1 C all purpose flour
Use an electic mixer to beat the sugar and butter together for 2 or 3 minutes at medium speed. Beat in the egg yolk and spices until well blended. Stir flour in by hand; wrap dough in plastic and stuff it in the fridge for a few hours. Roll out to about 1/4" thick; cut with whatever cutter you've got; bake in an oven that's been pre-heated to 375. The time will vary depending on the accuracy of your oven and the size of cookie cutter you use to cut them out, but between 5 and 10 minutes will have them just right. Cool on a rack; they don't really need frosting.
And don't even think about using whatever crappy cinnamon you have in your drawer. First, spices lose flavor with age. Second, cheap cinnamon tastes more like pine-scented air freshener than cinnamon. Third, Ceylon cinnamon's flavor is quite different from other good cinnamons: it tastes like orange zest and allspice have been stirred in along the way. The flavor of the cookies is sort of orange-cinnamon-caramel. Perhaps you should send a batch to poor Mr. Curtis; anyone getting as much hate mail as he's likely getting right now deserves some nice cookies.
12.13.14 Ghost of Jazz Hands Past
Get your tickets now, people. Check out more details here, and Brothermine, you were right: Scrooge owns a tap dance company. But I see no mention of Tiny Tim and his Tiny Crutch. My imitation goes something like tap clunk tap tap tappity clunk tap. God tap tap Bless Us tapppity tap tap Every tap Onnnneeeee tappity tap tap tap!
I can see that tap dance loses something when translated to the written word.
12.8.4 Theories
OK, so an Ohio recount appears to be happening. Bush won those 20 electoral votes by 118,775 popular votes. Boy, if there's ever a case for states to split their e-votes along popular lines...Well, I guess that case first happened in 2000, and didn't work then. Still, in a state that took multiple days just to get the voting done, and had a few counties with massive more-votes-than-voters problems, well, who knows? I love the "they can't win anyway" quote in the article. Democracy is for the winners.
Here's my big idea for everyone's holiday shopping: only buy from ebay shoppers who a-live in Canada or b-list a major Democratic city as their home address. There are now a number of lists that suggest only shopping in blue states or only from small local businesses, but the more I looked into it all, the more overwhelmed I got. We have a lot of small businesses that carry merchandise created in sweatshops, or products housed in warehouses that live in deep red states (or even areas, like, say, Renton). And what about all you folk flying somewhere for the holidays? Other than JetBlue, Hawaiian Air, and others based in angry-at-Bush lefty countries, you're pretty screwed. So stay home, and shop ebay. Or by magazine subscriptions directly from the source, like Cook's Illustrated, Bust, Dwell, or Outside. Yes, the last three accept advertising from some sweatshop-esque companies (even Bust, now), but they're indy owned and sell to their target, which is as blue as it gets.
Who wants to go squid jigging? It'll be a useful skill when the revolution comes, won't it?
12.6.4 Slow News Day
The wisemen, they love the herringbone. And those Virgins, they love the sophisticated stripes.
This recipe suggests the amazing wafer stack as a summer dessert, it makes a fine yule log with the addition of some marzipan mushrooms and extra grated chocolate for bark. Even you can make it. Yes, you.
12.3.4 Krazy Bird
The part about this that really sucks is that bone cancer is crazy painful. Plus EIGHT years of being doped up on head meds. One thing I approve of about the poetry slam movement: It's helping turn poets into rock stars, which will ultimately help take traditional artist destructovision and turn it from internal crazy poet head to external broken hotel crazy rocker head. The insurance companies are the only ones who don't look on that as an improvement. Well, and the teen goths who need depressively quiet role models. Whatever: they don't know what to do with a good role model anyway. (the answer, of course, is to stalk them).
I have been loaned Putative's new recipe box, and am now determined to have a party of pink food, which will include Pink Cup Punch and Pink Fluffy Pie from said box. Also, um, borscht? And ham? And rhubarb jam? Hey, lookit this! I could help do something nice, too!
12.2.4 Hubba Hubba
Stumble drunkenly, don't walk (or God Forbid, try to run): the next two Wednesday nights at the Mirabeau offer a boobilicious feast for the eyes in the Atomic Bombshells burlesque troop. This is the third one Sweetie and I've seen, and by far the best. Straight vintage, great moves, great costumes, hilarious props (twirling pistols, fake plastic bombs) and, of course, boobies. And legs. And ruffled panties. And, holy moly, the spinach and artichoke dip, which should've been called the cream and cheese and butter dip. Luscious.
And in a generally celebratory sense of cheery holiday whatnot, have some recipe and craft suggestions:
