Time to get the gumbo on (WARNING: Shameless blog whore … recipe!)
Cheers, one and all!
3.
SiubhanDuinne
The happiest and merriest to all Juicers!
4.
Sarah
Happy day, JC. I love this blog.
5.
A Mom Anon
Merry Holidays everyone. And for the love of gawd,please let 2010 suck ever so much less than ’09.
6.
GReynoldsCT00
Merry Christmas and don’t take any triple-dog dares today!
A wonderful day to you JC and all the rest of the Juicers.
7.
Bisquits
What A Mom Anon said. Happy Holidays to all!
8.
Ming
Merry Chistmas to you, John, whatever that is!
and all best for the coming year to all the Juicers.
thanks for all the laughs, insights and kindnesses!
9.
schooner
As a mostly lurking viewer of the Juice, I’d like to wish a Merry Xmas and thanks to all bloggers and commentators.
Nobody shoot their eye out.
10.
geg6
Merry Christmas to John, Lily, Tunch, DougJ, Tim F, and Anne Laurie. The best bloggers on the whole Toobz, bar none. And to all my fellow Juicers, BOB and Makewi included.
11.
demkat620
Merry Christmas all! Well whatever I did this year, the DH, kids and even the dog are happy.
Hallelujah!
Breakfast will be served in an hour, bacon eggs, biscuits, potatoes and sausage. Y’all are all welcome.
12.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
Merry Christmas to all! On the schedule for today: family, presents, eat, drink, smoke and pass out.
Sounds like a perfect day! :)
13.
Walker
Merry Christmas all.
The wife and I celebrated Wigilia last night, so it is my turn to cook Christmas dinner today. Going for the American stand-by: standing rib roast.
14.
Joey Maloney
Picture caption: “White House press offers holiday greetings to Dick Cheney, 2003.”
Happy Solstice to Juicers, families, friends, and pets. TUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!!
15.
Elroy's Lunch
Merry Christmas to John and all the Juicers out there! I’m thankful we have this community. Be safe. Don’t shoot your eye out.
16.
mai naem
Mele Kalikimaka. That’s in Hawaiian to y’all.
Gotta second what An Anon Mom said. Can’t deal with another ’09 again.
17.
geg6
I just have to gush a little here. I am reclining on the couch in the sun room, surrounded by two lugs of dogs with big red bows around their necks, smelling the eggs Benedict in the making my man is preparing while sipping great java and watching the CBS Early Show. I might be a little bit in love with Harry Smith.
Going for the American stand-by: standing rib roast.
We who are about to be eaten salute you.
Despite this tragic note, my entire herd wishes you a Happy Pagan Holiday.
Santa Cow is on his way.
19.
geg6
Angus @18: Just so you know, my John and I decided to eschew the traditional standing rib roast in favor of roast duck in your honor. He likes you for some reason, my John. Some sort of bovine man crush or something. ;-)
I’m up early (as always) and enacting my tradition from my bitter Jew – pre-Xian gf (now wife – days of watching Fiddler on the Roof…
…skipping over the middle part of course which drags.
21.
CLG
From a lurker who loves this site Merry Christmas to all.
22.
Emma
Feliz Navidad, everyone. Last night’s dinner went well. We went through three loafs’ worth of tomato-garlic bruschetta. I copped a lot of nice presents. Today, big brunch at my sister’s with all the artery-clogging one could wish for.
For those of you in the paths of all that snow, be warm. For all of you, be safe and happy. You guys as the best group ever!
Merry Christmas. I just discovered this blog in the last couple of days and consider it my special Christmas present to myself. Hope there is room for one more. I’m a refugee from a couple of other sites which have jumped the shark and shall remain nameless. Love the posts, comments and pictures of pets and babies. Just my cup of tea.
Merry merry John, to you and your family. and to all Juicers. You rock like no other blog. Where else would I have found out about the Jesus key?
34.
General Winfield Stuck
Good morning Juicers. I am so relieved because Joe Scarborough told me on my teevee not to worry, that the good white wingnuts of Alabama loves them some Barrack Obama and reports to the contrary are false. Teehee!!
Happy Holiday to all, No Exceptions!!
35.
Paris
“If anything, this new discovery shows how minor a place Nazareth was and draws new light to a central paradox of the Christmas narrative: Why would a pregnant mother from the Galilee travel as far south as Bethlehem to have a child?”
@geg6: Cold AM in Houston, so the two “Worlds Best Kittehs” can not snuggle any closer. Their purring is almost synchronized. Occasionally Meredith lifts her head and meows plaintively for a belly rub.
Merry Christmas all!!
David Sedaris is once again Crumpet the Elf on NPR. I am waiting for 9 AM when my NPR station begins its classical holiday and sacred music program. Magic.
Random thoughts:
Someone leveled Benedict. Maybe god does have a sense of humor.
My heart goes out to the family of the soldier shown on the Taliban video. I can not imagine the emotions.
38.
Clutch414
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!!
39.
Clutch414
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
40.
Annie
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all, most especially to Tunch, Lily, Charlie, Smudge, Raven, Shadow, Chompers, Samantha, and all of the other BJ darlings. May today bring you lots and lots of kittie and doggie treats…..
41.
debbie
It’s been great discovering and reading this blog over the past year. (Wish I knew more of its origins.)
Best hopes, dreams, and wishes for 2010!
42.
Annie
that lots and lots…editing off this morning….
43.
bey
Merry Christmas everyone! One of the cats let me a little Christmas Puddle on the bathmat, despite having 4 pristine boxes available.
Ho Ho Ho. Damn cats.
44.
Punchy
Let’s hope 2010 doesn’t suck for Apple as much as Apple sucks apples.
Every year until this one I celebrated Christmas in the traditional Jewish fashion – Chinese food and a movie. But this year I’m in Israel and it happens to be Shabbat as well as Christmas so everything is closed, including all the nearby Chinese restaurants and movie houses.
So I’m spending the day with the internet, some good science fiction books, and for dinner I’m making an old favorite, 40 Cloves & A Chicken, or in local parlance ארבעים שום ועוף אחת.
52.
Proper Gander
Merry Christmas from a semi-lurker!
I’m off to the Vietnamese restaurant for some pho, because I’m stuck in Cedar Rapids with a non-operational clutch and couldn’t make it to see the family.
Hope your Christmas is better than mine!
53.
jager
My Baby Aunt Liz (farm wife, Mom and superb special ed teacher) edited all of Grandma’s old home movies, going all the way back to 1947 onto a CD. Amidst all the birthday parties, Christmas gatherings and film of our old dogs was the gem of gems; a piece of video she got years ago from a local TV station, her young, DFH, farmer husband at a meeting with Nixon’s Ag Secretary Earl Butz…the qoute from Uncle Gary was priceless, “When’s the last time you were on a fucking family farm, Mr. Secretary?” The best Christmas present ever!
Have a great day with family and friends, chilly this morning in SoCal. Merry Christmas! BTW, the black Cocker I had when I was about 6 was a pretty damn cool dog, good to see her again!
say dash ham to the holy land. I am very jealous….
I am doing the same minus the chinese food. Two movies in manhattan with the fam this afternoon.
55.
donovong
Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwanza, Cheerful Boxing Day, and at the very least A Very Pleasant Friday to everybody here at BJ, and especially Lily.
May 2010 suck a lot less than 2009, and 2008, and…well, may 2010 just not suck, please?
56.
HRA
I had been reading blogs for some years. Some of my favorites left the blogosphere. I was surfing around for one to replace them and found BJ. I did not have to look further.
I have enjoyed it immensely.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.
57.
strawmanmunny
Want to wish everyone here a Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays. My New Years resolution is to post more here so y’all have been warned. :)
John, Doug, and all the main posters and the commentators are great and it’s nice to have a place to read about politics that isn’t batshit crazy just crazy.
58.
Notorious P.A.T.
Same to you John, and everyone else here. Thanks for making it my favorite internet haunt.
59.
phoebes-in-santa fe
Happy Christmas and Merry New Year to all.
I also found BJ this year, and it, along with Steve Benen’s Political Animal, are my daily required reading, whether home or on the road.
I’m still as glad today as I was on January 20th, when I was standing with my family in the infamous Purple Section, that Barack Obama is our new president. He inherited a hell of a mess and seems to be dealing with it – for the most part – pretty well. Obviously, I am not one of the legion of disappointed liberals who view Obama as not having done “enough” to advance the liberal cause. I wish these disappointed ones would sit back and realise that this country was so far to the right from 2001-2009 that Obama is trying to get us back to the middle!
I hope that 2010 will bring the beginning of universal HCR by passing a bill to get to the president by State of the Union. And that that bill will only be the START of HCR. Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar reminded us that the much-vaunted Civil Rights Bill began as a tiny bill in 1960 and then expanded over time to the full bill by 1965.
I also hope that this blog will return to showing as many pictures of John Cole’s cat as it does his dog. I mean, the dog’s nice and all…but we cat people, who are owned by our pets, need a daily fix of cat pictures!
Wait was President Bush enforcing a kill all the male newborns law in the lower 48 and that is why Sarah had to go back to Alaska?
65.
gbear
Someone’s gotta do it:
Bah f*ing humbug.
It is now raining in St. Paul f*ing MN on top of the 8 or so inches of snow we got yesterday. Perfect heart attack snow. By monday it’s supposed to be back down in the teens. F*ing wonderful.
Family get-together not until second weekend in January because of distant siblings who work retail. Today is read, sleep, pet cats, watch birds. And go out to shovel slush every now and then.
66.
Jackie
Merry Christmas to all and Best Wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. This is a great community of folks and you deserve nothing but the best.
PS May I nominate “theological friendly fire” for comment of the year? I’m still breaking out in random giggles.
67.
Brent
Happy Festivus all you loony juicers! I too discovered BJ this year and it is my fav blog, required daily reading. I mostly lurk as I often find myself on the learning side of the podium. Amongst my fellow travellers I am usually the pontificator, so it is a nice treat to sit back and soak in the wit, intelligence and humor you all bring. There is just the right mix of irreverence, disestablishmentarianism, rudeness and good natured sarcasm to go with the insights. I especially enjoy the contraries who buck the groupthink tendency to suck the noodly appendages of whatever point of view presented by the front pager, whether the mighty Cole or DougJ the lesser. Let’s eat and drink til we puke!
68.
geg6
Menus, people! Menus! For us, appetizer of pate, spinach salad with hot bacon dressing, honey glazed carrots, my famous twice baked potatoes, roast duck with sausage and mushroom dressing, and a surprise dessert. Accompanied by a Mondavi Private Reserve chardonnay, a Jacob’s Creek shiraz, and a Martini and Rossi proseco. I will be a +10 again.
69.
SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta
Joyeaux Noel all you crazy BJ curmudgeons,DFHs, lurkers,philosophers, anarchists, and kindly, smart people.
Gbear, get a scoop and just shove it around. Wait til it freezes again, anyway, or you’ll have ice on your nice smooth surfaces. Ice is much easier to remove if it has snow under it.
Bey, feed the cat in the bathroom for a few days. They don’t like to pee where they eat.
Happy Winter Solstice, everyone! May your days get longer from here to June!
And you Americans, congrats on electing Barack Obama—I never thought I’d see the day.
Been raining almost nonstop here in the almost-South Carolina lowcountry since midnight or so. We’re also under a tornado watch till noon.
The ham is in the oven, ‘The Man Who Came to Dinner’ is on TCM, and the SO was most pleased with his new all-weather jacket.
Happy happy & merry merry to y’all at my favorite daily stop on the ‘nets. Y’all have a great day.
And more Smudge photos, pleez?
77.
Jean
Merry Christmas to all! My kids and pets are happy today, especially my dog Simon who no longer has to wear a cone on his head. He is healed! Thanks, Santa.
78.
ACK
Mostly a lurker, occasionally a poster — but have followed Balloon Juice daily since John’s conversion (welcome comrade!).
The best blog bar none. And thanks for helping me keep my sanity, during those dark days.
Oh, and you can tell John is now a fellow comrade as he has taken the “r” out of Christmas (Chistmas). lol
Merry Christmas!
79.
Mary
Merry Christmas John & Co. Your blog is great because it has such heart and such humor and such animal lovingness. I even love the trolls.
Let me be the 70-something person to wish John, Anne Laurie, DougJ, Tim F and everyone at Balloon-Juice a very Merry Christmas! This is a great place to hang.
81.
jeffreyw
@geg6: Hmm…let me sort the menu out in my head here, been working a few days on this as the mood struck.
Centerpiece will be roast duckling with a cranberry/lemon glaze. I made two dressings, a fresh cajun pork sausage dressing and another gumbo themed dressing. Sweet potato casserole with walnut topping. Brussel sprouts sauted in bacon fat with diced ham, pan deglazed with basalmic and then finished in the oven. Cranberry relish. Mashed Idaho potatoes with boudin gravy. Sweet potato pies, cherry pie with crumb topping, said pies to be topped with fresh made whipped cream. And lastly the Free Range Fruit Cake from an Alton Brown recipe that I made a week ago and have been spritzing with brandy everyday since.
Today’s plan: we will follow the folkways of our people. In other words, go to a movie (probably Sherlock Holmes), then Chinese food.
85.
rdldot
Merry Christmas to all…
Best place to hang out on the tubes.
86.
Brick Oven Bill
Al Frankin is a freak.
Merry Christmas.
87.
Demo Woman
Merry Christmas all. I’m waiting for the sons to arrive and watching Love Actually. Yeah, I know chick flick, yadda, yadda, yadda.
Chuck, if you are around, just wanted to let you know, that you are in my thoughts.
I cry at the last scene in the airport every single time…
90.
GregB
Merry Christmas to all of you mad Juicers.
