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[bk]

I gotta tell you.  But I won't.

[bk]

Because I'm nice.

[ChasSmith]

Calendar looks fine!

[Jane]

I'm trying to figure out how to store it. It's too big for the commercial fruitcake tins I have sitting around. I've got the cheesecloth to wrap it in and plenty o' bourbon to keep it moist as it ages. The beauty of this recipe (at least to me) is that it uses dried fruit, none of the candied fruit at all.

Interesting with only dried fruit.  I'm curious how you will end up storing it.  How often do you need to add the brandy?  Of course you must let me know how it comes out. 

[Jane]

People always ask why I finish books chosen for my book group when I'm not enjoying the book.  Today was a perfect example.  While I struggled to read all of the book the discussion was very interesting.

[Cillaliz]

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Banana
Banana who?

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Banana
Banana who?

Knock Knock
Who's there ?
Banana
Banana who?

Knock Knock
WHO'S THERE?
Orange
Orange who?
Orange you glad I didn't say Banana

[Ron Pulliam]

People always ask why I finish books chosen for my book group when I'm not enjoying the book.  Today was a perfect example.  While I struggled to read all of the book the discussion was very interesting.

Did it make you want to re-read the book?

[elmore3003]

Has anybody on this site ever made a fruitcake? One that you let steep in brandy for months before eating it?

I did, back in the 1970s. I have somewhere here a great recipe.

[ChasSmith]

Apropos of nothing...

Last night I was revisiting The Wild Bunch a little bit.  It's not a film I've always loved, but it's grown on me.  I was watching the documentaries, especially enjoying Mr. Nick Redman's participation, and though I've never been a Peckinpah fanatic I looked to see what else I have here to get into.

Straw Dogs, of course -- twice -- the Criterion and the UK DVD.  Ride the High Country, which I'd watched on someone's recommendation purely for being a good western.  Then I was reminded that the rather strange Ludlum novel (or is it the adaptation that's strange?) The Osterman Weekend was Peckinpah's last film.  Finally, The Getaway, with Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw.

The wonderful part of all this was finding Mr. Nick Redman's participation on every one of these, so he is obviously quite the Peckinpah go-to guy.  I wonder how much more of this is out there, because I want it all.

[Jane]

People always ask why I finish books chosen for my book group when I'm not enjoying the book.  Today was a perfect example.  While I struggled to read all of the book the discussion was very interesting.

Did it make you want to re-read the book?

NO WAY!!!! 

[Cillaliz]

Vet called with Callie's results.  She still has high calcium levels, but she always has had.  Interestingly enough, I just read online of people thinking there's a connection between lactulose and high calcium.  She also has high cholesterol. That may be because she just ate before we went to the vet.   Anyway, if I want more tests to figure out the calcium, I can do it.  Since she's been that way for at least 8 1/2 years, I don't think it's worth messing with

[Jane]

DR John G I forgot to ask if it is a light or dark fruit cake.

[Cillaliz]

Other than that, she's got good health.

[ChasSmith]

Other than that, she's got good health.

Which is always great news.

[Ginny]

People always ask why I finish books chosen for my book group when I'm not enjoying the book.  Today was a perfect example.  While I struggled to read all of the book the discussion was very interesting.

DR Jane, my group often has better discussions of the books we dislike than we do of the ones we like.  Will you tell us the title of today's book?

[Jane]

  Since she's been that way for at least 8 1/2 years, I don't think it's worth messing with

LOL-Understandable.

How long has she been on lactulose?

[ChasSmith]

I'll have you all know I just unjammed the ice-maker in my fridge.

[Jane]

People always ask why I finish books chosen for my book group when I'm not enjoying the book.  Today was a perfect example.  While I struggled to read all of the book the discussion was very interesting.

DR Jane, my group often has better discussions of the books we dislike than we do of the ones we like.  Will you tell us the title of today's book?

That is also the case with us.

The woman who chose "Desert Queen" loved every minute of reading the 400+ pages of this book about Gertrude Bell.  I wasn't the only one who felt like I was reading a history book with too much detail about everything.  For anyone greatly interested in the Middle East this is an excellent book.  Gertrude Bell was a fascinating woman, especially for her time, and I felt the book didn't do her justice since I found the book rather boring.

[Jane]

I'll have you all know I just unjammed the ice-maker in my fridge.

Good for you.  Now please come fix our dishwasher.

[Jennifer]

A glazed Krispy Kreme doughnut, split open and stuffed with savory sloppy joe, doused in a tomato-based sauce, and sprinkled with cheese.
Just because.   This is real, people!   

I think the burning question that's on all of our minds is: 

Would DR ChasSmith, or wouldn't he, try this?

HELL yes.

Well, I mean, once, anyway.

I'm with ya. At least once.

They were talking about this on Live with Kelly & Michael. It sounded disgusting when Kelly was describing it. But from the picture it hardly looks like a donut and looks more like a bun.

[Ginny]

Oh, we read Desert Queen a while ago.  Mary Doria Russell's Dreamers of the Day covers a lot of the same material in a much more entertaining fashion.

[George]

THIS WAS JUST SENT TO ME:



NEW YORK-Saying he could no longer stand idly by  while a vital part of American culture is lost forever, activist and  Broadway producer Mel Brooks has founded a private nonprofit  organization dedicated to preserving the word  "schmuck."
 
An  emotional Brooks stopped short of kvetching at a schmuck fundraiser  Monday.
 
