DearEvette

Every New Year's Eve do a stay at home 'grazing' -- just a lay out of finger food that we can graze on all night and at midnight raise a glass of champagne. This year we had: a sushi platter, crab stuffed mushroom caps, salmon croquet bites(with remoulade sauce), various cheeses and crackers, bab ghanouj and tzatziki sauce with fresh veggies and pita for dipping, hot spinach-artichoke dip, cheesecake bites and macarons. Same. Only I am gonna do collards with mine. Since my husband has cut out meat in his diet in the last couple years I have to do two batches of collards. One I do with traditional smoked hocks. My family is from the South and that taste is hard wired in me, LOL. For my husband I try to replicate the flavor using a plant based smoked sausage and smoked olive oil for the fat. And man, I am fo glad the holidays are over. No more entertaining until summer.

Same. I have been a Amazon Prime member almost since the program began. I shopped at Amazon so much in the early days that the free 2 day shipping was a godsend. And they started piling on the benefits: free books, prime video etc. But I take less and less advantage of these things. When they announced this I took stock of how much I use the benefits. I calculated and the 139.00 annual cost is was an actual loss for me for the last two-three years. I don't even use the fire stick anymore, we switched to a Roku. I think I've only taken advantage of the The First Reads program i .. maybe 6 times over the last two years. They curate the same types of books every month and sometimes from same authors. It's Just not worth it. More of a money grab from a company that does not need it. So I cancelled yesterday. It felt great, tbh. As of now I am keeping Hulu and Netflix. Oh and I have Peacock until October. That was a ridiculously deep discount ($29.00 for the year) I could not pass up. Oh... and Paramount because, hilariously they keep giving it to me for free. I went to cancel it again and they gave me two more months for free. I don't think I've paid for Paramount since March.

For Christmas I hosted 12 people with varying dietary preferences. I basically excised all red meat and pork from the menu. For starters I had: Carmelized peaches and brie in puff pastry, roasted cherry tomato and balsamic bruschetta, and spinach artichoke dip Duck with orange sauce, and crab stuffed sole with a bernaise sauce, a whole roasted cauliflower with almond herb sauce, Broccoli wild rice casserole, eggplant rollups, corn souffle, garlic sauteed spinach and mushrooms was the main dish.

Mind you... I haven't read the books but the way I read the scene was, capturing the flag wasn't the goal for Percy, it was a mis-direction. Luke (who is kinda captain exposition) basically tells one of the other campers that the strategy was Annabeth's and she was Percy where she wants him. While Everyone else is preoccupied with the game she isolates Percy for a reason. Cut to Percy all alone, away from the action, flossing on the rock. I feel like Annabeth, knowing Clarisse's M.O. (corner your prey when they are alone) purposely parked Percy all by himself on that rock to lure Clarisse there so Percy could fight her. The flag game was small potatoes. The important part was Percy defeating a relatively powerful demi-god in a decisive way in view of a place where his father would logically be -- i.e. a body of water -- so he could notice Percy. Percy fighting Clarisse breaking Clarisse's special weapon -- which I assume was a gift from her father given how heartbrokenly she screamed when it happened -- was the real act Poseidon needed to witness. Unlike Clarisse, I got the impression that Annabeth never doubted that Percy killed the Minotaur. And she figured that if he could do that then Clarisse would have been no problem for him. So if you think about Luke's 'ten moves ahead' comment, it seems like Annabeth engineered her whole capture the flag team strategy just to put Percy in a place to be claimed. From a classics standpoint it also makes sense. Athena is the goddess of wisdom. But she is also the patron goddess of heroes. So the show seems to be imbuing Annabeth with these traits. Interestingly, someone on twitter noted that Percy's fight skills got better, less clumsy, and more assured the closer he got to the water.

I just started to watch this cuz I've seen so many clips of the young actors on the promo trail and they are just so damned charming. I am enjoying it. I haven't read the books, I was not the target audience when they came out and my kids didn't really gravitate toward them either. The dynamic between Percy, Annabeth and Grover in the third episode was fun. Also Percy asking all the right questions at the right time... Zeus' only recourse to save his daughter was to turn her into a tree? The pine cone quip was pretty savage. I loved it. Also him wondering why Chrion wouldn't spring for a plane. Can I just say Jessica Parker Kennedy even in her smallish role was fantastic as Medusa. I loved this iteration of her. In her cozy house with her stone lawn furniture. And yeah Athena did her dirty!! I liked that they kept that version, even though sanitized, in this. And she had a right to be bitter especially with those two particular kids in her house. Did not recognize Megan Mullalley at all! I don't think Annabeth was an asshole to Percy. She never did anything to him. Unlike Clarisse and all the other kids who actively bullied him. I thought it was clear the minute she saw what happened in the bathroom, that she knew who his father was. Luke said that Annabeth thinks ten moves ahead of everyone and the capture the flag game was proof of it. If you think about it, the whole set up of capture the flag was her doing Percy a solid. He outright said he had to do something heroic and flashy to get his father's attention so she engineered everything to make it happen. Meanwhile everyone else was basically all shrugs and 'oh well.' She was the only one who actively helped him out. I may be overthinking it, but Luke is kinda suss to me. He was so accepting and nice immediately. Given that environment and Percy being this newcomer who came in killing the Minotaur, I actually found Clarisse's feeling of threat and the other kids being a bit stand-offish more understandable. There was a moment in the second episode where Percy was "writing" to his mom about liking Camp Half-Blood really making friends and there was a shot of Luke, that felt... off. My spidey senses tingled there. NGL, those sneakers are cool.