-G
91.
demkat620
Your funny image for the day…
My 8 yo daughter dancing and singing to Low by Flo Rida.
L.O.L.
92.
Jack
Merry Chrismyulekwanzakah.
93.
Beeb
Merry Christmas, y’all.
94.
geg6
And as always, jeffreyw makes my John and I look like pikers. Nevertheless, men who cook rock my world.
95.
NobodySpecial
Merry Christmas/Hanukah/Whatev. Many many more, too.
96.
4jkb4ia
You too, John!
My husband insisted on “The Young Victoria” so we are going. This year there were three possible movies. I cannot take the abundance.
And I guess I should thank everybody here for putting up with me from the bottom of my heart.
97.
South of I-10
Thanks John, I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas. Merry Christmas to everyone. Little South is about to come out of her skin, she is having so much fun. We are off to my parents for lunch.
98.
4jkb4ia
@geg6:
Turkey, barley-mushroom pilaf, and bok choy and cauliflower stir-fry with dried mushrooms.
99.
4jkb4ia
@Joey Maloney:
I am wildly envious. No. Seriously.
Happy Holidays to one and all here at BJ. We’re having a wonderful if soggy Christmas Day here in S. Wisconsin. At least the rain has melted the ice sheet that was our driveway and when it refreezes it will only be half as thick. Thank FSM for small blessings.
edit: Holy hell, I haven’t commented in awhile and I now have an edit button! Merry f’n Christmas indeed!
The main menu is at our one daughter’s house -2 blocks away. All I know is 2 different turkey offerings – Turkey Tetrazini and Pulled Turkey with chili sauce. Everyone else is given an assigned dish to bring. I was told to make oreo cookie cake.
Tomorrow is when they come to our house to eat. Lasagna with my own tomato sauce (meatballs, sausage and country spareribs) , pasta (the usual and rice pasta), green salad, peppers, olives, cheese, 2 breads (Italian and Portuguese), Strawberry Trifle and Christmas cookies. Oops – Chicken noodle and cream of broccoli soup, too.
HRA: We are doing pasta for my family’s holiday celebration on Sunday (too many conflicting schedules and travel difficulties to do it today). We’ll be at my next older sister’s, who bought my parents’ old homestead when they passed. Caesar salad, lasagne, meatballs, hot sausage, and homemade pastas. Dinner is geared for halftime during the Stillers/Ravens. Pre-dinner munchies will be shrimp with cocktail sauce and buffalo chicken dip. Desserts will be an assortment od oldest sister’s homemade cookies, my favorites being pecan cups, pineapple squares, and lady locks. All I have to bring is the shrimp and sauce. Everyone will be in black and gold.
109.
Chris
Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope your holiday brings you cheer, peace and good will. I am glad I’ve found such a reasonable place on the tubes full of literate, reasonable people. This place gives me hope for our republic. Thanks for all the laughs from John, Dougj and Anne Laurie. Thanks for all the laughs and serious analysis too…by all the commenters. GWS, aimai, eemom geg6 you guys help keep me informed and keep me from going off the deep end and spending too much time at FDL and the GOS. Thanks!!!
Welcome to the bitter, sentimental, dyspeptic, and hilarious club.
Merry merry, all!
111.
Gwangung
Merry Christmas to Juicers everwhere!
Headed off soon to my brother’s for the afternoon gathering. Then this evening to the brother’s in-laws place for an intimate gathering of a hundred or so. EVERY food imaginable, from turkey to rib roast to tamales to suu Mai to bitter melon to fried rice….need to diet to prepare for it…..
112.
phoebes-in-santa fe
@Keith G: Being a life-time Jew, I will tell you that in years past, Chinese restaurants were often the only restaurants open on Christmas Day. So, not wanting to actually cook after seeing the requisite movie on Christmas, Jews went en-masse to Chinese restaurants for dinner.
Obviously, things are better now, with more restaurants remaining open on Christmas and Christmas Eve – albeit, often with really expensive menus – so the dining choices have widened for us who don’t cook traditional dinners.
Most Jews, however, do sorta celebrate Christmas by getting together with family and friends. Maybe without the tree and decorations, but with loved ones just the same. Out here in Santa Fe, I’m celebrating with my 30 year old son and my sister and brother-in-law, who are visiting from Chicago. We’re meeting for lunch in a little while at a hotel restaurant and then we’re going to the movies – my son and I to see “Up in the Air” and my sister and BIL to see “It’s Complicated”. Then we’re returning to my house to watch football and maybe a movie and feast on our “holiday” dinner, fresh shrimp, corn-on-the-cob, pasta, and dessert. It’s kinda a wild menu but we all like those things!
So, again, Happy Christmas and Merry New Year to all the posters on this site.
113.
Phoebe
XOXO! I love you all. Happy EID, too. Their stamps are prettiest.
I’m not phoebes-in-santa-fe, obviously, but my name is Phoebe and I’m currently in Santa Fe, so, high five!
114.
Anya
@A Mom Anon: Amen to that! Happy Holidays everyone!
Montysanto here’s to a better year ahead. I had a death year like that in the 90’s. Very very excruciating. Hang in there. .
117.
CaseyL
The process of rendering pie cherries creates quite a lot of sour cherry juice, which makes a great morning drink while checking in with my fellow BJers.
Deck the halls
For whatever hols
You fancy
Get all festive
And unrestive
Be dancy!
So heed the call
“Good season all!”
And keep your spirits prancy.
today = bacon-wrapped fillets, some kind of tater, sauteed spinach. wine + wine + wine + wine.
119.
Ailuridae
is it wrong that I have Alton Brown’s Duck recipe in the works and this post has made me delay it to get Chinese take-out?
120.
Chat Noir
Merry Xmas to everyone on this fab blog. I found Balloon Juice in early spring after Kos linked to it on numerous occassions. Now I click here daily. I have learned a ton from everyone.
I’m also glad that the horrid 2009 is nearly at an end (my job of nearly 20 years goes away next Tuesday). Best wishes to all you folks here. I look forward to the posts, comments, snark, and pets in the new year.
121.
Anya
This is the first Christmas I am spending by myself. I am a product of Christian and Muslim parents (both are agnostics but their families are religious), so at home my mom (the christian parent) made a big deal about Eid and every Christmas we visited our grandparents in Boston to spend the Christmas with them. This year, I did not celebrate either and it feels really weird.
122.
eric
Today will be spent tooling around and doing much of nothing, playing some guitar, maybe Lebron/Kobe for a few later. Missing the most beautiful daughter in the world who is visiting family with her mom. I give thanks for her health every day and wish the same to each of you here. My biggest wish for the holiday is the HCR really works for people and millions of Americans can live better more sane lives because of if. I have my concerns about the legislation, but if that wish comes even a little bit true, then this progressive guy will have many more very merry christmases.
To all of the people who are having a trying holiday season, please rest easier knowing that you have friends here in the “impersonal” blogosphere that are always willing to help.
Finally, in loving memory of the baddest of the badasses on the intertubes: fuck the fucking yankees.
today = bacon-wrapped fillets, some kind of tater, sauteed spinach. wine + wine + wine + wine.
Um… (wipes drool off chin)
…. where did you say you lived?
124.
D-Chance.
One side effect of Christmas is Christmas Day television. I’ve got a choice of Christmas parades, Christmas specials, Divorce Court (on THREE different channels), Christmas sermons, soap operas in Christmas settings, or some basketball featuring the Knicks (teams wearing green and red).
Divorce Court… hmmm….
125.
demkat620
Sauce is in the crockpot, meatballs on the stove.
Lasagna will be prepared for tomorrow’s potluck with the family.
Wine in my glass, happy kids, dog has a new toy and all is right with the world.
126.
geg6
Is it wrong that I am already +2? Well, if it is, I don’t wanna be right. Mimosas, bitchez!
My kid moved to Albequerque; my at-least-10-year-old (she showed up on the front step ten years ago) dog is blind and incontinent most days (I realized today I have to let her go); I work from 11 am until 11 pm today; and I only have one present in the house (not from said kid, because tuition is so damned expensive). Here’s to tomorrow sucking less than today.
in a magical place known (by the writing on the water towers) as “the peak of good living”.
130.
Tsulagi
Merry Xmas BJers wherever you may be.
We’ve already had our main Xmas dinner. Following a tradition in some SA countries, you party till midnight on Xmas Eve then sit down to dinner at midnight as it becomes Xmas.
We had a lot of expats without other family in the area in our house. The Scot with his thick accent who’s hard enough to understand when sober was hammered. For comedy value, at dinner I thought of asking him to say grace.
131.
geg6
Betsy @126: Come on over! We have a whole second bottle of cheap champagne we have yet to crack and plenty of the fixings! That said, I’m thinking a nap will be in order before I start on the twice-bakeds.
132.
r€nato
Merry Xmas to all.
Finally, just saw the commercial that Ben Stein does for “Free Credit Score”. Holy crap, I don’t know whether to be appalled or laugh my ass off at Ben Stein for how shamelessly he is cashing in.
The Knicks have actually played really well the last ten games. The color schemes are a bit much however (especially with the blue and orange still on the floor)
136.
Midnight Marauder
I hope you’re all having some good times wherever you may be on this fine, fine day. I certainly hope these guys are–it is the holidays after all.
On a different note, I want to go on the record of going beyond mere optimism and outright declaring that 2010 is going to be a fan-fucking-tastic year. The analogy/metaphor that I’ve taken to using as of late about my feelings on the new year, is that I feel like I’m about to get a hot hand in a game of dice. A very hot hand. So I guess what I’m telling you is that the bandwagon just pulled into the station and there’s plenty of room (and booze) on board. I think we’re going to be in for a surprisingly good run in the next 365. Or maybe I’m just delusional from an impending schedule of 18 hours of NBA action today. Who knows?
Merry Christmas, gang!
137.
Betsy
@Midnight Marauder:
Love it!! Both the lolcopter (how perfect) and your conviction about 2010. Hear, hear!!
138.
MP
From someone who mostly lurks and enjoys the humor and intelligence of this community, Merry Christmas. Now, to the kitchen for a little wine and cooking.
it is time.
time for wine.
such a fine time.
time for wine.
143.
Valdivia--phone
@arguingwithsignposts:
arguing you made my day with little smudge! And that bit from amazon about the Jesus button had me in stitches. Off to the movies. See y’all later
Considering how kind my readers have been to me this year with the Paypal donations, I thought I’d kick a little back by posting my Top 50 Assclowns of the Year retrospective by Xmas. Enjoy and happy holidays.
146.
Anya
@arguingwithsignposts: Gorgeous! All this cat and dog cuteness makes me want to get one.
147.
The Moar You Know
Merry Christmas, all!
Next stop; 2010 and the end of this rather strange decade. Can’t recall a weirder one since the 1970s.
I had a feeling it was going to be clear this morning so I drove to the Queen Anne Viewpoint to take sunrise photos but I wasn’t expecting it to be this nice:
@Zzyzx: Looks like we should have a Seattle Balloon Juice CCD cleaning party. I have a dust spot in almost the same place as the biggest one in your pics.
Shooting sunrises when you don’t have to get there until 7:30 beats the hell out of summertime 4:30 treks.
If you’re not watching the all-day NBA Christmas Bonanza, you just missed on of the most amazing holiday commercials of all-time. It’s one of those Nike puppet commercials with LeBron and Kobe, as Santa Claus narrates an epic basketball game between himself, Kobe, and LBJ vs. his reindeer. It’s called “Dunkin’ On A Reindeer.”
This will all make a lot more sense once you watch it. Just trust me on this one.
Happy pagan holidays to all!
The traditional Ruckus xmas dinner
Seared veg with poached salmon, fresh fruit/melon for desert
Whatever you eat, where ever you are, enjoy life and those around you.
The best adage ever, Peace on Earth. May you see it in your lifetime.
159.
Jenn
Happy Christmas, everyone! (And Zzyzx, it sure is a beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest! I can’t even remember the last time we had blue skies and sun for Christmas.) The best of wishes for a day of laughter and friends, whether they be there in person, covered in fur (or feathers), or online. Electronic hugs whizzing thru the wires to all, particularly those who’re having a rocky day. This is such a great place, thanks to all who have brightened my day on so many occasions!
160.
YellowJournalism
Merry Christmas from the Great White North!
And God bless us, even BoB.
161.
Max
Beautiful day in the Bay Area. Happy Christmas to all.
I’d like to thank all the posters and commenters for all the entertainment and information you all have provided this year.
you folks were the only entertainment I allowed myself during my semester long assault on human anatomy. I got my 4.0 and I don’t have to feel guilty reading this site for the next three weeks.
165.
San
DFH salad (arugula, roast beets, blue cheese, walnuts)
Rosemary-garlic roast leg of lamb with lemons
Mashed potatoes
Green beans
Mmmmmmmm.
166.
licensed to kill time
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone at this exceptional place.
Balloon Juice and our host John Cole, the front pagers DougJ and Tim F and Anne Laurie as well as all the witty/insightful/informed/profane/simpatico/tender/angry/sweet/curmudgeonly/did I mention funny as hell? commenters just give so much to me every single day.
I just love this place, grumpy or happy, flaming or saccharine, naughty or nice. Thank you all and DOG BLESS US EVERY ONE!
You had me with you all the way — yummmmmmmm — except for the roast beets…….
168.
Yutsano
I did have a small sad. My sister-in-law’s 14 year old Siamese passed away. I didn’t find out until I got home from work and she told me. So we’re down to three furballs.
Sitting home alone right now until the brothers get back from whatever it is they’re doing today (one’s working, the other ha to go indulge his other family) then off to the parents for enchiladas and presents. I’m getting new socks.
169.
Shell
A very Merry Christmas to all Balloon folk and their animals!
