So, you want some cheese with that whine? Dear god, for the record I raised two kids and currently own a very cute and wonderful dog, but these people that insist that they have to take either of these to every friggin’ place are really starting to get on my nerves. And my experience is that in many cases, they aren’t…

You can add Neil Young’s wife, Pegi to that list as well.  Damn, 2019 wanted to get started on the death parade pretty fast. 

I’m cutting back seriously in January and want to see if I can go dry. Honestly, my body feels like a party has gone on way too long and needs everyone to go home for a bit. Plus I am going to use the cash saved to get those Vivonic boots I’ve been lusting after for a while.

You can add Neil Diamond to that list as well.

One the fondest memories from my childhood is from Christmas. Being uber German, we didn’t decorate our tree or the living room until Christmas eve. We’d put the lights on the tree and then all of us kids would be bundled to bed. The adults and older kids would wake us up at the crack of midnight. I remember coming…

Having survived a International Economics that was 8 am in the morning by the generosity of a Professor grading on curve, I can attest that is a valid truth.

I have to show that to my daughter. Since moving to the East Coast from CA, she’s pretty much a Duncan aficionado now.  And like her mom, she loves beer.

I have to buy that for my husband for next Christmas. That is an awesome gift for a ex-New Jersey kid.

My dad’s mom used to make her mushrooms and forest accoutrements to the Buche de Noel out of marzipan, but that may have been because while my paternal grandmother was Alsatian, my grandfather was German.  

Frau Chancellor Merkel says Verdammte Scheiße! Hab ein Bier, Schatze! Alles klar!

Living just down Highway 17 from Monte Sereno, CA, I remember that the Kinkade story was quite the rage when he passed. And even before he passed, he had a less than ideal reputation in the town as an asshole neighbor.

After working in IT for many years, I have learned to drink coffee at all temperatures.  Honestly, cold coffee isn’t all that bad..

It’s one of those cookies that seems to have gone all over Europe with each group doing their own versions, Russian Tea cakes became Wedding Cakes in Italy and Mexico. In Germany, they added a few more spices and they became Pfeffernüsse.  A friend in New England calls them “Snowballs”.   A cookie by any name that is…

I was going to say that gin in earl grey tea is wonderful as is the opposite.  

Happy Holidays and Merriest of Christmases!  Thank you for a wonderful year of making us consider what goes in our glasses and on our plates. <3

I didn’t learn about the wonders of cakewalks until I went to college in Western PA, and my midwest friends used to wax nostalgic about them.  Apparently, many of the Okies who settled in the Central Coast of CA brought the tradition with them as well; my native Santa Cruzian friend said they were popular in her…

A friend is going to give me recipe for making it on a outside grille with a pizza stone.  Living in Northern CA, its not unreasonable to run a grille in the middle of December. 

As my name implies, I collect Day of the Dead stuff and skeleton related items to the point that yes, my house is starting to look like the Addams family. So yes, I’ve gone through a few bottles of Crystal Head in my day, including the cute little bottles. My husband was gifted a bottle of Aviation a while back—its…

I inherited a Jacques Pepin book from my mom on “easy homemade” meals.  One of them was for cassoulet.  I love Jacques, but I think he’s a bit off on the easy part.  (The cassoulet was pretty damn delicious, but it did take the better part of the day to make)

I would say I have a tonne of sympathy for you, except that in my family, I am your husband. Every year we do Christmas dinner and then at some point between Christmas and New Years, a full Indian dinner. I am threatening to make my own Naan this year; my husband is threatening to commit me.