You normally don’t see a snowman with this type of core strength!
Also, who wants to tell him about the ritual circumcision requirement?
off to get some chinese- as an atheist I am almost Jewish so good enough
— John Cole (@Johngcole) December 25, 2019
I hope that everyone who is celebrating has been having a very merry Christmas. And those that aren’t are enjoying the time off without the religious/festive trappings.
Here’s some music for the evening.
Open thread!
khead
Amazingly good Chinese and sushi last night in a kinda random southeastern PA strip mall. Philly porchetta today. I may spontaneously burst from overstuffing while working tomorrow. Happy Holidays jackals.
planetjanet
A nice steak at Applebee’s for me, with a little brownie bite to finish. Dinner with my mom. I have officially survived another holiday.
Should I be trying planks to atone?
Adam L Silverman
@khead: One of my favorite places for sushi in the Philadelphia area is Blue Fin in Plymouth Meeting. There’s also a great place in Centre City. I think it’s on Race.
Adam L Silverman
@khead: @planetjanet: I had leftovers from Sunday. So beef short rib, a couple of latkes, and some arugula salad.
Zelma
I may have missed it, but how do we order a pet calendar. 2020 is almost upon us.
Hope everybody had a merry.
Eric S.
Happy whatever you celebrate or don’t, jackals. I’m an atheist but the family is culturally Christian so we do the Christmas trappings. This is the 3rd year in a row and 3rd time ever I made Beef Wellington. Im not sure how it compares to a classic preparation but everyone loves it.
Back to work and back to the gym tomorrow.
planetjanet
@Adam L Silverman:
I brought mom and my cousin some lebkuchen as gifts that I baked on Monday night. Ever since I brought some back from a Christmas market in Vienna, they just speak Christmas to me. Although I put in twice the spices the recipe calls for. Though I have never found anise. Finally bought some real cookie cutters so they looked nice as well. Sneaked a couple for myself.
CaseyL
Just back from stuffing myself with Indian food, including a single bite of goat curry (pretty tasty, but not enough for me to eat regularly) and a mango lassi, which also served as dessert.
Other than continuing work on my latest glass piece (another undersea ‘scape, of a coral reef this time) I have no further plans for the evening – or, in fact, for the week.
Happy Holiday, in whatever tradition or lack of tradition is yours!
Adam L Silverman
@planetjanet: You have trouble finding anise?
I’m pretty sure TaMara has a plan for that.
Mary G
Cat video:
planetjanet
@Adam L Silverman: Have not looked that hard. Safeway does not have it. But I had to make a special trip to Wegman’s to get the rye flour. Maybe I will look at Penzey’s.
Honus
Standing rib roast, mashed potatoes with ruta baga, carrots and shallots and chocolate pecan pie. Nice dinner with our boys and then watched perry mason on the dvr, followed up with the thin man. Ice Christmas for this devout catholic atheist.
geg6
Happy Hanukkah, Adam! And happy holidays to all, whatever you may be celebrating!
Had a great day with the family. Older niece, her fiancé and their adorable 5 mo were the stars of the day, but it was all good, all around. Best present was tickets for me and my younger niece to see Green Day, Fall Out Boy and Weezer at PNC Park in August. My sister (younger niece’s mom) knows we both love Green Day, so it will be fun. We usually go to a concert together every summer since she was about 10 and she’s now 19. We have a lot of similar tastes in music and that is very reassuring for an old 61 yo aunt to know.
joel hanes
@planetjanet:
Echte Nurnberger lebkuchen are made with a communion wafer as the base. I spent two Christmases just outside Nurnberg as a guest of the US government*, and wandered through the Kristkindlmarkt in the courtyard before the cathedral at least one evening each year.
I think that the Middle-Earth town of Dale, between the arms of The Lonely Mountain, legendary center of toy and musical instrument manufacture, was modeled on Nurnberg.
* drafted 1972
planetjanet
@joel hanes:
Beautiful photo. Have not had the privilege of visiting Nurnburg. Vienna at Christmas is magical. I stumbled on the market on a foggy evening. The Rathaus looked so spooky in the mists, but the market at its foot was a swirl. The streets lined with hanging lights. Music everywhere.
Yarrow
@joel hanes: Beautiful photo. But how did you get it to post in the comments? Are you now a front pager? I must have missed the announcement.
joel hanes
@planetjanet:
Haven’t been to Vienna yet, nor Salzburg.
Hope to start there for a trip down the Danube valley, some year soon.
Cheryl Rofer
Just trying to post a comment. Tried earlier in response to Watergirl’s comment and got 502’d. Managed to get back in and sign in. I’d like to make a post tomorrow on disinformation – a lot of news on that over the past few days.
Fingers crossed, as I click “Post Comment.”