(TCM is showing the Reginald Owen version of ‘A Christmas Carol’ and not the Alistair Sim’s one? Sacrilege!!)
170.
JPK
Merry Christmas and all the best to all of you. This blog helped me get through this year.
171.
Bostondreams
Well, after tearing apart my wife’s aunt’s house, we found the keys our eighteen month old decided would be better placed behind the toilet, and are now heading to Disneyland for Christmas.
Merry Christmas to my favorite bloggers and commenters!
172.
ajr22
This blog deserves some kind of award, maybe a lamp in the shape of a leg. I have become a regular reader this year, and I can’t say enough about the front pagers or the comment section. As teh Jew the family and I will be heading to the movies, and getting some chinese for dinner. Merry Christmas and happy new year to all, can’t wait for another year of BJ!!
173.
mandarama
I hope you’re all having a wonderful day! We have happy little boys playing Star Wars and Indiana Jones with their new goodies. And Honeybaked Ham. So life is good!
Can I impose on you more experienced tech people a moment? I got a Kindle from my FIL–completely unexpected and cool gift!–and I signed up for the BJ subscription. But I can’t see comments on each post. Is that just how it goes? B/c as much as I love our host and believe he and I might have been separated at birth, I really need to see the commentariat. (Even after the last week of visiting seagulls.) Is that a possibility on Kindle, or do I just need to keep ruining my eyes on the iPhone?
Merry Christmas or whatever other celebration you’re having! It’s time to get everyone together to watch A Christmas Story. “You used up all the tape–ON PURPOSE!”
Roast beets are amazing. Americans just don’t know what they are missing.
There would be no borsch without them, and what kind of life it would be if there was no borsch in it?
(Let’s see how many people can read this)
С Рождеством и наступающим Новым годом!
176.
Yutsano
@San: Рождеством = Christmas, hopefully you’re wishing us a good one! Odd thing about me: I can’t speak Russian but can read Cyrillic. Don’t ask, I had some weird phases in high school.
You should all come to my blog and read my favorite Christmas story.
Maybe one of you will be able to tell me where it came from.
178.
JK
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanza, and Happy Winter Solstice.
179.
Shell
deserves some kind of award, maybe a lamp in the shape of a leg.
That’s a ‘major award.’
Been dipping into the ‘Christmas Story’ marathon all day. But try to avoid the scene when the Bumpus’ hounds demolish the turkey. Makes me weep.
roast duckling with a cranberry/lemon glaze
Hey, same here! With mashed potatoes and a side of braised escarole. A slightly bitter green goes up well with the richness of the duck. Walnut tassies and stollen for dessert.
180.
Yutsano
@Shell: Man. I should so make shortbread for tonight. It’s about the only thing I have all the ingredients for in the house. Plus it’s like four ingredients and EASY.
This blog deserves some kind of award, maybe a lamp in the shape of a leg.
That should be a lamp in the shape of a balloon, full of that funny gas that makes you laugh like a hyena and bump your nose on the floor until you pass out.
AND A JESUS KEY!
ETA: Why no, I have no personal experience with that funny gas, why do you ask?
183.
Betsy
@Annie:
She either liked it, or she’s currently plotting to kill us all in the night. Also, she looks benevolently upon you for your kind wishes way upthread.
(TCM is showing the Reginald Owen version of ‘A Christmas Carol’ and not the Alistair Sim’s one? Sacrilege!!)
@Shell: TCM is on notice this Christmas; no Alistair Sim version of Christmas Carol, and not one showing of The Bishop’s Wife. Place has gone to he** if you ask me.
And she used up ‘all the glue‘ on purpose. We don’t even bother to watch it here at our house. I just act out all the parts.
arguing, You’ve got girl cat and the entire BJ gang. You aren’t alone. I wonder if this blog is becoming like a family. I’m used to the lexicon and how different commenters phrase things.
Let’s have a decent 2010 and no more sad.
190.
AngusTheGodOfMeat
But try to avoid the scene when the Bumpus’ hounds demolish the turkey.
What good is a holiday without bitter disappointment?
Just dropping in before I leave for the family festivities to wish the entire Balloon Juice community a merry, merry day, however and whatever you celebrate. Don’t comment that much lately, but I treasure you all and am grateful you’re on the internets where I can always find you. You folks rock.
xxL
192.
Shell
TCM is on notice this Christmas; no Alistair Sim version of Christmas Carol, and not one showing of The Bishop’s Wife.
I’m with you. But one mitigating circumstance is a couple of showings of ‘Christmas in Connecticut.” I covet Barbara Stanwyck’s waist.
Dang, I knew that! I’ve just been through about 400 rolls of tape in the last week and I guess it’s affected me. Oops. My apologies to the superlative Darren McGavin.
194.
gogol's wife
@San:
Merry Christmas and coming Happy New Year to you too.
195.
burnspbesq
Hope everyone has a great day. And many more great days in the year ahead.
Before I read the eleven-billionty comments on this thread (new one, please, Cole? And, Tunchie?), ANNE LAURIE! I have an amazing version of O Holy Night for you as done by the Dublin Gospel Choir. A friend linked it for me. Give it a listen. Merry whatever to all.
197.
asdf
Rarely post here but read you ladies and gentlemens’ stuff all the time.
It’s a quiet Christmas here by the Rio Grande. I’m making Green Chile Stew
Thanks for the good times. I’ve enjoyed reading you.
Best Wishes for the New Year to you all.
Happy Chrishanaramakwanzsticivus to All! May you wall have good holidays. Special good vibes to Chat Noir & Yutsanto. I’m kicking back for breakfast in my new bathrobe which is nice and warm, having already blown half my other gift of jewelry making supplies. The mate is enjoying the new giant DK book on Battle: A Visual Journey Through 5000 Years and the Doctor Who E-Space Trilogy collection. In protest against gritty, rapscallion, SHIRTLESS? Holmes, I will be immersed in Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes collection.
The menu:
Garlic roasted Pork Loin
Roasted Sweet Potato Mash with Homemade Butter
Wild Green Salad
Fresh Cranberry-Blackberry-Orange Dressing
Cheesecake
and a selection of chocolates from these guys, the Candy House. Most Awesome Unknown Chocolatiers, EVAH!
May we all have better a 2010 than 2009 and in fact, I’m fairly sure we will.
now that should be a tag (ETA because smudge is typing)
206.
Mike in NC
May we all have better a 2010 than 2009 and in fact, I’m fairly sure we will.
Amen to that! How could it possibly be worse (don’t answer!)? A Merry Christmas, Krazee Kwanza, & Happy New Year to all. Heading back to bed after a delightful dinner of Tussin DM, Advil, Mucinex and Sudafed…
207.
JK
What does everyone think of Bob Dylan’s Christmas album? As a lifelong Dylan fan, I think it sucks.
“What does everyone think of Bob Dylan’s Christmas album?”
Would pay money for it? No. Do I care that it sucks? No.
Bob wrote more good songs than anyone I can think of off hand.
So…. he’s wrong sometimes? Who isn’t? He still wrote (insert your fave Dylan song here).
I don’t care if he made this record so he could get some money together to pay off the Mafia and his Brazilian transgendered blackmailer. It wouldn’t change things for me.
Bobby rocks harder than Pete Townsend courting Jimmy Dean singing “Big John” in his underwear.
Wow. Got through the whole damn thread, and really, what can I say that hasn’t been already said? I, too, found BJ this year, and it’s the best damn blog on the ‘nets, in my not-so-humble opinion.
Thanks to all who have posted pics of food pr0n and of various cute animals. Thanks to all who participate in the craziness that often (always) occurs on the late-night threads. Thanks to all my fake spouses out there (and still waiting for Tunchie’s response).
Mostly, thank the blog overlord, Tunch, er, Cole and all the other front pagers for making this the awesome place it is.
May I need to use my rusty pitchfork less in 2010. Peace.
P.S. Welcome to all the lurkers who de-lurked for the day. Hope to see you comment more often.
@JK: It’s my favorite Christmas carol, so I’ve been posting various versions over the last few days. I love all the different things that can be done with the song. A friend even gave me a punk version (I have them all on my blog). It’s good to ‘see’ you, and I really hope your 2010 is better than your 2009.
@Mwangangi: Hm. I may have to check out clips from YouTube. Do they do O Holy Night?
@gbear: Yeah. More snow, though. That makes me happy. Of course, I don’t have to drive anywhere today.
213.
Comrade Kevin
Nollaig Shona daoibh go léir agus Athbhliain faoi shéan is faoi mhaise daoibh, agus go mba seacht fearr sinn go léir ag an am seo ar an bhliain seo chugainn!
Merry Christmas to you all and a happy and prosperous New Year to you all and may we all be seven times better off at this time next year!
–I signed up for the BJ subscription.–
now that should be a tag
Heh. If we had that as a T-shirt, can you imagine the looks we’d get?
Still figuring out this Kindle thing. I suspect that in fact I cannot get all you commenters’ brilliance on the subscription, which means I’ll have to blind myself reading them on a tiny screen instead. Of course, some folks’ posts lately would blind me on a 27-inch iMac.
What did y’all get for presents? Aside from the Kindle, my fave gift was a stuffed Perry the Platypus from my brother. I also got the Plouffe book about the campaign; that should be interesting.
Again, thank you all for providing a voice for rational thought. Hoping that 2010 is healthy and prosperous for all of you and your nearest and dearest.
Today: Herb crusted pork loin with potatoes, stewed apples, and pumpkin pie.
Hmmm, still raining here. It’s been rain rather than snow almost all day in my neighborhood. The plows have been by and everything is shovelled out, but it really is a good afternoon to stay put. What a gloomy day.
I hope you had a good one.
218.
DaveInOz
A very Merry Christmas and a happy and a prosperous New Year to all in the BJ community – from a warm, sunny and, yes, beautiful Melbourne, Australia.
Music interlude, “Gloria,” from the sublime Misa Criolla.
222.
Anya
@JK: Totally agree! What possessed him to do it on the first place?
223.
Yutsano
@Comrade Kevin: Awww man where were you last night? My boss is half Irish and I was saying I didn’t know Merry Christmas in Gaelic. Come home from doing my brother a favor and TAH-DAH!
224.
tamiedjr
Anyone hear the Pink Floyd Christmas album? It’s called Deck the Wall. ar ar
SIA and Demowoman,
Thanks, my heart is touched. For Christmas I’d like to point out that only family and friends fight like we do around here. Yes, I’m pretty sure all of use have that crazy relative like makepee and BOB.
Christmas got a little less grim when wife opened package from me with silver charm braclet of baby charms. You don’t replace a child with his baby, but it does help fill the hole a bit. That was it for the packages thing, I get to have Ribeye & crablegs w/cheeze cake for dessert as my present.
I wish you all the happiest of holidays, in particular our front pagers.
228.
gsp
Merry Christmas John and all readers. And sorry to John for saying you were being a bitch the other day when talking about the health care bill. let the emotions get the better of me. I need to acquire John’s “nirvanic” state.
229.
martha
Thanks to everyone for their good (and bad, depending on the moment) humor. Merry Christmas or whatever you celebrate!
Today’s menu (now eaten…and it was good!):
Pepper-crusted beef tenderloin with parsley-caper-cornichon salsa (this stuff is utterly addictive)
Scalloped potatoes
Buttered peas
Cloverleaf rolls
McDowell Syrah
and my husband’s grandma’s “refrigerator” cookies for dessert, because they’re one of the few things my father-in-law remembers. Alzheimers is not a nice disease, so we go back to the basics sometimes, and these cookies were/are a fundamental link throughout his life. Everyone at the table (except me) started telling grandma stories…Kind of neat. And they’re good too…
Yup, just got back from seeing it. George Clooney is excellent as always. I think he is aging fabulously, like Meryl Streep. No cosmetic anything. They are two of my favorite actors, although I don’t have a desire to see Meryl in It’s Complicated.
231.
asdf
I’m making Green Chile Stew
May we have recipe, please.
———–
Really? I read this blog for a lot of reasons but mainly because there are some good cooks who contribute. Thank you for asking.
Here is the problem you’ll have. I’ve lived outside New Mexico and frozen green chile is almost impossible to get there. Never tried canned green chile but it is available most places. Like most vegetables, though, frozen is better than canned.
Browned 1.5 lbs. rump roast I cut off a big one and kept frozen until needed. Cubed it in smallish pieces. Tiny bit of salt in the browning. Add 1 tbs. or more Mexican oregano (regular oregano works just fine), a tiny amount dried crushed red pepper, black pepper, the tiniest bit of cumin (I mean TINY) and a little more salt. Remove.
Cut up 3, yes 3, onions. Sautee till almost clear. Add 3 or 4 minced garlic cloves. Cook 1 minute more.
Add the meat back into the pot. Put in a coffee cup full of water, the frozen green chile (13 oz. Bueno Chopped Green Chile) and 1 beef bullion cube for salt.
Dice 2 medium Russet potatoes. Add them.
Mix it all well. Stir occaisionally. Let it cook for a long time, go low and slow.
It’s a really nice dish and a crowd pleaser.
Best Wishes to you all this Christmas Day,
asdf
232.
Mike E
Honey-brined chicken just came out of the oven. Mashed potato(e)s and salad. Pilsner Urquel and Guiness widget cans.
A cool Yule to yous!
233.
Tattoosydney
Christmas is almost over on this side of the world. I hope yours was as good as mine. Best wishes to everyone!
@Tattoosydney: When your liver forgives you let us know. Look at it this way: if you were home it would have been over hours ago!
Saw some pics of the new Boeing Dreamliner and all I can say is some airline better get one of those on a run to Sydney cause it’s GAWJUSS!!
236.
