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I’m taking some vacation time, before heading back to a short work week. Looking forward to this Dick Clarkless New Year’s…? Hmm.

Still trying to get holiday cards done. Hopefully shall be done before this Friday.

Christmas Eve movie – “Meet the Fockers” – funny movie; Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman, and Barbra Streisand – are all cool actors – very believeable as their characters. Some may say that the original movie, “Meet the Parents,” was funnier (since the movie tortured actor Ben Stiller as Male Nurse Greg Focker), but “Meet the Fockers” was harmless fun.

One nice Christmas/Birthday gift (well, at least I count it as a birthday gift, since it meant cashing in on the Barnes and Noble card that I had received) : “Star Trek: Duty, Honor, Redemption” – basically, a one volume compilation of the movie novelizations of “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock,” and “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,” by Vonda N. McIntyre. These are absolutely wonderful Star Trek books, expanding on the movies with fan-beloved story threads that the films glossed over – how Lt. Saavik struggled as a half-Romulan/half-Vulcan person; how Drs. Carol and David Marcus’ Genesis project screwed up; and how McCoy and Spock dealt with having their conflicts more-or-less understood, since Spock needed McCoy to keep him “alive” and McCoy learned to understand Vulcans better. Oh, and Jim Kirk realized how much he loved a ship named Enterprise and how much he loved saving the universe. I can read this over and over. Highly recommended for big Trekkies/Trekkers.

It did occur to me – why the title of “Duty, Honor, Redemption”? Put together, the three movies (and the three novels) made a great epic, but whose epic? Kirk’s? The Enterprise? Spock’s? There’s the theme of life: birth, aging, and death; themes of love and friendship; theme of service and sacrifice. “Duty” – Kirk, the young cadets who died in the fight against the mad Khan, and, of course, Spock; “Honor” – well, Saavik and David certainly tried to face disaster with courage, while Kirk and the Klingons supposedly duked it out; “Redemption” – Kirk and Crew, branded as mutineers, become the Earth’s ultimate saviors by traveling back in time to get some whales. Well, the redemption part was a little shifty (who’s to say that Kirk wasn’t already redeemed by sacrificing his son and his career to save his best friend in Star Trek: III?), but I liked the series, I really do.

According to the NY Times, a Harvard Law School student’s blog about a fictitious big firm law partner is apparently very popular. What’s really scary is that the readers apparently know it’s fiction, but still empathize and react as if it’s real. Hmm.

The sad impact of the tsunami in South Asia is still something to be analyzed, but I really find it sad that something like this could have been avoided with an alert system and mass communications. Acts of God are still stuff to amaze us all, but just because tsunamis are rare in certain parts of Asia doesn’t necessarily excuse the need to be prepared – just in case. Sad that it takes a tragedy to make us realize that.

There’s something about post-Christmas shopping that I prefer over pre-Christmas shopping. Maybe it’s that feeling of “Let’s buy what we really want” or the amusement of watching half-empty, messed up shelves with leftover Christmas stuff, or seeing big sale signs. Who knows.

Everone in the P– household except for me is recovering from the flu. Apparently, last year’s flu shot that I received provided some protection. After my half-baked attempts to provide tea for everyone, P-‘s mom came over and whipped up dinner, a variety of chinese teas and soups, and steamed the place with vinegar to disinfect the house. P was still sick today, so she skipped out on Christmas dinner with my family, which was just as well.

A 9.0 earthquake near Sumatra, Indonesia (a place Americans only know as some place where Starbucks gets their coffee) set off a massive tsunami that wiped out 9 countries surrounding the Indian Ocean, killing upwards of 15,000 people. Malaysia was one of them, so there was consternation in figuring out if any relatives were involved, and apparently they were not. We had thought that it had hit the eastern coast, but actually it was the western one. It only goes to prove that maybe Americans are not that good at geography, but it’s not our fault if the locals can’t figure it out either. Everyone will be looking at this disaster as a dozen times worse than the summer hurricanes.

We had brunch at Chango on Sunday. OK, but we went crazy with the included mimosas and bloody marys. The mariachi were also good (the title is from a sappy song that they were singing).

It’s the first serious snowstorm in New York, with 1-3 inches expected. I’m headed to Toronto on Tuesday, so I hope that things clear up (the weather and P’s flu) by then. I’m also putting together my annual New Year’s message by tomorrow, in lieu of Christmas cards. I hope to have it done by tomorrow night.

Forgive me for doing this now, but in case I don’t say this on Christmas Day proper…

Merry Christmas, Everybody!!!

Now, back to your regularly scheduled Christmas practices/specials…

FC: your photo of the pound cakes look so yummy. I swear that Christmas is cake and pie time like nothing else! (I cannot tell a lie: I’ve been eating nice cakes today…)

NY Times’ Ed Levine explains the concept of Mincemeat and mincemeat pies, in “Mincemeat (Whatever It Is) Is Still a Christmas Tradition” – well, a Christmas traditions for Brits and Brit ex-patriates in NYC. Fascinating to finally understand where the “mincemeat” in mincemeat came from:

According to the Oxford Companion to Food, the earliest mince pies, chewettes, were made with chopped meat or liver and hard-boiled egg, ginger and dried fruit. Brandy or red wine was added for flavor and to preserve the filling. The book also says: “By the 16th century ‘minced’ or ‘shred’ pies, as they were then known, had become a Christmas specialty, which they still are. The beef was sometimes partly or wholly replaced by suet (the solid white fat found around the kidneys of both cows and sheep) from the mid-17th century onwards, and meat had effectively disappeared from ‘mincemeat’ on both sides of the Atlantic in the 19th century.”