ETA: Whoo-hoo!
joel hanes
@Yarrow:
I put the URL in the comment, submitted, then edited and put the URL back in the comment.
No, I am not a front-pager, nor likely ever to be.
Yarrow
@Cheryl Rofer: The 502 error is so intermittent. Doesn’t seem to be any pattern to it that I can tell.
planetjanet
@joel hanes: Do try the opera if you make it to Vienna. Just seems necessary.
Citizen Alan
I’ve got my have a new Christmas tradition. I finally got away from my family and back to my apartment, and I am chilling out with a bottle of wine and watching a production of La Cage Aux Folles on YouTube. 1st thing to put me in a good mood all week.
Adam L Silverman
@planetjanet: I’m surprised Wegman’s doesn’t have it.
gene108
@Adam L Silverman:
Below 12th Street, on Race, you’re in Chinatown.
Lots of good Chinese / sushi places
Yarrow
@joel hanes: Looks like another interesting case for WaterGirl and the developers to solve. Add it to the list and let her know when she posts her thread asking for input.
Adam L Silverman
@geg6: Here you go:
https://youtu.be/3JAvE1wIBZ4?t=88
Adam L Silverman
@geg6: Here you go:
Cheryl Rofer
@Yarrow: Y’all should be able to post pictures that way. It’s one of the new features. But it hasn’t been working, even for front-pagers. Interesting that it’s working now.
khead
@Adam L Silverman:
I was pretty close to Plymouth Meeting while consuming the porchetta in Fort Washington. So, I have a pretty good idea where that Blue Fin is located. Might check it out. We were out in Avondale last night. Given that it was a strip mall and my wife kept complaining about the smell of horse shit on the way you can understand why I was surprised. Nice presentation too. I shoulda taken some pics of the sushi.
Adam L Silverman
@gene108: Been a long time since I lived in Philadelphia. This one is around the corner from the Marriott Centre City. I was there for a conference after I got back from Iraq presenting some of our research findings and that’s how I found the place. There’s a gelataria down the block from it.
Yarrow
@Cheryl Rofer: Really? I thought WaterGirl said posting photos, videos, etc. in comments was limited to frontpagers.
mrmoshpotato
Are they still mozzarella sticks if all the mozzarella bursts forth while baking?
Had bunch with my family, followed by some watching of The Furchester Hotel(Netflix) with my nephew. Cookie Monster is a monster, wanting to eat Mr. Crumb and all.
ETA – and brunch was a French toast bake. I’m eating the mozzarella mess now.
Adam L Silverman
@khead:
http://www.restaurantbluefin.com/
Adam L Silverman
@mrmoshpotato: Mozzarella IEDs.
joel hanes
@planetjanet:
It would seem so, but I’m not sure I’m capable anymore of the appropriate formal attire.
The Lodger
@khead: Decent Chinese and sushi in Avondale? Things have changed.
debbie
@Yarrow:
I can’t imagine countless jackal photo postings won’t explode the server to smithereens.
Yarrow
@debbie: Agreed. Also, it would make the comments bounce all over the place as each photo loaded at a different time.
Cheryl Rofer
@Yarrow: I thought it was going to be open to everyone, with some exceptions, like the difference in posting tweets. We can ask when Watergirl gives us another troubleshooting post.
rikyrah
???
PST
We saw Little Women and then had Chinese food. Good movie. It’s the first Christmas I can remember that I wasn’t traveling to be with family members or entertaining them at home, but time has finally reduced the older generation to nothing and the younger has to be shared. Big get together planned for this weekend with the Hanukkah side of the family.
Yarrow
@Cheryl Rofer: I really hope not. It would make the threads hard to read. It’s bad enough as each tweet or video loads at its own pace and that’s only available to front pagers. If we all had it the comments would become impossible.
rikyrah
First Black star of NYC’s Ballet Nutcracker
https://youtu.be/_4WHVRzaohw
Yarrow
@rikyrah: That is a really lovely thing they did for her, but I’m uncomfortable watching it. Did they ask her if it was okay to share her reaction with the world? Seems voyeuristic. It’s such a personal moment for her.
frosty
We had Chinese too! First time I can remember. This year the 25th is just a day off. Elder son is hosting Christmas, presents, and dinner next Sunday because he had to work today. So we’ll drive out to see him on Friday with younger son and have our family get-together then.
joel hanes
@Yarrow:
Seems to mostly work OK with disqus on LGM and Wonkette, although it may be the reason that disqus breaks the comments into pages until you hit the “show more comments” button.
John Revolta
So let’s see if this works
https://images.app.goo.gl/LALqzXjqft4NWGH39
NotMax
Dunno if you saw it earlier, thought you might get a modicum of amusement from it.