Keith G
@asdf:Thanks. I too live in Tx and have some pull with folks who grow their own chiles, some of which they freeze, some they can in jars (yummy).
Have you tried this with fresh?
237.
demimondian
After much futzing around, we moved the mead must and the cyser must into the laundry room last night. Man, they’ve taken off amazingly since then. (Well, as amazingly as mead or cyser ever do…let’s just say that the limited growth media for the yeast show up remarkably.)
Cyser…
238.
asdf
Keith G
Have you tried this with fresh?
———-
Strange as this may sound, no. I’ve been successful with the frozen stuff so I just use that.
It’s on the stove now and smells so good I can’t stand it.
Happy Christmas (or whatever!) to you and yours.
asdf
239.
bob h
The bitter, childish kvetching and gracelessness of the Republicans in defeat on HCR sure goes with the spirit of the holidays, doesn’t it. The Republicans- no class at any time.
240.
Something Fabulous
Happy Holidays of whatever kind to you all, from another who found this amazing blog this year. I am about to go to an italian potluck, re-gifting and sing-along, but wanted to take a moment especially to say hang in to those who have mentioned having a hard day today (and Gex, how’ve you been doing?). This year has sucked somewhat fearsomely for me as well, and you all have most definitely helped me slog through it, so many many thanks for that. I too envision a Much Better 2010 for us all!
Best wishes, from another member of the chinese-and-movie tribe.
241.
Mark
Why isn’t Law & Order on today? Without my favorite show, I end up torturing myself by reading David Brooks:
My girlfriend apologized for convincing me to buy that issue of the Atlantic in the train station. I read through it again and tried to remember what bothered me so much about it. And then on the last page, I remembered:
“If we abolished Medicaid, we could spend the same money to make a roughly $3,000 HSA contribution and a $2,000 catastrophic-premium payment for 60 million Americans every year. That’s a $12,000 annual HSA plus catastrophic coverage for a low-income family of four. Do we really believe most of them wouldn’t be better off?”
Ah, the magic of the HSA. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to blow up a single-payer system that works in every country that has tried it in favor of some crazy Republican idea that has never actually worked in practice? And this was from a guy who called himself a Democrat.
It just goes to show you how far out there the August nutbagging was that this was counted as rational discussion.
@jeffreyw: Well, I can’t tell you what to do with anchos and colorados off the top of my head, but when you get some pasillas and guajillos, check back in…I’ve got a mean and really easy pozole recipe that is incredible!
We were masochists last night and went to Midnight Mass in a howling blizzard. The windshield wipers stopped working halfway there. If we weren’t cantoring, we never would have gone, but we were not alone. There were about 100 people there!
Coming home was terrible, though. The wipers still didn’t work and one crazy motherfucker on the road got stuck, and the other drivers just stopped IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD when there were two other lanes open. We had to pull a Chinese Fire Drill in 12 inches of snow so I could drive and the boys could push us around the idiots.
Victory!
I wasn’t looking forward to walking the rest of the way home in a dress and heels.
Urgh. Had a six wine degustation tonight, after Veuve this morning, after a seven wine degustation last night. Add in some entirely legal in Amsterdam substances, and I feel the need for a soothing cup of tea.
Merry Christmas, Balloon-Juice family. Hope your holidays have been gemütlich so far!
Christmas Dinner is chicken cacciatore, a French pinot noir, and “Inglorious Basterds” DVD. Maybe I should find a more festive film?
247.
Yutsano
@Tattoosydney: Right now I’m sitting at home alone waiting for my brother to get back from lunch. Then I go to dinner at the parents, which is good, except for my douchebag older brother, which is not so much. He’s really the only one of my brothers I don’t get along with (which is good since I live with the other two!) so I have to put up with him at least through dinner then I can make a respectable exit. I’m gonna try to con my mother into making walnut shortbread with me, should be entertaining.
248.
asdf
“I’ve got a mean and really easy pozole recipe that is incredible!”
martha, please do post this. I can make it but it’s not anything to write home about. Would love a good recipe!
249.
John the Radiator
William Claude Dukenfield b.Jan 29 1880 d. Dec. 25 1946
250.
Yutsano
@jeffreyw: Here’s a thought: drop the chiles into a blender along with a few cumin seeds and some garlic powder. Blend until finely ground and voila! Best chili powder you’ll ever have! Plus you can customize it to heat level (anchos are dried poblanos so they’re usually pretty mild) so it’s very flexible. You can also experiment with adding other dried chiles to get a taste that’s all you!
Ah, a family Christmas. I miss that so much right now. The tension, the fights.
Time for me to go to bed and maybe sleep til a reasonable hour. All my best.
M
252.
Keith G
@jeffreyw: Heat them just a bit to release the oils them (even lightly steam if you wish) put them in a processer with a bunch of stuff not limited to garlic, serranos, onion, tomatoes, eeov, lime juice, cilantro and maybe a few tmatillos. Blend, but stop before it’ a fine, unified mix.
From here use it as you wish.
I would rub it on a pork shoulder roast (even marinade the roast in a large ziplock). I then would use a banana leaf from outside my door, prep it and rap the roast. Slow cook for at least 8 hrs.
But thats just me.
253.
Yutsano
@Tattoosydney: Your sarcasm shall have no effect on me sirrah. It’ll be okay, I’ve lived with his douchebaggery all my life. Sleep well and we’ll catch you in the waking hours.
254.
martha
@asdf: But of course! This was one of those “You Asked for It” recipes in the letters section from Gourmet eons ago. It was provided by someone who lived in Merida Mexico…
Pozole (Pork and Hominy Stew)
Serves 6
2 dried pasilla chiles
2 dried guajillo chiles
2 cups water
2 t. dried oregano (preferably Mexican) crumbled
1/4 t. cumin seeds
1/4 t. black pepper
1 large garlic clove, crushed
1 medium tomato, coarsely chopped
1/2 white onion, coarsely chopped (3/4 cup)
2 lb boneless pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1 inch cubes
3 (15 oz) cans white hominy, rinsed and drained
Accompaniments: radishes, white onions, fresh cilantro, iceberg lettuce, and seeded fresh chiles, all chopped, plus lime wedges and warm corn or flour tortillas or tortilla chips
1. Stem and seed chiles, then simmer in water in a small saucepan until softened, about 15 minutes. Transfer chiles with water to a blender. Add remaining ingredients except pork and hominy and blend until smooth (use caution!).
2. Bring chile puree and pork to a boil in a 4-qt. heavy pot. Simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, 1 hour. Add hominy and simmer, covered, until pork is tender, about 30 minutes more. Skim fat from sauce, then season with salt to taste.
Serve with accompaniments and tortillas/chips. Enjoy!
255.
asdf
Thank you martha!
I see I have been way off on my possole.
It’s such a good dish too. OK, will try yours. Bet it’s gooood!
That lady who was throwing out her Christmas tree is one weird non-thinking person. I’m still putting ornaments on my tree and trying to keep it from tipping over, but hey, I still have 11 days (Epiphany) to get it right, or as the Rector of St. Thomas Church said this morning even to February 2 which is Candlemas Day.
262.
martha
@asdf: I really hope you like it! Best to you and yours…
Merry Christmas to all of you smart, funny, caring, weird people. SamKitten and I wish you the happiest of holidays and a prosperous and positive 2010!
265.
jeffreyw
@LittleBit: saved the page to my recipe file–thanks
Spent last night and today eating and visiting various relatives. Received the game “Crazy Cat Lady” from both my side AND one from husband’s side. They knoweth me too well, it seems!
I hope you all had a wonderful day doing whatever it is that brings you joy!
(A note to my angels: please make 2010 much better for the Universe. It was pretty sucky no matter where you were or who you are. Also too.)
267.
SiubhanDuinne
@RedKitten: Sam is every bit as adorable in his Santa hat as I knew he’d be! Indeed, the best Christmas gift EVAH. It’s a joy to watch his progress. Thank you for sharing so many great photos of him
BTW, he seems (in “Perturbed”) to have that whole fist-scrubbing-weepy-eyes thing down. I see that gesture and I just want to kiss him and make it all better.
268.
Elie
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and New Year to all of this wonderful community.
I wish you all the best and look forward to many intriguing and sometimes emotional but informative communications this year…
You are my buds!
269.
Santiago
Merry Christmas everyone! I just lurve this place.
Sam is every bit as adorable in his Santa hat as I knew he’d be! Indeed, the best Christmas gift EVAH. It’s a joy to watch his progress. Thank you for sharing so many great photos of him
BTW, he seems (in “Perturbed”) to have that whole fist-scrubbing-weepy-eyes thing down. I see that gesture and I just want to kiss him and make it all better.
Yeah, he’s pretty pitiful when he’s upset. Last night, he was all frigged up, ’cause he hardly napped at all yesterday, and we were over at my MIL’s, so he was out of his element AND his routine. The “sad lip” made many appearances. Today was much better — he napped well, and at supper tonight, had his very first taste of solids, which he took to like a fuzzy little duck to water.
I was thinking that you had xmas early this year. Now I know that I was right, seeing Sam’s picture, The Best Christmas Present Ever.
Getting to the end of xmas here on the west coast, stuffed people all happy. Hope everyone else had a good day as well.
Mary G
You all too!
Hooray for HCR from me anyway.
The Grand Panjandrum
Time to get the gumbo on (WARNING: Shameless blog whore … recipe!)
Cheers, one and all!
SiubhanDuinne
The happiest and merriest to all Juicers!
Sarah
Happy day, JC. I love this blog.
A Mom Anon
Merry Holidays everyone. And for the love of gawd,please let 2010 suck ever so much less than ’09.
GReynoldsCT00
Merry Christmas and don’t take any triple-dog dares today!
A wonderful day to you JC and all the rest of the Juicers.
Bisquits
What A Mom Anon said. Happy Holidays to all!
Ming
Merry Chistmas to you, John, whatever that is!
and all best for the coming year to all the Juicers.
thanks for all the laughs, insights and kindnesses!
schooner
As a mostly lurking viewer of the Juice, I’d like to wish a Merry Xmas and thanks to all bloggers and commentators.
Nobody shoot their eye out.
geg6
Merry Christmas to John, Lily, Tunch, DougJ, Tim F, and Anne Laurie. The best bloggers on the whole Toobz, bar none. And to all my fellow Juicers, BOB and Makewi included.
demkat620
Merry Christmas all! Well whatever I did this year, the DH, kids and even the dog are happy.
Hallelujah!
Breakfast will be served in an hour, bacon eggs, biscuits, potatoes and sausage. Y’all are all welcome.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
Merry Christmas to all! On the schedule for today: family, presents, eat, drink, smoke and pass out.
Sounds like a perfect day! :)
Walker
Merry Christmas all.
The wife and I celebrated Wigilia last night, so it is my turn to cook Christmas dinner today. Going for the American stand-by: standing rib roast.
Joey Maloney
Picture caption: “White House press offers holiday greetings to Dick Cheney, 2003.”
Happy Solstice to Juicers, families, friends, and pets. TUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!!
Elroy's Lunch
Merry Christmas to John and all the Juicers out there! I’m thankful we have this community. Be safe. Don’t shoot your eye out.
mai naem
Mele Kalikimaka. That’s in Hawaiian to y’all.
Gotta second what An Anon Mom said. Can’t deal with another ’09 again.
geg6
I just have to gush a little here. I am reclining on the couch in the sun room, surrounded by two lugs of dogs with big red bows around their necks, smelling the eggs Benedict in the making my man is preparing while sipping great java and watching the CBS Early Show. I might be a little bit in love with Harry Smith.
AngusTheGodOfMeat
We who are about to be eaten salute you.
Despite this tragic note, my entire herd wishes you a Happy Pagan Holiday.
Santa Cow is on his way.
geg6
Angus @18: Just so you know, my John and I decided to eschew the traditional standing rib roast in favor of roast duck in your honor. He likes you for some reason, my John. Some sort of bovine man crush or something. ;-)
Zzyzx
I’m up early (as always) and enacting my tradition from my bitter Jew – pre-Xian gf (now wife – days of watching Fiddler on the Roof…
…skipping over the middle part of course which drags.
CLG
From a lurker who loves this site Merry Christmas to all.
Emma
Feliz Navidad, everyone. Last night’s dinner went well. We went through three loafs’ worth of tomato-garlic bruschetta. I copped a lot of nice presents. Today, big brunch at my sister’s with all the artery-clogging one could wish for.
For those of you in the paths of all that snow, be warm. For all of you, be safe and happy. You guys as the best group ever!
AngusTheGodOfMeat
@geg6:
Bless you. The Baby Bovine Jesús smiles upon you.
AngusTheGodOfMeat
@Zzyzx:
Oh ( cow blush ). For a second there I thought you said Fiddler on the Hoof.
jeffreyw
[blink blink] [slurp] ahh, I may make it now
mmm…coffee…where was I? Oh! Happy Holidays!
hmm…time to fire the oven…the duckling is not laughing
geg6
jeffreyw @24: Ha! Thanks for the first lolz of the day.
Mustang Bobby
Merry Christmas to all from all of us (me) at Bark Bark Woof Woof, and thanks to the new friends I’m getting to know at Balloon Juice.
jeffreyw
It’s snowing! It’s snowing!
Praise Weather Jeebus!
Mino
Merry Christmas to everyone and their pets that help to keep us sane amid the insanity–or at least try.
Rey
To all ‘llooners – Y’all have a good one ya hear…
and what A Mom Anon said- 2009: please just turn around and leave quickly….
Peace
Bob K
Merry Christmas to all (those of us who still have trees, anyway)
http://wonkette.com/412918/dingbat-woman-takes-down-her-christmas-tree-because-senate-passed-health-care-bill#comments
Josie
Merry Christmas. I just discovered this blog in the last couple of days and consider it my special Christmas present to myself. Hope there is room for one more. I’m a refugee from a couple of other sites which have jumped the shark and shall remain nameless. Love the posts, comments and pictures of pets and babies. Just my cup of tea.
valdivia
@jeffreyw:
that cracked me up.
