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September 2009
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November 2009

I'm sorry, but...

  • I'm an idiot
  • you're an idiot
  • it's your fault you were offended
  • I didn't know about it
  • but I did have a point anyways
  • everyone does it
  • I wasn't paying attention
  • I drank too much
  • I didn't drink enough

It seems most apologies now include a qualifier, an excuse, and are less sincere for it. The Citizen had an article a few weeks ago on "the sorry state of apologies", referring in particular those given after Congressman Joe Wilson heckled President Barack Obama during a speech, Serena Williams threatened to stuff a tennis ball down the throat of a line judge, and Kanye West grabbed a mike from Taylor Smith at MTV award show. All their apologies were judged to be lame, and in some cases, a little late.

Continue reading "I'm sorry, but..." »


Turkey day done

That's it, Thanksgiving done - at least here in Canada. We have it early enough to get in one last long weekend before the snow flies. Or at least until it stays on the ground. Apparently our Parliament  proclaimed it in January of 1957 as

A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed … to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October.

Before then it was November 6th, but still presumably with most of the credit to a supernatural - or maybe supranatural -  being. Last weekend my thanks focused on Loblaws, Visa, and The Beer Store. Oh, and Al Gore for the Internet.

I had my son and daughter-in-law and my grandson over for a different turkey this year. No, not a 32lb 4-legged one - I didn't have the crowd of 14 my brother did. This year I tried a prestuffed bird, injected with butter palm oil. No thawing and cleaning, no mixing up of stuffing mix, no decorative stitching needed to hold the bird together. Turkey just goes in frozen, bit of foil on top, cook at 325F all day, baste occasionally. It was very juicy and tender, and the stuffing was fine. I also did some garlic/cheddar mashed potatoes the day before, and some acorn squash nuked whole then halved and finished in the oven with butter and maple syrup. Gravy base was made ahead of time too, just finished it up with brown goo from the pan.

2009_10_12_3a

I also discovered my grandson was quick to appreciate that pumpkin pie and whipped cream don't need to be together - whipped cream is more fun when it whooshes from the aerosol can right into your mouth. Was a bit of a rush for him, I can hardly wait until grandma(s) see it. Glad to be able to pass on a tradition.