So, basically, mincemeat pies in a true sense are lard pies. Oh-kay – but Levine then adds:

Madge Rosenberg, an owner of Bakery Soutine, on West 70th Street, makes the pie. [….]

“We sort of worked backward,” she added. “We started with the traditional recipe and got rid of the stuff we didn’t like or need.

“The suet went, because many people don’t want added animal fat in their food, and so did the brandy, because we felt the other ingredients had so much flavor, we didn’t need the alcohol.”

Ms. Rosenberg’s pie is a revelation. The crust is light and flaky, just heavy enough to hold her filling, made with currants, yellow raisins, apples and walnuts.

But 20 pies does not a movement make. So I continued my search at the two bastions of British food in New York, the restaurant Tea & Sympathy and the British food purveyor Myers of Keswick. At Tea & Sympathy, where Nicky Perry, an owner, serves bangers and mash and bubbles and squeak to supermodels and expatriates, mince pie reigns supreme around holiday time. Ms. Perry doesn’t understand the aversion to it.

Americans “turn up their noses at the very mention of it, maybe because they think they’re still made with meat,” she said. “So I just end up giving them a taste, and they end up loving it.”

Personally, I’m thinking that Sara Lee version of mince pie that I ate back on Thanksgiving didn’t have the suet or the alcohol, so I’m just relieved to avoid the added calories and fat – although too bad about losing the – uh – interesting flavors.

Plus, a cool NY Times article by Brian Cazeneuve, “All Chocolate, No Oompa-Loompas,” on Jacques Torres, famed chocolatier, who’s opening a Manhattan location to go with his Brooklyn place:

He longed for a spot in Manhattan, he said, mindful of not only attracting more people but also giving them something worth seeing. He had seen his customers squeezed into his tight 400-square-foot storefront in Brooklyn, straining to peer through open doors into the 5,000-square-foot factory, as if peeking into the magician’s bag of tricks.

It has taken a while to get the magic in Manhattan just right. Mr. Torres found that expenses in his dream plan would have been nearly double his $1.5 million budget. The glass in the store cuts off at 11 feet in height, because Pierre Court, his designer, found that taller glass would need to be custom-made. The dream layout had included floor-to-ceiling glass. [….]

The interior has five tables; one will soon be reserved for children and have, in Mr. Torres’s words, “small rocking chairs fit for mini-butts.” By February he hopes to have five computer screens for customers to learn the process of making chocolate as they watch the evolution live behind the windows.

“I wanted to see my profession and not just my product,” said Mr. Torres, always giddy and caffeinated. “Everybody loves chocolate, but it’s such a mystery to them. How does this magic happen?”

On this day Mr. Torres was making chocolate with the tangy beans from Ecuador and the nutty beans from Ivory Coast. He put them in the roaster for half an hour.

“So the potion starts now,” he said. “Are you ready for the takeoff?” [….]

“Sharp, but not so smooth,” he said. “Oh, we can do better.” He encouraged and listened to each opinion of his staff members. When friends showed up a few minutes later, he gave them samples and asked for their thoughts, too.

“The signature needs less Ecuador,” he said [while experimenting on cacao beans for his latest confection]. “I need to wait a few minutes. Then I cool my taste buds and I taste some more.”

Later Mr. Torres offered yet another comparison for his product.

“You know, chocolate is like romance,” he said. “It makes your eyes close, your mouth water. It makes you playful. You feel it? You see what I mean?”

Yes, Jacques Torres. Absolutely. He’s not Willy Wonka, but a man with a cute French accent and great food skills and love of… chocolate – ain’t a bad combination… 😉 (yeah, I liked his tv shows…)

Anyhoo, here’s the link for the Yule Log, that beloved NYC tradition that will also be on tv on Christmas morning, 8am to 12pm on Channel 11, WPIX.

Let’s see if I dare to blog again tomorrow, the day before Christmas…

In preparation for my year-end message, I’ve finally got this new photo gallery software installed on the Triscribe site. This solves the problem I had last year with a gazillion crazy pictures with no comments (this year, it’s going to be around 3,000). You’re also welcome to upload photos that you may have also. You do have to create a free account to do so. Also, you can order your own prints through Shutterfly and a few other vendors without bugging me… It’s at http://www.triscribe.com/gallery – check it out.

On PBS tonight:

Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle, with mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade and tenor Bryn Terfel. There’s something off in hearing opera singers sing “Jingle Bells” (although, Terfel’s pretty good with the rhythm; but Von Stade seems stuck with the operatic training – but she does nicely with her range).

Plus, of course, “The Nutcracker” (it ain’t Christmas without seeing it, in any version you watch it).

And, tomorrow, we shall all be at work. Physically. Mentally – that’s another story. But, at least I can enjoy Christmas Eve off….