Merry merry John, to you and your family. and to all Juicers. You rock like no other blog. Where else would I have found out about the Jesus key?
General Winfield Stuck
Good morning Juicers. I am so relieved because Joe Scarborough told me on my teevee not to worry, that the good white wingnuts of Alabama loves them some Barrack Obama and reports to the contrary are false. Teehee!!
Happy Holiday to all, No Exceptions!!
Paris
“If anything, this new discovery shows how minor a place Nazareth was and draws new light to a central paradox of the Christmas narrative: Why would a pregnant mother from the Galilee travel as far south as Bethlehem to have a child?”
http://tinyurl.com/yacorxx
Mary, the original Sarah Palin?
Happy Birthday Jesus!
Svensker
Merry Christmas everyone.
Keith G
@geg6: Cold AM in Houston, so the two “Worlds Best Kittehs” can not snuggle any closer. Their purring is almost synchronized. Occasionally Meredith lifts her head and meows plaintively for a belly rub.
Merry Christmas all!!
David Sedaris is once again Crumpet the Elf on NPR. I am waiting for 9 AM when my NPR station begins its classical holiday and sacred music program. Magic.
Random thoughts:
Someone leveled Benedict. Maybe god does have a sense of humor.
My heart goes out to the family of the soldier shown on the Taliban video. I can not imagine the emotions.
Clutch414
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!!
Clutch414
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
Annie
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all, most especially to Tunch, Lily, Charlie, Smudge, Raven, Shadow, Chompers, Samantha, and all of the other BJ darlings. May today bring you lots and lots of kittie and doggie treats…..
debbie
It’s been great discovering and reading this blog over the past year. (Wish I knew more of its origins.)
Best hopes, dreams, and wishes for 2010!
Annie
that lots and lots…editing off this morning….
bey
Merry Christmas everyone! One of the cats let me a little Christmas Puddle on the bathmat, despite having 4 pristine boxes available.
Ho Ho Ho. Damn cats.
Punchy
Let’s hope 2010 doesn’t suck for Apple as much as Apple sucks apples.
/makes fists, bobs and weaves……
valdivia
For Star Wars lovers here is a little funny bit I spotted at MattY’s blog. Enjoy.
keestadoll
Merry Christmas John and to all of you…and yes, you know who you are. MWAH!
jenniebee
Merry Christmas! And for Christmas, I give you an Irish ballad sung in Japanese by Bob from Sesame Street. Because I care.
mr. whipple
@The Grand Panjandrum:
That Cajun cornbread recipe looks awesome. Thanks!
Riggsveda
And also to you. All of you.
robertdsc
Merry Christmas to all!
Joey Maloney
@Zzyzx:
Every year until this one I celebrated Christmas in the traditional Jewish fashion – Chinese food and a movie. But this year I’m in Israel and it happens to be Shabbat as well as Christmas so everything is closed, including all the nearby Chinese restaurants and movie houses.
So I’m spending the day with the internet, some good science fiction books, and for dinner I’m making an old favorite, 40 Cloves & A Chicken, or in local parlance ארבעים שום ועוף אחת.
Proper Gander
Merry Christmas from a semi-lurker!
I’m off to the Vietnamese restaurant for some pho, because I’m stuck in Cedar Rapids with a non-operational clutch and couldn’t make it to see the family.
Hope your Christmas is better than mine!
jager
My Baby Aunt Liz (farm wife, Mom and superb special ed teacher) edited all of Grandma’s old home movies, going all the way back to 1947 onto a CD. Amidst all the birthday parties, Christmas gatherings and film of our old dogs was the gem of gems; a piece of video she got years ago from a local TV station, her young, DFH, farmer husband at a meeting with Nixon’s Ag Secretary Earl Butz…the qoute from Uncle Gary was priceless, “When’s the last time you were on a fucking family farm, Mr. Secretary?” The best Christmas present ever!
Have a great day with family and friends, chilly this morning in SoCal. Merry Christmas! BTW, the black Cocker I had when I was about 6 was a pretty damn cool dog, good to see her again!
valdivia
@Joey Maloney:
say dash ham to the holy land. I am very jealous….
I am doing the same minus the chinese food. Two movies in manhattan with the fam this afternoon.
donovong
Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwanza, Cheerful Boxing Day, and at the very least A Very Pleasant Friday to everybody here at BJ, and especially Lily.
May 2010 suck a lot less than 2009, and 2008, and…well, may 2010 just not suck, please?
HRA
I had been reading blogs for some years. Some of my favorites left the blogosphere. I was surfing around for one to replace them and found BJ. I did not have to look further.
I have enjoyed it immensely.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.
strawmanmunny
Want to wish everyone here a Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays. My New Years resolution is to post more here so y’all have been warned. :)
John, Doug, and all the main posters and the commentators are great and it’s nice to have a place to read about politics that isn’t batshit crazy just crazy.
Notorious P.A.T.
Same to you John, and everyone else here. Thanks for making it my favorite internet haunt.
phoebes-in-santa fe
Happy Christmas and Merry New Year to all.
I also found BJ this year, and it, along with Steve Benen’s Political Animal, are my daily required reading, whether home or on the road.
I’m still as glad today as I was on January 20th, when I was standing with my family in the infamous Purple Section, that Barack Obama is our new president. He inherited a hell of a mess and seems to be dealing with it – for the most part – pretty well. Obviously, I am not one of the legion of disappointed liberals who view Obama as not having done “enough” to advance the liberal cause. I wish these disappointed ones would sit back and realise that this country was so far to the right from 2001-2009 that Obama is trying to get us back to the middle!
I hope that 2010 will bring the beginning of universal HCR by passing a bill to get to the president by State of the Union. And that that bill will only be the START of HCR. Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar reminded us that the much-vaunted Civil Rights Bill began as a tiny bill in 1960 and then expanded over time to the full bill by 1965.
I also hope that this blog will return to showing as many pictures of John Cole’s cat as it does his dog. I mean, the dog’s nice and all…but we cat people, who are owned by our pets, need a daily fix of cat pictures!
Hope it’s a happy holiday for all the BJ’ers!
Tomlinson
@Paris:
Jeebus! Nobody tell Sully!
Merry Christmas too all!
Citizen_X
Merry Christmas (if that is your wont) and, to quote Kinky Friedman, “May the god of your choice bless you.”
And here’s hoping the next decade is not as full of deadly suck as the last one has been.
valdivia
@phoebes-in-santa fe:
seconded.
Montysano
@A Mom Anon:
Amen. 2009 was brutal. 5 deaths in our immediate circle, and our income at 55% of 2008. So: 2010 has to be better!
Merry Christmas to all! Thanks to John, DougJ, Tim, and Annie for running the best blog on the toobz.
First: presents. Then: Gumbo!
valdivia
@Paris:
@Tomlinson:
Wait was President Bush enforcing a kill all the male newborns law in the lower 48 and that is why Sarah had to go back to Alaska?
gbear
Someone’s gotta do it:
Bah f*ing humbug.
It is now raining in St. Paul f*ing MN on top of the 8 or so inches of snow we got yesterday. Perfect heart attack snow. By monday it’s supposed to be back down in the teens. F*ing wonderful.
Family get-together not until second weekend in January because of distant siblings who work retail. Today is read, sleep, pet cats, watch birds. And go out to shovel slush every now and then.
Jackie
Merry Christmas to all and Best Wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. This is a great community of folks and you deserve nothing but the best.
PS May I nominate “theological friendly fire” for comment of the year? I’m still breaking out in random giggles.
Brent
Happy Festivus all you loony juicers! I too discovered BJ this year and it is my fav blog, required daily reading. I mostly lurk as I often find myself on the learning side of the podium. Amongst my fellow travellers I am usually the pontificator, so it is a nice treat to sit back and soak in the wit, intelligence and humor you all bring. There is just the right mix of irreverence, disestablishmentarianism, rudeness and good natured sarcasm to go with the insights. I especially enjoy the contraries who buck the groupthink tendency to suck the noodly appendages of whatever point of view presented by the front pager, whether the mighty Cole or DougJ the lesser. Let’s eat and drink til we puke!
geg6
Menus, people! Menus! For us, appetizer of pate, spinach salad with hot bacon dressing, honey glazed carrots, my famous twice baked potatoes, roast duck with sausage and mushroom dressing, and a surprise dessert. Accompanied by a Mondavi Private Reserve chardonnay, a Jacob’s Creek shiraz, and a Martini and Rossi proseco. I will be a +10 again.
SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta
Joyeaux Noel all you crazy BJ curmudgeons,DFHs, lurkers,philosophers, anarchists, and kindly, smart people.
Monado, FCD
Gbear, get a scoop and just shove it around. Wait til it freezes again, anyway, or you’ll have ice on your nice smooth surfaces. Ice is much easier to remove if it has snow under it.
Bey, feed the cat in the bathroom for a few days. They don’t like to pee where they eat.
Happy Winter Solstice, everyone! May your days get longer from here to June!
And you Americans, congrats on electing Barack Obama—I never thought I’d see the day.
Incertus
Happy holidays from Amy and me, from Eliot, Wallace and Romana (two poets and a Time Lord, for those keeping score) and from the head of our Lord and Savious, Optimus Prime, laying in the manger. If anything will keep me blogging into the next year, it’ll be the people here and places like it.
SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta
A special thanks to you John Cole, you have a great creation here.
Chuck Butcher, you’re in my thoughts today.
wasabi gasp
Merry Christmas, hippies.
Here’s to hoping Santa didn’t pinch your bag.
gbear
This made me feel a bit better.
Kitteh Attacks Ornaments.
I wonder how long that tree lasted.
Jay in Oregon
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all.
See you on the other side…
Phyllis
Been raining almost nonstop here in the almost-South Carolina lowcountry since midnight or so. We’re also under a tornado watch till noon.
The ham is in the oven, ‘The Man Who Came to Dinner’ is on TCM, and the SO was most pleased with his new all-weather jacket.
Happy happy & merry merry to y’all at my favorite daily stop on the ‘nets. Y’all have a great day.
And more Smudge photos, pleez?
Jean
Merry Christmas to all! My kids and pets are happy today, especially my dog Simon who no longer has to wear a cone on his head. He is healed! Thanks, Santa.
ACK
Mostly a lurker, occasionally a poster — but have followed Balloon Juice daily since John’s conversion (welcome comrade!).
The best blog bar none. And thanks for helping me keep my sanity, during those dark days.
Oh, and you can tell John is now a fellow comrade as he has taken the “r” out of Christmas (Chistmas). lol
Merry Christmas!
Mary
Merry Christmas John & Co. Your blog is great because it has such heart and such humor and such animal lovingness. I even love the trolls.
Bad Horse's Filly
Let me be the 70-something person to wish John, Anne Laurie, DougJ, Tim F and everyone at Balloon-Juice a very Merry Christmas! This is a great place to hang.
jeffreyw
@geg6: Hmm…let me sort the menu out in my head here, been working a few days on this as the mood struck.
Centerpiece will be roast duckling with a cranberry/lemon glaze. I made two dressings, a fresh cajun pork sausage dressing and another gumbo themed dressing. Sweet potato casserole with walnut topping. Brussel sprouts sauted in bacon fat with diced ham, pan deglazed with basalmic and then finished in the oven. Cranberry relish. Mashed Idaho potatoes with boudin gravy. Sweet potato pies, cherry pie with crumb topping, said pies to be topped with fresh made whipped cream. And lastly the Free Range Fruit Cake from an Alton Brown recipe that I made a week ago and have been spritzing with brandy everyday since.
Annie
@gbear:
LOL…thanks. Keep that kittie away from the eggnog…
Genine
Happy Holidays, Juicers! I wish you all the best!
Doctor Science
Today’s puzzle: Unto Us a Chick Is Born.
Today’s plan: we will follow the folkways of our people. In other words, go to a movie (probably Sherlock Holmes), then Chinese food.
rdldot
Merry Christmas to all…
Best place to hang out on the tubes.
Brick Oven Bill
Al Frankin is a freak.
Merry Christmas.
Demo Woman
Merry Christmas all. I’m waiting for the sons to arrive and watching Love Actually. Yeah, I know chick flick, yadda, yadda, yadda.
Chuck, if you are around, just wanted to let you know, that you are in my thoughts.
CalD
Happy Chrisolstikwanzuka!
Annie
@Demo Woman:
I cry at the last scene in the airport every single time…
GregB
Merry Christmas to all of you mad Juicers.
-G
demkat620
Your funny image for the day…
My 8 yo daughter dancing and singing to Low by Flo Rida.
L.O.L.
Jack
Merry Chrismyulekwanzakah.
Beeb
Merry Christmas, y’all.
geg6
And as always, jeffreyw makes my John and I look like pikers. Nevertheless, men who cook rock my world.
NobodySpecial
Merry Christmas/Hanukah/Whatev. Many many more, too.
4jkb4ia
You too, John!
My husband insisted on “The Young Victoria” so we are going. This year there were three possible movies. I cannot take the abundance.
And I guess I should thank everybody here for putting up with me from the bottom of my heart.
South of I-10
Thanks John, I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas. Merry Christmas to everyone. Little South is about to come out of her skin, she is having so much fun. We are off to my parents for lunch.
4jkb4ia
@geg6:
Turkey, barley-mushroom pilaf, and bok choy and cauliflower stir-fry with dried mushrooms.
4jkb4ia
@Joey Maloney:
I am wildly envious. No. Seriously.
gogol's wife
@Mary:
This.
