A No-Brainer

Of course, I had to do this one.

You Are Chocolate Mousse

Compared to most people, you are blissful and content with your life. You enjoy each moment, and you try your best to live simply. You think people cause their own anguish. You are charming and a bit of a smooth character. You can always get by on your charm. You are confident and sure of yourself. You are comfortable with your own skin and don't try to be someone else.

What Chocolate Dessert Are You?

Blogthings: We'll Tell You The Truth... Someone Has To!

Feeling: vindicated, because I do love chocolate mousse. Not that the description is all that accurate. But I do love chocolate mousse. Rich, thick, creamy, chocolate mousse.

~~~o0o~~~
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My Favorite Cookies

I was feeling nostalgic, so got a box of Mallomars
. Mallomars aren't really cookies, more like mini, well, not quite cakes, either. They're confections made of crackers and marshmallows dipped in dark chocolate, and they're only sold in the cold months so they won't melt on store shelves. They were my mother's favorite cookie and they're one of my favorites. I haven't eaten any in years because, to be honest, I can eat an entire box in one sitting. They're not healthy for me to have around.

My other favorite cookies are Oreos, chocolate chip, bakery cookies (see below), and Sprinkle Cookies. I don't know if the latter are made anymore, but they were thin, soft chocolate crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate sprinkles (Jimmies, for parts of the country), and I could eat a box of those in one sitting, too. Actually, that's true for all my favorite cookies. And Milanos Dark Chocolate are a close runner-up.

Oreos are the perfect dunk-in-milk cookie. I also love taking them apart, eating the icing, then the cookie halves.

Chocolate Chip cookies come in many forms (I love Entenmann's and Friehofer's), but homemade is best. I use the Joy of Cooking recipe and apparently, I'm not the only one.



Bakery cookies refer to the cookies I grew up eating. My paternal grandfather was a baker and the kind of cookies I love are East European Jewish style, although you can get them almost anywhere in NYC now. And here's a nice, if a bit racy(!) site that is a nice guide to many of these treats.



Milanos also come in many varieties, but I prefer regular and double chocolate.



And finally, no discussion of cookies is complete without Black and Whites, best when bought from a good, kosher bakery. Greenberg's is my favorite bakery for them.



Feeling: chocolicious

~~~o0o~~~
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Merry Christmas!

The Ugly Doll carolers and I wish everyone who celebrates it a very Merry Christmas!
Feeling: tired

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: Christmas

No Chewing Allowed

I had the day off, so went to get my comics and walk around the holiday craft and gifts bazaar held this time every year in a nearby park. I happened across the booth for Chocolat Mathez and they had small samples for taste testing. I have to admit no way I'd want to chew these truffles. Letting one melt on my tongue was truly an emotional experience. I'm trying to take off the weight I gained on vacation and I didn't have much cash with me, but I did want another taste, so I took a second sample. mmmmmmmm.... good!

Feeling: cold

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: chocolate

25 of My Favorite Christmas Songs

I'm not Christian, yet love Christmas music, just not the religious songs. Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order. The numbers are there so I could keep count.

1. "Santa Got Run Over by My Chevy" (Manic Hispanic). Finding the lyrics or even a useful website for this isn't all that easy. I was happy to find the name credited with the recording.
   
2. "Jingle Bell Rock" (Bobby Helms). Probably my all-time favorite.
   
3. "Run, Run, Rudolph" (Chuck Berry). Fun, fun, Rudolph.
   
4. "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" (Nat "King" Cole). Simply the best.
5. "White Christmas" (most versions). Irving Berlin's classic. My favorite version is the one by The Drifters.
   
6. "Jingle Bells" (Singing Dogs). I love this; don't hate me. ;)
7. "Santa Baby" (Eartha Kitt). Sultry Christmas!
   
8. "Nuttin' for Christmas" (Stan Freberg). A humor classic, but I can't find the lyrics for Freberg's version, at least, not tonight. And the nicer Barry Gordon version. Freberg's version had a harder-edged ending.
   
9. "Christmas Dragnet" (Stan Freberg). No one did parodies like this better than Freberg.
   
10. "The Twelve Gifts of Christmas" (Allan Sherman). Sherman was right behind Freberg when it came to parodies.
    
11. "Christmas Wrapping" (The Waitresses). Fun fluff that can get stuck in your head.
12. "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home) (Darlene Love). Darlene Love performing this on the David Letterman show has become a holiday tradition I try to never miss.
13. "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" (Elmo and Patsy). I had to include it.
14. "Marshmallow World" (Darlene Love). Love's voice makes any song a classic.
    
15. "Christmas (Don't be Late)" (The Chipmunks). Another classic, a vital part of my childhood.
    
