Pumpkin pie is horrible.  I have an elderly neighbor who frequently asks me to pick up her newspaper when she's out of town.  Last May I did that for her, and in return she baked me a pumpkin pie.  In May.  Did I mention that it was a pumpkin pie?  In May?  Because it was.  It was the most jarring, incongruous thing…

Black licorice is phenomenal.  It's not a flavor that I'm often looking for in any other setting, but the candy?  Is one of God's greatest creations.

Hey, Dorothy McGuire is a Beautiful Quaker Woman in Friendly Persuasion.  Although compared to Grace Kelly, she's much more of a poor man's Beautiful Quaker Woman.

My liquor shelf long ago consumed my entire pantry (shelves, floor, all of it).  Now it's moving onto the kitchen floor, the dining room floor, and the floor in the finished basement.  It's time to just admit my house is little more than a giant liquor cabinet.

I have a huge soft spot in my heart for Janko!  I've been to one night match at the US Open, and it happened to be him vs. Nadal, a few years ago.  I have no love for Nadal, so needless to say, I was cheering for the guy I'd never heard of in the goofy glasses.  It didn't end well for us that night, but I've been so…

Nice work, bringing another one into the cult.  One of us!  One of us!

Well, the name really says it all, so, to be perfectly honest, there's probably no reason to pay actual money for the book.  Don't tell my publisher I told you that, though.

Awww!  She's so lovely and cute!

What a cutie!  Does he (or she) let you rub that adorable belly?

Oh god, these are the very carefully curated photos.  99% of the pictures I take of them are full-on derpy moron.

I feel like the Devils/Canes rivalry is one of the most underrated ones in hockey.  I used to write a reasonably well-trafficked Devils blog, and all of the Devils fans who hung out there hated the Canes.  It was like you guys were the Rangers or Flyers… but not actually right next door.  I feel like Devils/Canes…

Yobgorgle.

It's ridiculously good.  It was ready to use after sitting out just for 24 hours!  I'd link to the recipe, but I can't find it online; it's from Linda Ziedrich's "Joy of Pickling".  If I recall correctly it was just a case of thinly slicing the ginger, salting lightly, letting it sit for an hour, then packing in a jar…

Congratulations on a vacation well done!  I was hoping to hear a positive report on it!  Actually, I was thinking of you as I was on staycation last week and just completely fell apart regarding responsible eating habits.  There was cake, and cocktails, and restaurant desserts, and then more cake, and Hot Pockets… …

Meowcolm Reynolds is so handsome, and obviously such a helper with hygiene!

What I would give!  I'm so ready to wear sweaters, whether it's fall or winter.

Thanks for the sympathy.  I think I'd be fine with the Kovalchuk situation if it had happened a year earlier and we could have kept Parise.  And perhaps also if Lou hadn't so stupidly mismanaged the "defaulting on one first-round pick" penalty for the Kovalchuk contract.  I'm so glad we kept the 29th overall pick two…

I can't wait for this Devin Townsend Gateway to Geekery!  Yay!!

I've got one of those Bradley electric smokers, where you just load up a bunch of their proprietary woodchip pellets, plug the thing in, toss the chicken into the smoker, and walk away for four hours.  Sure, it's less manly than smoking on, like, a Weber grill (which I've done), but it gets the job done.

Awww!  You and your cat are so cute!  I love tuxedo kitties.