IndyLib
Happy Holidays to one and all here at BJ. We’re having a wonderful if soggy Christmas Day here in S. Wisconsin. At least the rain has melted the ice sheet that was our driveway and when it refreezes it will only be half as thick. Thank FSM for small blessings.
edit: Holy hell, I haven’t commented in awhile and I now have an edit button! Merry f’n Christmas indeed!
jeffreyw
@geg6: I bet y’all have a table cloth, tho. LOL
wow! this is the 3rd edit in 2 minutes
HRA
@geg6:
The main menu is at our one daughter’s house -2 blocks away. All I know is 2 different turkey offerings – Turkey Tetrazini and Pulled Turkey with chili sauce. Everyone else is given an assigned dish to bring. I was told to make oreo cookie cake.
Tomorrow is when they come to our house to eat. Lasagna with my own tomato sauce (meatballs, sausage and country spareribs) , pasta (the usual and rice pasta), green salad, peppers, olives, cheese, 2 breads (Italian and Portuguese), Strawberry Trifle and Christmas cookies. Oops – Chicken noodle and cream of broccoli soup, too.
Citizen_X
@Montysano:
Holy FSM, that’s appalling. Sincere condolences, and here’s hoping for an infinitely better 2010.
bago
Io Saturnalia! Now to hit up Chinatown.
Backbencher
Merry Christmas and don’t shoot your eye out
Keith G
@Joey Maloney: Speaking of that, fom the Takeaway:
http://www.thetakeaway.org/stories/2009/dec/23/food-digging-jewish-love-affair-chinese-food/
geg6
HRA: We are doing pasta for my family’s holiday celebration on Sunday (too many conflicting schedules and travel difficulties to do it today). We’ll be at my next older sister’s, who bought my parents’ old homestead when they passed. Caesar salad, lasagne, meatballs, hot sausage, and homemade pastas. Dinner is geared for halftime during the Stillers/Ravens. Pre-dinner munchies will be shrimp with cocktail sauce and buffalo chicken dip. Desserts will be an assortment od oldest sister’s homemade cookies, my favorites being pecan cups, pineapple squares, and lady locks. All I have to bring is the shrimp and sauce. Everyone will be in black and gold.
Chris
Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope your holiday brings you cheer, peace and good will. I am glad I’ve found such a reasonable place on the tubes full of literate, reasonable people. This place gives me hope for our republic. Thanks for all the laughs from John, Dougj and Anne Laurie. Thanks for all the laughs and serious analysis too…by all the commenters. GWS, aimai, eemom geg6 you guys help keep me informed and keep me from going off the deep end and spending too much time at FDL and the GOS. Thanks!!!
Betsy
@Josie:
Welcome to the bitter, sentimental, dyspeptic, and hilarious club.
Merry merry, all!
Gwangung
Merry Christmas to Juicers everwhere!
Headed off soon to my brother’s for the afternoon gathering. Then this evening to the brother’s in-laws place for an intimate gathering of a hundred or so. EVERY food imaginable, from turkey to rib roast to tamales to suu Mai to bitter melon to fried rice….need to diet to prepare for it…..
phoebes-in-santa fe
@Keith G: Being a life-time Jew, I will tell you that in years past, Chinese restaurants were often the only restaurants open on Christmas Day. So, not wanting to actually cook after seeing the requisite movie on Christmas, Jews went en-masse to Chinese restaurants for dinner.
Obviously, things are better now, with more restaurants remaining open on Christmas and Christmas Eve – albeit, often with really expensive menus – so the dining choices have widened for us who don’t cook traditional dinners.
Most Jews, however, do sorta celebrate Christmas by getting together with family and friends. Maybe without the tree and decorations, but with loved ones just the same. Out here in Santa Fe, I’m celebrating with my 30 year old son and my sister and brother-in-law, who are visiting from Chicago. We’re meeting for lunch in a little while at a hotel restaurant and then we’re going to the movies – my son and I to see “Up in the Air” and my sister and BIL to see “It’s Complicated”. Then we’re returning to my house to watch football and maybe a movie and feast on our “holiday” dinner, fresh shrimp, corn-on-the-cob, pasta, and dessert. It’s kinda a wild menu but we all like those things!
So, again, Happy Christmas and Merry New Year to all the posters on this site.
Phoebe
XOXO! I love you all. Happy EID, too. Their stamps are prettiest.
I’m not phoebes-in-santa-fe, obviously, but my name is Phoebe and I’m currently in Santa Fe, so, high five!
Anya
@A Mom Anon: Amen to that! Happy Holidays everyone!
Betsy
Holiday spirit, Chompers-style
SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta
Montysanto here’s to a better year ahead. I had a death year like that in the 90’s. Very very excruciating. Hang in there. .
CaseyL
The process of rendering pie cherries creates quite a lot of sour cherry juice, which makes a great morning drink while checking in with my fellow BJers.
Deck the halls
For whatever hols
You fancy
Get all festive
And unrestive
Be dancy!
So heed the call
“Good season all!”
And keep your spirits prancy.
Love you all!
cleek
today = bacon-wrapped fillets, some kind of tater, sauteed spinach. wine + wine + wine + wine.
Ailuridae
is it wrong that I have Alton Brown’s Duck recipe in the works and this post has made me delay it to get Chinese take-out?
Chat Noir
Merry Xmas to everyone on this fab blog. I found Balloon Juice in early spring after Kos linked to it on numerous occassions. Now I click here daily. I have learned a ton from everyone.
I’m also glad that the horrid 2009 is nearly at an end (my job of nearly 20 years goes away next Tuesday). Best wishes to all you folks here. I look forward to the posts, comments, snark, and pets in the new year.
Anya
This is the first Christmas I am spending by myself. I am a product of Christian and Muslim parents (both are agnostics but their families are religious), so at home my mom (the christian parent) made a big deal about Eid and every Christmas we visited our grandparents in Boston to spend the Christmas with them. This year, I did not celebrate either and it feels really weird.
eric
Today will be spent tooling around and doing much of nothing, playing some guitar, maybe Lebron/Kobe for a few later. Missing the most beautiful daughter in the world who is visiting family with her mom. I give thanks for her health every day and wish the same to each of you here. My biggest wish for the holiday is the HCR really works for people and millions of Americans can live better more sane lives because of if. I have my concerns about the legislation, but if that wish comes even a little bit true, then this progressive guy will have many more very merry christmases.
To all of the people who are having a trying holiday season, please rest easier knowing that you have friends here in the “impersonal” blogosphere that are always willing to help.
Finally, in loving memory of the baddest of the badasses on the intertubes: fuck the fucking yankees.
eric
CaseyL
@cleek:
Um… (wipes drool off chin)
…. where did you say you lived?
D-Chance.
One side effect of Christmas is Christmas Day television. I’ve got a choice of Christmas parades, Christmas specials, Divorce Court (on THREE different channels), Christmas sermons, soap operas in Christmas settings, or some basketball featuring the Knicks (teams wearing green and red).
Divorce Court… hmmm….
demkat620
Sauce is in the crockpot, meatballs on the stove.
Lasagna will be prepared for tomorrow’s potluck with the family.
Wine in my glass, happy kids, dog has a new toy and all is right with the world.
geg6
Is it wrong that I am already +2? Well, if it is, I don’t wanna be right. Mimosas, bitchez!
Betsy
@geg6:
Dang, I want some mimosas!
Bonnie L. McLellan
My kid moved to Albequerque; my at-least-10-year-old (she showed up on the front step ten years ago) dog is blind and incontinent most days (I realized today I have to let her go); I work from 11 am until 11 pm today; and I only have one present in the house (not from said kid, because tuition is so damned expensive). Here’s to tomorrow sucking less than today.
cleek
@CaseyL:
in a magical place known (by the writing on the water towers) as “the peak of good living”.
Tsulagi
Merry Xmas BJers wherever you may be.
We’ve already had our main Xmas dinner. Following a tradition in some SA countries, you party till midnight on Xmas Eve then sit down to dinner at midnight as it becomes Xmas.
We had a lot of expats without other family in the area in our house. The Scot with his thick accent who’s hard enough to understand when sober was hammered. For comedy value, at dinner I thought of asking him to say grace.
geg6
Betsy @126: Come on over! We have a whole second bottle of cheap champagne we have yet to crack and plenty of the fixings! That said, I’m thinking a nap will be in order before I start on the twice-bakeds.
r€nato
Merry Xmas to all.
Finally, just saw the commercial that Ben Stein does for “Free Credit Score”. Holy crap, I don’t know whether to be appalled or laugh my ass off at Ben Stein for how shamelessly he is cashing in.
Ailuridae
@Anya:
If it helps it gets easier as time goes on (although I hope this is a one-time event for you)
jeffreyw
Dinner is starting to come together, duck is taking the glaze.
Ailuridae
@D-Chance.:
The Knicks have actually played really well the last ten games. The color schemes are a bit much however (especially with the blue and orange still on the floor)
Midnight Marauder
I hope you’re all having some good times wherever you may be on this fine, fine day. I certainly hope these guys are–it is the holidays after all.
On a different note, I want to go on the record of going beyond mere optimism and outright declaring that 2010 is going to be a fan-fucking-tastic year. The analogy/metaphor that I’ve taken to using as of late about my feelings on the new year, is that I feel like I’m about to get a hot hand in a game of dice. A very hot hand. So I guess what I’m telling you is that the bandwagon just pulled into the station and there’s plenty of room (and booze) on board. I think we’re going to be in for a surprisingly good run in the next 365. Or maybe I’m just delusional from an impending schedule of 18 hours of NBA action today. Who knows?
Merry Ch
ristmas, gang!Betsy
@Midnight Marauder:
Love it!! Both the lolcopter (how perfect) and your conviction about 2010. Hear, hear!!
MP
From someone who mostly lurks and enjoys the humor and intelligence of this community, Merry Christmas. Now, to the kitchen for a little wine and cooking.
arguingwithsignposts
@Anya:
You’re not alone, because I’m in the same boat. Here’s some smudge – she’s too damned fast at the moment for my shitty camera.
arguingwithsignposts
@Midnight Marauder:
MAY THE JESUS BUTTON BE WITH YOU!
PanAmerican
Hail Atlantis!
cleek
it is time.
time for wine.
such a fine time.
time for wine.
Valdivia--phone
@arguingwithsignposts:
arguing you made my day with little smudge! And that bit from amazon about the Jesus button had me in stitches. Off to the movies. See y’all later
GReynoldsCT00
@arguingwithsignposts:
Merry Christmas AWS! I have my FOUR beasties keeping me company
jurassicpork
Considering how kind my readers have been to me this year with the Paypal donations, I thought I’d kick a little back by posting my Top 50 Assclowns of the Year retrospective by Xmas. Enjoy and happy holidays.
Anya
@arguingwithsignposts: Gorgeous! All this cat and dog cuteness makes me want to get one.
The Moar You Know
Merry Christmas, all!
Next stop; 2010 and the end of this rather strange decade. Can’t recall a weirder one since the 1970s.
Hooray!
Zzyzx
I had a feeling it was going to be clear this morning so I drove to the Queen Anne Viewpoint to take sunrise photos but I wasn’t expecting it to be this nice:
Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3
jeffreyw
And a new tradition is born?
Linkmeister
Mele Kalikimaka from the mid-Pacific, where it’s just now 0800 and we’re on our first cup of coffee.
eemom
Bhahoo bhores, dahoo dhores……Merry Christmas to all Whos, the tall and the small, on Balloon Juice, the very best blog of them all.
(no, I didn’t get that job at Hallmark I applied for. Why do you ask?)
MikeJ
@Zzyzx: Looks like we should have a Seattle Balloon Juice CCD cleaning party. I have a dust spot in almost the same place as the biggest one in your pics.
Shooting sunrises when you don’t have to get there until 7:30 beats the hell out of summertime 4:30 treks.
Very nice pics!
rikyrah
Merry Christmas.
Have a wonderful holiday.
Dannie22
Joyeux Noel a tous!
Col. Klink
Merry Christmas Juicers! Stay safe out there.
Midnight Marauder
If you’re not watching the all-day NBA Christmas Bonanza, you just missed on of the most amazing holiday commercials of all-time. It’s one of those Nike puppet commercials with LeBron and Kobe, as Santa Claus narrates an epic basketball game between himself, Kobe, and LBJ vs. his reindeer. It’s called “Dunkin’ On A Reindeer.”
This will all make a lot more sense once you watch it. Just trust me on this one.
jeffreyw
Group shot, and yes, there’s always a joker.
Ruckus
Happy pagan holidays to all!
The traditional Ruckus xmas dinner
Seared veg with poached salmon, fresh fruit/melon for desert
Whatever you eat, where ever you are, enjoy life and those around you.
The best adage ever, Peace on Earth. May you see it in your lifetime.
Jenn
Happy Christmas, everyone! (And Zzyzx, it sure is a beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest! I can’t even remember the last time we had blue skies and sun for Christmas.) The best of wishes for a day of laughter and friends, whether they be there in person, covered in fur (or feathers), or online. Electronic hugs whizzing thru the wires to all, particularly those who’re having a rocky day. This is such a great place, thanks to all who have brightened my day on so many occasions!
YellowJournalism
Merry Christmas from the Great White North!
And God bless us, even BoB.
Max
Beautiful day in the Bay Area. Happy Christmas to all.
I’m glad I found this place.
Ming
@arguingwithsignposts:
thanks for the outrageously cute photo series on Smudge!
AWS and Anya, may you feel warmed by the good wishes of those of us also alone, and not alone, on this holiday…
Annie
@Betsy:
Wow. I hope she liked her present…or I will happily run and exchange it at no cost….
Mwangangi
Merry 25th of December!
