings, and simply avoid the bad stuff altogether.) Rum is quite versatile IMHO, much more so than vodka, and one of my standards. If you don't believe me, try a vodka and coke.

Gin is somewhat limited across the board, but has its uses. Good with tonic, fruit juices, or vermouth....

Mommy! Mommy! I know what I want for Christmas! ;-)

BTW, I'm with Tully on the eggnog question. If you're lucky, you will never have to choose between drinking eggnog and disappointing your host. If you're even luckier, (or not of Norwegian descent) you will never have to choose between eating lutefisk and disappointing your mother.*

*Lutefisk, for those non-Scandanavian readers, tastes something like fish jello flavored with gasoline, only far, far more disgusting.

Random comments:

- I feel bad for the people stuck in airports.

- I am very happy that we don't travel at this time of year.

- I'm pleased that we got a few inches of snow yesterday, our first accumulated snowfall of the year.

- Ditto regarding the troops.

- I was in NYC this week on business and took an evening stroll down to Rockfeller Center. The tree really is spectacular.

- I am dreading the day that my kids stop believing in Santa Clause.

Merry Christmas and Hanukkah to everyone.

Merry Christmas to all, and be safe.

I don't drink eggnog. I've never tried it.

Indeed, God bless all our troops who keep us safe all year round.

Again, be safe, keep your heads up, and drink responsibly.

Lutefisk?!?

Oh, Jean, you are so cruel to even mention the existence of that foul substance. Done absolutely perfectly with the correct fish, it's merely amorphously obnoxious. But no one knows how to do it perfectly, so your description is dead on the money, even understated. But I think you're being terribly unkind to the flavor of gasoline...that would usually be a major improvement.

Merry Christmas. Happy Hannukuh. Take it easy this weekend and give someone a hug; that's a nice present.

To all the Merriest.

Yes, the Tree is nice in NYC. Things seem peaceful at the moment. Nothing close to snow. Maybe 50 on Monday. Will the Giants get smacked on Saturday? Heveci is history....

Many residential buildings in NYC are now requiring all guests to show a photo ID. Does that apply to the food deliveries? And my Super says he has to check the ID of all WORKERS. Uh-oh.......

FELICE NEVIDAD PARA TODOS.....did I get that right?

I'm just in from doing my second round of shopping. I think I'll finish early this year... before noon of Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas to all of you, and please pardon me while I pass on the lutefisk...

And heading immediately off-topic into booze trivia, anyone know how the traditional gin and tonic with lime came about? :-)

British colonials in foreign lands needed something to drink other than the dysentery-laden local water. Wine and beer didn't hold up well in shipments through blazing heat and ocean voyages of tens of thousands of miles, etc. And they were bulky, eating up valuable cargo room. So they came up with the G&T with lime! Lime to prevent scurvy, tonic (quinine water) to ward off malaria, and gin to sterilize the glass and help you forget you were somewhere where you really really needed to worry about scurvy, malaria, and dysentery....

One of the most downright practical drinks ever invented, it helped build an empire.

Man, I thought everyone liked egg nog. Must be a Jersey thing. I hope you guys and girls all have a great [insert holiday]. And let's all hope the Eagles can beat the Cowboys on Christmas day.

Regarding lutefisk:

It was on the menu at my paternal grandmother's Christmas feast every year. While I haven't had any in 30+years I remember aboslutely loving it. And I could always eat my fill since there was very little competion for it. Perhaps one of my taste genes is turned off, or the way it was prepared in a white creamy sauce (doubtful since recent discussions with cousins show they all agree with Jean). Perhaps it is best I haven't had any since those days long gone. The memories are fond.

Wishing you all the fondest memories of this coming Christmas.

De gustibus non est disputandum!

Eggnog, lutefisk, or whatever.

I hope you all have better-than-acceptable long-time-off-with-lots-of-shopping-and-eating-and-football.

P.S.: We're finally breaking down and getting a DVD player for Xmas, and LOTR. We're mostly planning to stay home and watch LOTR.

ROTFL!

Patrick, you have proved yourself a wise man as well as a gentleman for passing on the lutefisk. As Tully has said, all the good lutefisk cooks stayed in Scandanavia. (except maybe for Dennis's) I suppose that if you have nothing to eat all endless winter except for fish prepared with lye, then you learn to like it. (or else.)

Tully, a thousand apologies for mentioning the Grendal of Scandanavian foods. To make up for it, here's the best Christmas light show ever, which should cheer you up (or make you throw up, depending on how nauseated you feel. ;-)

Oh, Jean, you can't scare me with lutefisk! I've had worse Scandanavian foods. If you think even properly made lutefisk is bad, I'd tell you that the Icelanders and Swedes have a few other dishes you definitely want to avoid. Some of which only sound revolting when described but taste OK (as long as you don't think too much about what you're eating, or are simply not squeamish that way) and a few of which should be avoided even if it offends the host.

Actually, any host that would be offended you didn't try the hakarl or surstromming is a right sadistic bastard in the first place, and you owe them no courtesies. And they know it--you can see the evil twinkle in their eye when they offer it, the suppressed malicious grin....

No matter what they tell you, the local aqvavit will not get the taste of either of those two foods out of your mouth. But if you drink enough of it, your taste buds WILL go blessedly numb. As will most of the rest of you. Don't worry that they'll try to sneak these foods (and I use that word VERY loosely) up on you by surprise. As long as you have any sense of smell at all they can't get 'em even close without you noticing. (If you don't have a sense of smell, your eyes watering is a clue.) They'll tell you to ignore the smell, that the flavor is actually quite good. Don't believe them.

Oh my. That's awesome. There's some light and sound engineer out there with a big grin and a HUGE electric bill.

Speaking of electrical bills, here's an item that might be on Christmas lists for next year's gifts.

Again. anyone ever read the Sci Fi short story "The Committee of the Whole"?

Very cool! No, never read that story, but I remember seeing descriptions, specs, and rough costs for Gauss Guns in the Traveller RPG (search for gauss).

So, if we're at TL13 now, where's that jump drive, huh?

LOL! Glad you liked it, Tully. I asked my sister and brother-in-law about it over Christmas dinner, and they said that light show was engineered by a California firm (that was their 2005 promotion video) They were driving past a house with flashing Chrismas lights when they saw a sign reading "Tune your radio to 93.3 FM"; when they did, they saw the Christmas song playing on the radio was sychronized to the electric display. It impressed my sister, and she's not easily impressed.

So...this will hit the Midwest eventually. If you'd like your neibors to watch your house, (and watch your neighbors get into fenderbenders while gawking at your house), then something can be arranged. Me, I'd choose Spinal Tap's Christmas With The Devil song for my lights, just to freak out any of the P clan who happened to be driving by, but YMMV.

Oh, Jean, all we have to do to annoy the P clan is exist! I think they believe that Rudolph is gay--maybe we can arrange for wild reindeer to storm their chapel during services next year...I posted that video over at SF with a hat tip for you. It is just plain awesome.