"Schmuck  is dying," a sober Brooks said during a 2,000-person rally held in  his hometown of Williamsburg, Brooklyn Monday. "For many of us,  saying 'schmuck' is a way of life. Yet when I walk down the street  and see people behaving in foolish, pathetic, or otherwise schmucky  ways, I hear only the words 'prick' and 'douche bag.' I just shake  my head and think, 'I don't want to live in a world like  this.'"
 
The  nonprofit, Schmucks For Schmuck, has compiled  schmuck-related data from the past 80 years and conducted its own  independent research on contemporary "schmuck" usage. According to  Brooks, the statistics are frightening: Utterances of the word  "schmuck" have declined every year since its peak in 1951, and in  2006, the word was spoken a mere 28 times-17 of these times by  Brooks himself. The study indicates that today, when faced with a  situation in which one can use a targeted or self-deprecating insult  to convey a general feeling of disgust, people are 50 times more  likely to use the word "jerk" than "schmuck," 100 times more likely  to use "dick," and 15,000 times more likely to use "fucking  asshole."
 
Perhaps  more startling, only 23 percent of men know what schmuck means, and  only 1.2 percent of these men are under the age of 78. If such  trends continue, Brooks estimates that by 2015, such lesser-used  terms as "imbecile," "dummy," "schlub," and "contemptible  ne'er-do-well" will all surpass schmuck, which is projected to  completely disappear by the year 2020 or whenever Brooks  dies.
 
 
"We  must save this word!" Brooks said to thunderous applause as those in  attendance began chanting "Schmuck! Schmuck! Schmuck!" "How will we  be able to charmingly describe someone who acts in an inappropriate  manner? Especially given the tragic loss of the word 'schmegeggie'  in 2001. So I urge you: Tonight, when you get home, please, call up  your family, your friends, your loved ones, and tell them they're a  bunch of schmucks."
 
Hundreds  turned out at a Boca Raton, FL demonstration to show their support  for the dying word.
 
"I've  never told anyone this before," Brooks added, choking back tears,  "but my father was a schmuck."
 
The  foundation has already raised more than $20 million, thanks to  donations from supporters such as Jackie Mason, Albert  Brooks, the Schtupp Institute, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI),  and the Henny Youngman Endowment for the Preservation of Schmekel.  The money will go toward projects aimed at reintegrating "schmuck"  into the English lexicon, including billboards and flyers plastered  with the word "schmuck," the upcoming 5K Schlep for  Schmuck Awareness, and a new Mel Brooks film<  /SPAN>.
 
"The  world cannot afford to lose this valuable and versatile word,"  Brooks told reporters during a charity auction in Manhattan's Upper  West Side Tuesday, where attendees bid for the chance to have a  private lunch with Brooks and repeatedly call him a schmuck. "You  can be a poor schmuck, a lazy schmuck, a dumb schmuck, or just a  plain old schmuck. A group of people can be collectively referred to  as schmucks. You can call someone a schmuck, and you can be called a  schmuck. You can even call yourself a schmuck." Plus, it's just so  fun to say, Brooks added. "Schmuck."
 
Many  of the foundation's volunteers say they share Brooks' passion for  the word "schmuck," as well as his outrage that it is slowly  disappearing from everyday use. They claim that if they do not act  now, the trend could create a snowball effect.
"Today it's  schmuck, tomorrow it might be toochis," said SFS volunteer Harry  Steinbergmann, 82. "What's next, schlemiel? Putz?  Yol? Schlimazel?"
 

Steinbergmann went on to classify this scenario as  farcockte

FUNNY!!  This would probably make a great audition monologue!

[Ginny]

I hear thunder...

[TCB]

http://www.hulu.com/watch/52190/saturday-night-live-save-broadway

That looks just like the chancelier the first time I saw PHANTOM.

[Jane]

Oh, we read Desert Queen a while ago.  Mary Doria Russell's Dreamers of the Day covers a lot of the same material in a much more entertaining fashion.

Thank you!!!  For months I've been trying to remember the name of the book (Dreamers).

[George]

THIS WAS JUST SENT TO ME:



NEW YORK-Saying he could no longer stand idly by  while a vital part of American culture is lost forever, activist and  Broadway producer Mel Brooks has founded a private nonprofit  organization dedicated to preserving the word  "schmuck."
 
An  emotional Brooks stopped short of kvetching at a schmuck fundraiser  Monday.
 
<SNIP>

FUNNY!!  This would probably make a great audition monologue!

But Druxy, it looks like what you were sent was missing the last paragraph:
 

Brooks will be appearing at Brooklyn's Francis Scott Key Junior High on Nov. 12 to give an informal lecture about his experiences using the word "schmuck," and build grassroots support among a key group of young Americans by explaining that "schmuck" is a Yiddish term for the foreskin on the head of a penis. In addition, he has hinted at the possibility of a reunion with longtime comedy partner Gene Wilder, during which the two will call each other schmucks.

Here's a picture:

[George]

And here's another:

[Jane]

All this schmuck stuff is funny.  I know people who promote not using the word as it is offensive.  Really, when you think of the definition I understand that.

[elmore3003]

Well, I just had a deeelightful phone call from someone I dearly love and never see enough of. We had a scintillating conversation and I am feeling very happy tht it occurred.

I am now going to turn off the AC since it's cold enough in here to hang meat, and read a bit,

[elmore3003]

I hear thunder...

We're having on and off rain all week.