I’d like to thank all the posters and commenters for all the entertainment and information you all have provided this year.
you folks were the only entertainment I allowed myself during my semester long assault on human anatomy. I got my 4.0 and I don’t have to feel guilty reading this site for the next three weeks.
San
DFH salad (arugula, roast beets, blue cheese, walnuts)
Rosemary-garlic roast leg of lamb with lemons
Mashed potatoes
Green beans
Mmmmmmmm.
licensed to kill time
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone at this exceptional place.
Balloon Juice and our host John Cole, the front pagers DougJ and Tim F and Anne Laurie as well as all the witty/insightful/informed/profane/simpatico/tender/angry/sweet/curmudgeonly/did I mention funny as hell? commenters just give so much to me every single day.
I just love this place, grumpy or happy, flaming or saccharine, naughty or nice. Thank you all and DOG BLESS US EVERY ONE!
Annie
@San:
You had me with you all the way — yummmmmmmm — except for the roast beets…….
Yutsano
I did have a small sad. My sister-in-law’s 14 year old Siamese passed away. I didn’t find out until I got home from work and she told me. So we’re down to three furballs.
Sitting home alone right now until the brothers get back from whatever it is they’re doing today (one’s working, the other ha to go indulge his other family) then off to the parents for enchiladas and presents. I’m getting new socks.
Shell
A very Merry Christmas to all Balloon folk and their animals!
(TCM is showing the Reginald Owen version of ‘A Christmas Carol’ and not the Alistair Sim’s one? Sacrilege!!)
JPK
Merry Christmas and all the best to all of you. This blog helped me get through this year.
Bostondreams
Well, after tearing apart my wife’s aunt’s house, we found the keys our eighteen month old decided would be better placed behind the toilet, and are now heading to Disneyland for Christmas.
Merry Christmas to my favorite bloggers and commenters!
ajr22
This blog deserves some kind of award, maybe a lamp in the shape of a leg. I have become a regular reader this year, and I can’t say enough about the front pagers or the comment section. As teh Jew the family and I will be heading to the movies, and getting some chinese for dinner. Merry Christmas and happy new year to all, can’t wait for another year of BJ!!
mandarama
I hope you’re all having a wonderful day! We have happy little boys playing Star Wars and Indiana Jones with their new goodies. And Honeybaked Ham. So life is good!
Can I impose on you more experienced tech people a moment? I got a Kindle from my FIL–completely unexpected and cool gift!–and I signed up for the BJ subscription. But I can’t see comments on each post. Is that just how it goes? B/c as much as I love our host and believe he and I might have been separated at birth, I really need to see the commentariat. (Even after the last week of visiting seagulls.) Is that a possibility on Kindle, or do I just need to keep ruining my eyes on the iPhone?
Merry Christmas or whatever other celebration you’re having! It’s time to get everyone together to watch A Christmas Story. “You used up all the tape–ON PURPOSE!”
Gwangung
@Bostondreams: Ha! That sounds adorable!
San
@Annie:
Roast beets are amazing. Americans just don’t know what they are missing.
There would be no borsch without them, and what kind of life it would be if there was no borsch in it?
(Let’s see how many people can read this)
С Рождеством и наступающим Новым годом!
Yutsano
@San: Рождеством = Christmas, hopefully you’re wishing us a good one! Odd thing about me: I can’t speak Russian but can read Cyrillic. Don’t ask, I had some weird phases in high school.
Dr. Psycho
You should all come to my blog and read my favorite Christmas story.
Maybe one of you will be able to tell me where it came from.
JK
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanza, and Happy Winter Solstice.
Shell
That’s a ‘major award.’
Been dipping into the ‘Christmas Story’ marathon all day. But try to avoid the scene when the Bumpus’ hounds demolish the turkey. Makes me weep.
Hey, same here! With mashed potatoes and a side of braised escarole. A slightly bitter green goes up well with the richness of the duck. Walnut tassies and stollen for dessert.
Yutsano
@Shell: Man. I should so make shortbread for tonight. It’s about the only thing I have all the ingredients for in the house. Plus it’s like four ingredients and EASY.
Yutsano
Apropos of nothing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylSqKdbZGRc
I’ve been obsessed with this song lately, mostly because it parallels conversations the Dawg and I have had in the past.
EDIT: I know it’s a Train cover, but I can’t seem to locate it.
licensed to kill time
@ajr22:
That should be a lamp in the shape of a balloon, full of that funny gas that makes you laugh like a hyena and bump your nose on the floor until you pass out.
AND A JESUS KEY!
ETA: Why no, I have no personal experience with that funny gas, why do you ask?
Betsy
@Annie:
She either liked it, or she’s currently plotting to kill us all in the night. Also, she looks benevolently upon you for your kind wishes way upthread.
@asiangrrlmn, in case she comes around,
Delicious Christmas cookies.
Betsy
Oh no! What did I say? Why did my pics of christmas cookies get thrown into mod?
Maybe I’ll try them one at a time.
Testing
Phyllis
(TCM is showing the Reginald Owen version of ‘A Christmas Carol’ and not the Alistair Sim’s one? Sacrilege!!)
@Shell: TCM is on notice this Christmas; no Alistair Sim version of Christmas Carol, and not one showing of The Bishop’s Wife. Place has gone to he** if you ask me.
And she used up ‘all the glue‘ on purpose. We don’t even bother to watch it here at our house. I just act out all the parts.
Betsy
Chocolate chip
Betsy
Brown sugar
Yutsano
@Betsy: You my have gone link-happy. Obligatory FYWP.
Maude
@The Moar You Know: I’m glad to see it end. So strange and awful
arguing, You’ve got girl cat and the entire BJ gang. You aren’t alone. I wonder if this blog is becoming like a family. I’m used to the lexicon and how different commenters phrase things.
Let’s have a decent 2010 and no more sad.
AngusTheGodOfMeat
What good is a holiday without bitter disappointment?
Libby
Just dropping in before I leave for the family festivities to wish the entire Balloon Juice community a merry, merry day, however and whatever you celebrate. Don’t comment that much lately, but I treasure you all and am grateful you’re on the internets where I can always find you. You folks rock.
xxL
Shell
I’m with you. But one mitigating circumstance is a couple of showings of ‘Christmas in Connecticut.” I covet Barbara Stanwyck’s waist.
mandarama
@Phyllis:
Dang, I knew that! I’ve just been through about 400 rolls of tape in the last week and I guess it’s affected me. Oops. My apologies to the superlative Darren McGavin.
gogol's wife
@San:
Merry Christmas and coming Happy New Year to you too.
burnspbesq
Hope everyone has a great day. And many more great days in the year ahead.
asiangrrlMN
Before I read the eleven-billionty comments on this thread (new one, please, Cole? And, Tunchie?), ANNE LAURIE! I have an amazing version of O Holy Night for you as done by the Dublin Gospel Choir. A friend linked it for me. Give it a listen. Merry whatever to all.
asdf
Rarely post here but read you ladies and gentlemens’ stuff all the time.
It’s a quiet Christmas here by the Rio Grande. I’m making Green Chile Stew
Thanks for the good times. I’ve enjoyed reading you.
Best Wishes for the New Year to you all.
jeffreyw
@Betsy: Yum! cookies!
satby
Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo a usted ya su familia
圣诞快乐,新年快乐,以你和你的家人
メリークリスマス、あなたとあなたの家族にハッピーニューイヤー
Καλά Χριστούγεννα και Ευτυχισμένο το Νέο Έτος για εσάς και την οικογένειά σας
(I used to host exchange students)
jeffreyw
mmm…fruitcake
JK
@asiangrrlMN:
Thanks for that outstanding version of O Holy Night. Merry whatever to you too!
@Shell:
I covet every inch of Barbara Stanwyck.
Ruemara
Happy Chrishanaramakwanzsticivus to All! May you wall have good holidays. Special good vibes to Chat Noir & Yutsanto. I’m kicking back for breakfast in my new bathrobe which is nice and warm, having already blown half my other gift of jewelry making supplies. The mate is enjoying the new giant DK book on Battle: A Visual Journey Through 5000 Years and the Doctor Who E-Space Trilogy collection. In protest against gritty, rapscallion, SHIRTLESS? Holmes, I will be immersed in Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes collection.
The menu:
Garlic roasted Pork Loin
Roasted Sweet Potato Mash with Homemade Butter
Wild Green Salad
Fresh Cranberry-Blackberry-Orange Dressing
Cheesecake
and a selection of chocolates from these guys, the Candy House. Most Awesome Unknown Chocolatiers, EVAH!
May we all have better a 2010 than 2009 and in fact, I’m fairly sure we will.
MikeJ
Here’s what I baked yesterday.
Bûche de motherfuckin’ Noël
Mwangangi
@asiangrrlMN: Not bad… I’m indulging in my ritual of listening to the Boyz II Men xmas album.
arguingwithsignposts
@mandarama:
now that should be a tag (ETA because smudge is typing)
Mike in NC
Amen to that! How could it possibly be worse (don’t answer!)? A Merry Christmas, Krazee Kwanza, & Happy New Year to all. Heading back to bed after a delightful dinner of Tussin DM, Advil, Mucinex and Sudafed…
JK
What does everyone think of Bob Dylan’s Christmas album? As a lifelong Dylan fan, I think it sucks.
gbear
@JK:
I think you’d be right on the money.
jeffreyw
@MikeJ: Oh, yum yum yummy!
asdf
“What does everyone think of Bob Dylan’s Christmas album?”
Would pay money for it? No. Do I care that it sucks? No.
Bob wrote more good songs than anyone I can think of off hand.
So…. he’s wrong sometimes? Who isn’t? He still wrote (insert your fave Dylan song here).
I don’t care if he made this record so he could get some money together to pay off the Mafia and his Brazilian transgendered blackmailer. It wouldn’t change things for me.
Bobby rocks harder than Pete Townsend courting Jimmy Dean singing “Big John” in his underwear.
There is a reason I don’t post here often.
asiangrrlMN
Wow. Got through the whole damn thread, and really, what can I say that hasn’t been already said? I, too, found BJ this year, and it’s the best damn blog on the ‘nets, in my not-so-humble opinion.
Thanks to all who have posted pics of food pr0n and of various cute animals. Thanks to all who participate in the craziness that often (always) occurs on the late-night threads. Thanks to all my fake spouses out there (and still waiting for Tunchie’s response).
Mostly, thank the blog overlord, Tunch, er, Cole and all the other front pagers for making this the awesome place it is.
May I need to use my rusty pitchfork less in 2010. Peace.
P.S. Welcome to all the lurkers who de-lurked for the day. Hope to see you comment more often.
asiangrrlMN
@JK: It’s my favorite Christmas carol, so I’ve been posting various versions over the last few days. I love all the different things that can be done with the song. A friend even gave me a punk version (I have them all on my blog). It’s good to ‘see’ you, and I really hope your 2010 is better than your 2009.
@Mwangangi: Hm. I may have to check out clips from YouTube. Do they do O Holy Night?
@gbear: Yeah. More snow, though. That makes me happy. Of course, I don’t have to drive anywhere today.
Comrade Kevin
Nollaig Shona daoibh go léir agus Athbhliain faoi shéan is faoi mhaise daoibh, agus go mba seacht fearr sinn go léir ag an am seo ar an bhliain seo chugainn!
Merry Christmas to you all and a happy and prosperous New Year to you all and may we all be seven times better off at this time next year!
jeffreyw
Remote control dog needs some adjustments.
mandarama
@arguingwithsignposts:
–I signed up for the BJ subscription.–
now that should be a tag
Heh. If we had that as a T-shirt, can you imagine the looks we’d get?
Still figuring out this Kindle thing. I suspect that in fact I cannot get all you commenters’ brilliance on the subscription, which means I’ll have to blind myself reading them on a tiny screen instead. Of course, some folks’ posts lately would blind me on a 27-inch iMac.
What did y’all get for presents? Aside from the Kindle, my fave gift was a stuffed Perry the Platypus from my brother. I also got the Plouffe book about the campaign; that should be interesting.
KDP
Shadow and I wish you all a wonderful day! Shadow
Again, thank you all for providing a voice for rational thought. Hoping that 2010 is healthy and prosperous for all of you and your nearest and dearest.
Today: Herb crusted pork loin with potatoes, stewed apples, and pumpkin pie.
gbear
@asiangrrlMN:
Hmmm, still raining here. It’s been rain rather than snow almost all day in my neighborhood. The plows have been by and everything is shovelled out, but it really is a good afternoon to stay put. What a gloomy day.
I hope you had a good one.
DaveInOz
A very Merry Christmas and a happy and a prosperous New Year to all in the BJ community – from a warm, sunny and, yes, beautiful Melbourne, Australia.
D-Chance.
Muslim clerics are almost God-like.
You kill them with airstrikes, and they not only not die, they come out totally unharmed.
He should just hope he isn’t named “the number two”… now THOSE guys fall like flies.
jeffreyw
@KDP:
Shadow, Jack sends his regards.
Brachiator
In quickly, to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
For moviegoers, I recommend Up in the Air.
Music interlude, “Gloria,” from the sublime Misa Criolla.
Anya
@JK: Totally agree! What possessed him to do it on the first place?
Yutsano
@Comrade Kevin: Awww man where were you last night? My boss is half Irish and I was saying I didn’t know Merry Christmas in Gaelic. Come home from doing my brother a favor and TAH-DAH!
tamiedjr
Anyone hear the Pink Floyd Christmas album? It’s called Deck the Wall. ar ar
Merry December 25th to all!
Keith G
@asdf:
May we have recipe, please.
MMM
A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants – Merry Christmas to All!