:)
Meanwhile, mandel brot loaf-shaped mounds in the oven. Fingers triple-crossed (baking powder, though in a well-sealed container, is kind of middle-aged).
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
Mozzarellamecia.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: I saw it.
JaySinWA
I thought you were talking about the snowman, until I paged down.
Got the no visual tab text edit window with this comment. Was plagued by 524 timeouts earlier today. see one of the comments posted, the second a no show.
John Revolta
@joel hanes: No luck. How do ya “put the url back in the comment “?
Kelly
The holiday feasting season is a resounding success. All time high weight of 200 lbs this morning. If we get a bit more snow cross country skiing on Santiam Pass will get me back under 195 in a few months.
Adam L Silverman
@JaySinWA: The site has been weird all day.
Scuffletuffle
Lovely Xmas dinner with my bestie/ex…got me through the hell of Xmas just after losing my one and only income. Am seriously drunk right now and reaching back for the comfort of Steeleye Span and the McGarricle Sisters…if that doesn’t date me as an old I don’t know what will…
The Golux
Beef Wellington at my sister’s house. Superb. We were joined by my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter, plus the guitarist from my high school band (a former flame of my sister’s) and his wife. We bashed through a few Beatles tunes and a couple of his own songs. Groovy!
Scuffletuffle
@rikyrah: So long overdue, but what a lovely development. I look forward to the day when every little girl can aspire to be her best.
Quaker in a Basement
Ritual circumcision as an adult? I refer to you an old pal who wrote about that here: https://forward.com/scribe/402166/i-circumcised-myself-and-lived-to-tell-the-tale/
LongHairedWeirdo
Re: circumcision, apropos of nothing, a lot of US babies of a certain age were just automatically circumcised, in large parts of the country. However, I’ve also heard of adult males having to have their penis cut as their “official” bris.
Before the teabaggers [sic] were on the internet, there were a lot of vicious anti-circumcision activists running around, being similarly obnoxious, using similar tactics. I was wondering if anyone did any research in African nations to find out how bad circumcision was. See, circumcision reduces your chance of contracting HIV by a significant percentage (I think 30%). (NB: I’m remembering data, from a long time ago, and due to Chronic Fatigue, my brain isn’t always firing on all cylinders. Your mileage may vary, do your own due diligence, etc.)
Because of that, at least some African nations would circumcise men for free – the number of HIV infections prevented made this policy pay for itself. And I thought, boy, I’d love to see some of those anti-circumcision folks paying to find out what adult men say about loss of the foreskin. (Even if it supports their angst and howling – knowledge is always good!) They could stop whining and complaining, and actually get *real data* about how much it mattered.
The Pale Scot
Looking for Dr Who chotskies for presents, I got Dalek bluetooth speakers for my sister. THEN I come across this, the world’s loudest bluetooth speaker playing Dalek relaxation guides
I looked all over for a radio controlled Dalek to chase her Scottie around the house with but no one makes one.
My BiL did get her a Furbo, which led to considering fabricating a radio controlled Dakek that spits out treats. I’ll have to check out what kind of robot kits are available and find a 3d printer to make the shell, or shaped fiberglass if that isn’t feasible. The treat-gun is going to be the hardest part. This is going to be fun (I hope)
FlipYrWhig
@Adam L Silverman:
That might be a problem. Liberals of a certain age don’t see Race.
Amir Khalid
@LongHairedWeirdo:
There’s a common belief that if you take away his hat, Mr Happy’s head won’t get quite as happy anymore. In real life, circumcision has no effect whatsoever on a man’s sexual desire or performance or enjoyment.
Chyron HR
If you’d posted Squire/White’s “Run With The Fox” you’d have the nerd Christmas Carol trifecta.
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid:
The trouble is, that this is not demonstrable. The overwhelming majority of circumcised men had that done prior to the onset of sexual activity. Once they start, they can say “this feels fine to me” but they don’t know how it feels the other way. And those rare men circumcised as adults, after they’ve had sexual experience, have not had a “hatless” childhood to de-sensitize the glans.
I’m not arguing that sexual activity doesn’t feel good, I’m just arguing there’s no way of proving there’s no loss of sensitivity.
MoxieM
@joel hanes: You can buy the Back Oblaten just for baking at places like this German foods market–they don’t have to be sanctified! Just rice (I think) super think wafers. They do add to the texture of the cookies. ETA My one effort at Lebkuchen I didn’t grind the fruits finely enough. No good. Stollen, I do a terrific job of. And this year’s not exactly Pfeffernusse at Trader Joe’s are more like Mexican Wedding cookies with a nugget of candied ginger inside. Super yummy. https://www.thetasteofgermany.com/kuechle-oblaten-round-baking-wafers-50mm/