16. "Snoopy's Christmas" (The Royal Guardsmen). It's Snoopy! Nuff said!
17. "The Marvelous Toy" (Peter, Paul, and Mary). Probably not a Christmas song, per se, but it does get a fair amount of airplay this time of year.
18. "Rock and Roll Christmas" (George Thorogood). Can't beat the beat. Here's a video.
19. "Do They Know it's Christmas?" (Band Aid). A song in the true spirit of the season.
20. "Nut Rocker" (B Bumble and the Stingers). A wonderful instrumental, rock riff on The Nutcracker.
21. "Father Christmas" (The Kinks). Not your typical holiday fare.
22. "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (Brenda Lee). Infectious.
    
23. "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (Bruce Springsteen). Sure, it's an oldie and overdone. We all probably learned it when we were kids, even we Jews. But Springsteen made it sound fresh.
24. "Christmas All Over Again" (Tom Petty). I've loved this song even before I knew it was Tom Petty's. I love Tom Petty's music.
25. And to wrap up the list, "Blue Christmas" 
26. by Elvis Presley has to be included. So poignant, and no one could ever sing it better than the King.

I keep thinking I'm missing some goodies. In fact, I know I am.

This novelty collection from Dr. Demento is wonderful.
Check out the background on some Christmas Novelty Songs.
And then, of course, for old-time rock 'n' rollers, there's the Phil Spector Christmas Album, a true classic, full of some of the best Christmas music you can find.

Now, if we could only get such a variety of Chanukah songs! :)

Feeling: festive

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: christmas

16 Questions Meme

Found this on Facebook: 16 Questions Nobody Has Asked You Before. And I've got to admit, I don't recall being asked these before.


What was the last thing you had from Starbucks?
Uh, a piece of cake, I think. It was back in August, so my memory is fuzzy.

Which of these body parts can you crack willingly: knuckles, neck, toes, wrists, knees, shoulders?
Knuckles, but not so much as when I was younger. My elbows crack on their own.

What is the worst thing you have ever tasted?
Soap.

What is your (or was your most recent) locker number?
It was, uh, almost 40 years ago, so I don't remember.

What brand of bottled water do you like best?
Evian, but I mostly drink Poland Spring, which is cheaper and almost as good.

What kind of frosting do you prefer on chocolate cake?
Chocolate.

What was the first cell phone you had?
Uh, a Nokia, I think.

Which are your favorite socks?
Too many to choose from. I love socks.

What does your handwriting look like?
Harder to read as I get older.

When is your three-quarter birthday?
February.

Which band or singer do you dislike?
All the ones I don't like.

Who is your favorite Winnie the Pooh character?
Hmmm.... I never read Winnie the Pooh, so don't really have much affection for any of the characters.

Do you prefer neon, straight flourescent, curly flourescent, or standard light bulbs?
Those nice energy saver ones.

Are the light bulbs so shiny, just begging for you to lick them?
No.

If you had a pet lobster, what would you name it?
Dinner. Not really. I don't like eating lobster.

Do you burn inside?
Only when I have hot flashes. (What the hell does the question even mean?)


Feeling: tired

~~~o0o~~~
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Potato Latkes were Consumed

Chanukah dinner at my father's last night. We had the traditional latkes/pancakes.



Feeling: still full

~~~o0o~~~
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Happy Chanukah

Feeling: content

~~~o0o~~~
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Astronomical

Okay, this works.

You Are Astronomy

This world is not enough for you... literally. You can't help but wonder about what else is out there. You're the type of person who believes that anything is possible, and you'd like to prove it. You are also quite philosophical. You spend a lot of time wondering about our place in the world, how the universe was started, and what the future holds. You may not ever get all the answers you seek, and that's fine with you. Questioning is part of the journey.

What Field of Science Are You?

Blogthings: Take a Quiz. Annoy Your Friends.

Had today off, but it was nasty most of the day -- it cleared up in time for the sun to set -- so I stayed home and watched the DVDs of my father's home movies (hubby had converted them from tapes to DVDs for me). A lot of memories there.

Feeling: blah

~~~o0o~~~
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Bag It

Yeah, this sounds about right. ;)

You Are Unpretentious and Honest

You're quite happy with who you are, and you never pretend to be someone you're not. You just act naturally. It's what works best for you, and you're comfortable with who you are. You like people when they're just being themselves. Nothing turns you off more quickly than a phony. You don't like it when other people want you to measure up to their standards. You should be enough as is.

The Handbag Test

Blogthings: We're Not Shrinks, But We Play Them On the Internet

Feeling: tired

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: quizzes

A Peek Inside

Hubby and I got to go on behind-the-scenes tour of Citi Field, home of the Mets today. The team was doing this for full season ticket holders and it was quite fun. We got to go onto the field, into the dugout, and as you can see from this photo, into the Mets' locker room. The only thing missing was the Mets!

Baseball season can't come fast enough. I hope the Mets manage to field a better team this coming season, one that stays healthy.

Feeling: content

~~~o0o~~~
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Triple Chocolate Mousse

At the risk of turning this into a food blog, I present tonight's dessert: triple chocolate mousse at Veselka, a Ukrainian restaurant in New York's East Village. Before dessert, I had Chicken Kiev. I joined a couple of friends for dinner, for a pleasant evening. And the food was delicious.

Feeling: stuffed

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: chocolate