Chuck Butcher
SIA and Demowoman,
Thanks, my heart is touched. For Christmas I’d like to point out that only family and friends fight like we do around here. Yes, I’m pretty sure all of use have that crazy relative like makepee and BOB.
Christmas got a little less grim when wife opened package from me with silver charm braclet of baby charms. You don’t replace a child with his baby, but it does help fill the hole a bit. That was it for the packages thing, I get to have Ribeye & crablegs w/cheeze cake for dessert as my present.
I wish you all the happiest of holidays, in particular our front pagers.
gsp
Merry Christmas John and all readers. And sorry to John for saying you were being a bitch the other day when talking about the health care bill. let the emotions get the better of me. I need to acquire John’s “nirvanic” state.
martha
Thanks to everyone for their good (and bad, depending on the moment) humor. Merry Christmas or whatever you celebrate!
Today’s menu (now eaten…and it was good!):
Pepper-crusted beef tenderloin with parsley-caper-cornichon salsa (this stuff is utterly addictive)
Scalloped potatoes
Buttered peas
Cloverleaf rolls
McDowell Syrah
and my husband’s grandma’s “refrigerator” cookies for dessert, because they’re one of the few things my father-in-law remembers. Alzheimers is not a nice disease, so we go back to the basics sometimes, and these cookies were/are a fundamental link throughout his life. Everyone at the table (except me) started telling grandma stories…Kind of neat. And they’re good too…
Chat Noir
@Brachiator:
Yup, just got back from seeing it. George Clooney is excellent as always. I think he is aging fabulously, like Meryl Streep. No cosmetic anything. They are two of my favorite actors, although I don’t have a desire to see Meryl in It’s Complicated.
asdf
I’m making Green Chile Stew
May we have recipe, please.
———–
Really? I read this blog for a lot of reasons but mainly because there are some good cooks who contribute. Thank you for asking.
Here is the problem you’ll have. I’ve lived outside New Mexico and frozen green chile is almost impossible to get there. Never tried canned green chile but it is available most places. Like most vegetables, though, frozen is better than canned.
Browned 1.5 lbs. rump roast I cut off a big one and kept frozen until needed. Cubed it in smallish pieces. Tiny bit of salt in the browning. Add 1 tbs. or more Mexican oregano (regular oregano works just fine), a tiny amount dried crushed red pepper, black pepper, the tiniest bit of cumin (I mean TINY) and a little more salt. Remove.
Cut up 3, yes 3, onions. Sautee till almost clear. Add 3 or 4 minced garlic cloves. Cook 1 minute more.
Add the meat back into the pot. Put in a coffee cup full of water, the frozen green chile (13 oz. Bueno Chopped Green Chile) and 1 beef bullion cube for salt.
Dice 2 medium Russet potatoes. Add them.
Mix it all well. Stir occaisionally. Let it cook for a long time, go low and slow.
It’s a really nice dish and a crowd pleaser.
Best Wishes to you all this Christmas Day,
asdf
Mike E
Honey-brined chicken just came out of the oven. Mashed potato(e)s and salad. Pilsner Urquel and Guiness widget cans.
A cool Yule to yous!
Tattoosydney
Christmas is almost over on this side of the world. I hope yours was as good as mine. Best wishes to everyone!
TS + lost count two days ago
cleek
is that like some kind of BJ Of The Month club ?
cause… i could be OK with that.
+4
Yutsano
@Tattoosydney: When your liver forgives you let us know. Look at it this way: if you were home it would have been over hours ago!
Saw some pics of the new Boeing Dreamliner and all I can say is some airline better get one of those on a run to Sydney cause it’s GAWJUSS!!
Keith G
@asdf:Thanks. I too live in Tx and have some pull with folks who grow their own chiles, some of which they freeze, some they can in jars (yummy).
Have you tried this with fresh?
demimondian
After much futzing around, we moved the mead must and the cyser must into the laundry room last night. Man, they’ve taken off amazingly since then. (Well, as amazingly as mead or cyser ever do…let’s just say that the limited growth media for the yeast show up remarkably.)
Cyser…
asdf
Keith G
Have you tried this with fresh?
———-
Strange as this may sound, no. I’ve been successful with the frozen stuff so I just use that.
It’s on the stove now and smells so good I can’t stand it.
Happy Christmas (or whatever!) to you and yours.
asdf
bob h
The bitter, childish kvetching and gracelessness of the Republicans in defeat on HCR sure goes with the spirit of the holidays, doesn’t it. The Republicans- no class at any time.
Something Fabulous
Happy Holidays of whatever kind to you all, from another who found this amazing blog this year. I am about to go to an italian potluck, re-gifting and sing-along, but wanted to take a moment especially to say hang in to those who have mentioned having a hard day today (and Gex, how’ve you been doing?). This year has sucked somewhat fearsomely for me as well, and you all have most definitely helped me slog through it, so many many thanks for that. I too envision a Much Better 2010 for us all!
Best wishes, from another member of the chinese-and-movie tribe.
Mark
Why isn’t Law & Order on today? Without my favorite show, I end up torturing myself by reading David Brooks:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/25/opinion/25brooks.html
He suggests that one of the best magazine pieces about the medical system was this nuttery from September:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200909/health-care
My girlfriend apologized for convincing me to buy that issue of the Atlantic in the train station. I read through it again and tried to remember what bothered me so much about it. And then on the last page, I remembered:
“If we abolished Medicaid, we could spend the same money to make a roughly $3,000 HSA contribution and a $2,000 catastrophic-premium payment for 60 million Americans every year. That’s a $12,000 annual HSA plus catastrophic coverage for a low-income family of four. Do we really believe most of them wouldn’t be better off?”
Ah, the magic of the HSA. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to blow up a single-payer system that works in every country that has tried it in favor of some crazy Republican idea that has never actually worked in practice? And this was from a guy who called himself a Democrat.
It just goes to show you how far out there the August nutbagging was that this was counted as rational discussion.
jeffreyw
These gotta be good in something. Any ideas from the SW foodies?
martha
@jeffreyw: Well, I can’t tell you what to do with anchos and colorados off the top of my head, but when you get some pasillas and guajillos, check back in…I’ve got a mean and really easy pozole recipe that is incredible!
LittleBit
We were masochists last night and went to Midnight Mass in a howling blizzard. The windshield wipers stopped working halfway there. If we weren’t cantoring, we never would have gone, but we were not alone. There were about 100 people there!
Coming home was terrible, though. The wipers still didn’t work and one crazy motherfucker on the road got stuck, and the other drivers just stopped IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD when there were two other lanes open. We had to pull a Chinese Fire Drill in 12 inches of snow so I could drive and the boys could push us around the idiots.
Victory!
I wasn’t looking forward to walking the rest of the way home in a dress and heels.
Tattoosydney
@Yutsano:
Urgh. Had a six wine degustation tonight, after Veuve this morning, after a seven wine degustation last night. Add in some entirely legal in Amsterdam substances, and I feel the need for a soothing cup of tea.
How has your Christmas been?
JenJen
Merry Christmas, Balloon-Juice family. Hope your holidays have been gemütlich so far!
Christmas Dinner is chicken cacciatore, a French pinot noir, and “Inglorious Basterds” DVD. Maybe I should find a more festive film?
Yutsano
@Tattoosydney: Right now I’m sitting at home alone waiting for my brother to get back from lunch. Then I go to dinner at the parents, which is good, except for my douchebag older brother, which is not so much. He’s really the only one of my brothers I don’t get along with (which is good since I live with the other two!) so I have to put up with him at least through dinner then I can make a respectable exit. I’m gonna try to con my mother into making walnut shortbread with me, should be entertaining.
asdf
“I’ve got a mean and really easy pozole recipe that is incredible!”
martha, please do post this. I can make it but it’s not anything to write home about. Would love a good recipe!
John the Radiator
William Claude Dukenfield b.Jan 29 1880 d. Dec. 25 1946
Yutsano
@jeffreyw: Here’s a thought: drop the chiles into a blender along with a few cumin seeds and some garlic powder. Blend until finely ground and voila! Best chili powder you’ll ever have! Plus you can customize it to heat level (anchos are dried poblanos so they’re usually pretty mild) so it’s very flexible. You can also experiment with adding other dried chiles to get a taste that’s all you!
Tattoosydney
@Yutsano:
Ah, a family Christmas. I miss that so much right now. The tension, the fights.
Time for me to go to bed and maybe sleep til a reasonable hour. All my best.
M
Keith G
@jeffreyw: Heat them just a bit to release the oils them (even lightly steam if you wish) put them in a processer with a bunch of stuff not limited to garlic, serranos, onion, tomatoes, eeov, lime juice, cilantro and maybe a few tmatillos. Blend, but stop before it’ a fine, unified mix.
From here use it as you wish.
I would rub it on a pork shoulder roast (even marinade the roast in a large ziplock). I then would use a banana leaf from outside my door, prep it and rap the roast. Slow cook for at least 8 hrs.
But thats just me.
Yutsano
@Tattoosydney: Your sarcasm shall have no effect on me sirrah. It’ll be okay, I’ve lived with his douchebaggery all my life. Sleep well and we’ll catch you in the waking hours.
martha
@asdf: But of course! This was one of those “You Asked for It” recipes in the letters section from Gourmet eons ago. It was provided by someone who lived in Merida Mexico…
Pozole (Pork and Hominy Stew)
Serves 6
2 dried pasilla chiles
2 dried guajillo chiles
2 cups water
2 t. dried oregano (preferably Mexican) crumbled
1/4 t. cumin seeds
1/4 t. black pepper
1 large garlic clove, crushed
1 medium tomato, coarsely chopped
1/2 white onion, coarsely chopped (3/4 cup)
2 lb boneless pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1 inch cubes
3 (15 oz) cans white hominy, rinsed and drained
Accompaniments: radishes, white onions, fresh cilantro, iceberg lettuce, and seeded fresh chiles, all chopped, plus lime wedges and warm corn or flour tortillas or tortilla chips
1. Stem and seed chiles, then simmer in water in a small saucepan until softened, about 15 minutes. Transfer chiles with water to a blender. Add remaining ingredients except pork and hominy and blend until smooth (use caution!).
2. Bring chile puree and pork to a boil in a 4-qt. heavy pot. Simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, 1 hour. Add hominy and simmer, covered, until pork is tender, about 30 minutes more. Skim fat from sauce, then season with salt to taste.
Serve with accompaniments and tortillas/chips. Enjoy!
asdf
Thank you martha!
I see I have been way off on my possole.
It’s such a good dish too. OK, will try yours. Bet it’s gooood!
Merry Happy and thank you!
gbear
@Brachiator:
Also for your enjoyment: Gloria by Them featuring the sublime Van Morrison.
(actually The Shadows of Night did a better version but the YouTube is pretty weak)
gbear
Also: Gloria by Patti Smith.
burnspbesq
@DaveInOz:
Is there a Boxing Day Test this year, or does that only happen when the Ashes are in Oz? That’s on my list of sporting events I’d like to go to.
Carrie
Merry Christmas et Joyeux Noel a toute la gang de BJuicers,
you all complete me…
Carrie + 8 ?
jeffreyw
@Yutsano:
@Keith G:
Sounds like a plan!
have a little dessert as a thank you
PurpleGirl
Happy Happy Day to everyone.
That lady who was throwing out her Christmas tree is one weird non-thinking person. I’m still putting ornaments on my tree and trying to keep it from tipping over, but hey, I still have 11 days (Epiphany) to get it right, or as the Rector of St. Thomas Church said this morning even to February 2 which is Candlemas Day.
martha
@asdf: I really hope you like it! Best to you and yours…
LittleBit
@jeffreyw: Ancho Chicken Chorizo Tortilla Soup!
Linky
I don’t use just one jalapeno, though. I also add two of your New Mexico chiles to the anchos. Yum!
RedKitten
Merry Christmas to all of you smart, funny, caring, weird people. SamKitten and I wish you the happiest of holidays and a prosperous and positive 2010!
jeffreyw
@LittleBit: saved the page to my recipe file–thanks
MysticalChick
Spent last night and today eating and visiting various relatives. Received the game “Crazy Cat Lady” from both my side AND one from husband’s side. They knoweth me too well, it seems!
I hope you all had a wonderful day doing whatever it is that brings you joy!
(A note to my angels: please make 2010 much better for the Universe. It was pretty sucky no matter where you were or who you are. Also too.)
SiubhanDuinne
@RedKitten: Sam is every bit as adorable in his Santa hat as I knew he’d be! Indeed, the best Christmas gift EVAH. It’s a joy to watch his progress. Thank you for sharing so many great photos of him
BTW, he seems (in “Perturbed”) to have that whole fist-scrubbing-weepy-eyes thing down. I see that gesture and I just want to kiss him and make it all better.
Elie
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and New Year to all of this wonderful community.
I wish you all the best and look forward to many intriguing and sometimes emotional but informative communications this year…
You are my buds!
Santiago
Merry Christmas everyone! I just lurve this place.
RedKitten
@SiubhanDuinne:
Yeah, he’s pretty pitiful when he’s upset. Last night, he was all frigged up, ’cause he hardly napped at all yesterday, and we were over at my MIL’s, so he was out of his element AND his routine. The “sad lip” made many appearances. Today was much better — he napped well, and at supper tonight, had his very first taste of solids, which he took to like a fuzzy little duck to water.
Ruckus
I was thinking that you had xmas early this year. Now I know that I was right, seeing Sam’s picture, The Best Christmas Present Ever.
Getting to the end of xmas here on the west coast, stuffed people all happy. Hope everyone else had a good day as well.
moe99
Let me join late to the chorus of well wishers on this blog. You guys keep me going on the bad days. Let the snark continue unabated!!
On to the next holiday: Happy New Year! May we shake the dust of the first decade from our sandals and leave it behind without a backward glance.