Everything was laid out buffet style, so people made their own plates...thank god. One of my husband's students went to town on that rack of lamb, tho. He went back for seconds and kinda looked at me guiltily and I told him he could eat as much of it as he wanted. He is on the football team so he is a big boy. I sent him home with a nice tupperware full of stuff.

This year was the first year my mother in law came to our house for Christmas. Usually she goes to my sister-in-law's because they go really, really big for Christmas and that is her jam. In my house we are a bit more restrained. My kids are older and usually just want money and/or gift cards. And I usually just do a nice dinner and we have drinks and convo after. Very often we'll have whatever friends or students of my husband over who can't go to their families. This year my SIL and her family all decided to do a Christmas cruise. So to our house it was. Now, my MIL is genuinely a nice person. But she can be .... a LOT sometimes. And she is best in small doses. And this isn't just cliche MIL stuff, my husband from the day we met told me he can only take so much of his mother at times. So I had 12 people including my MIL coming to my house for Christmas dinner. Now this is not my first time at the rodeo, so I made sure of everyone's dietary restrictions. I have been hosting a round robin of people for Christmas for years and learned a long time ago I can just put a rib roast on the table and go voila. Did that one year and one of my husband's poor vegetarian students sat there and had to fill up on green beans and macaroni. This year, Of the 12 people who were at my house 2 were fully vegetarian 3 were up to pescatarian 2 the only meat they'd consume besides fish was poultry (no red meat or pork) 2 ate everything but pork 3 were full on omnivore So I had I menu all set so that everyone would be good. My main proteins were gonna be duck and a crab stuffed sole. Everything else was vegetarian My MIL asked if she could bring anything. I asked if she could bring her green bean casserole and her corn souffle. Knowing that these two things would work great with my menu. She brought those. Yay. And they were fantastic. But that woman also brought a full, grown-ass ham beautifully glazed and a rack lamb (complete with those damn white hat thingys) and baked beans with bacon. Oh and as she handed over one more crock pot 'I just had a pork shoulder sitting around so I made some pulled pork" She basically made a full Christmas dinner of her own that almost none of my guests could eat and brought it with her. Sigh. My husband and I did that talking with your eyes thing that people do when they are kinda pissed but can't really say anything. And the cherry on the top of the cake? She only ate the food she brought and afterwards looked me dead in the eye and told me how everything was so delicious! She is so damned extra! Later that night my husband and I couldn't help but laugh at the audacity! I also texted my SIL and told her the whole story and told her she should have gone on that 9 month cruise because the next time I see her.... LOL.

RIP Kamar. 90s OLTL was TOP TIER! And I loved those Vega boys! And I am so sad for Sherri and his kids. Ugh this time of the year sucks. December is relentless when it comes to celeb deaths.

Straight Off the Runway: Character With Best Wardrobe Winner: The Gilded Age - Bertha Russell Runner up: Only Murders in the Building – Mabel Mora Not Just A Prop: Favorite Performance By An Inanimate Object Winner: Good Omens - The Bentley Runner up: Loki - TVA Handbook Least Favorite Writing Winner: And Just Like That… Runner up: Secret Invasion Name That Tune: Favorite Credits/Theme Song Winner:Only Murders in the Building Runner Up:What We Do In The Shadows My New Happy Place: Favorite New Show Of The Season Winner: The Fall of the House of Usher Runner up (TIE): Found Runner up (TIE): Gen V Music to My Ears: Favorite Musical Moment Winner: Only Murders in the Building - Charles singing the patter song "Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did it? Runner up (TIE): Only Murders in the Building - Loretta (Meryl Streep) singing the nanny's lullaby "Look for the Light" Runner up (TIE): Reservation Dogs - the series finale's beautiful flyover shots of the town set to "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" That Guy Used To Suck: Favorite Character Redemption Arc Winner: The Bear - Richie ("Cousin") Runner up: Loki – Loki I Woke Up Like This: Character With Best Hair/Make-up Styling Winner: Only Murders in the Building – Mabel Mora Runner up: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Captain Christopher Pike Favorite Writing Winner: Only Murders in the Building Runner up: Reservation Dogs

OMG. So. Much. THIS! Despite my own inner doubts I decided to give this a try. I loved the books. But what they did here is what they did with Virgin River. I am usually very forgiving of a tv or movie adaptation of books I like if the change is reasonable and makes the tv version more interesting or intriguing (see:Bridgerton, the first few seasons of the OG Walking Dead, The Watchmen e.g.) but when the changes make the tv version outright boring or they do something that changes the entire personality of a main characters or just makes the whole story unrecognizable they could have just written their own material from scratch, then I side-eye. This happened with Virgin River in spades. I had to peace out of that show halfway through the first season. And they did it here again, but somehow even worse. The actors are not well cast and this is just paint dry dull. Which imo, is even more of a travesty than changing up the characters. I got through 3 episodes. Book spoiler: Maybe one day someone will adapt the books of this author well.

I legit guffawed with this line. The writing really was on fire this episode. Another good one was 'My goose is not cooked!" I also enjoy that circumstances continue to validate the Dean thinking Frasier is a hard drinker. LOL. Peri Gilpin looks fantastic! Good episode.

Oh man, I let out a huge gasp when I heard this! I am literally in a re-watch binge of Brooklyn 99. Gutted. RIP Andre Braugher.

In yet another example of how to fumble the bag: Author Cait Corrain has a debut for a fantasy novel coming in 2024 and a two book deal with Del Ray publishing. Well I should say had a debut novel and a deal because her book has been removed from the release schedule for 2024 and both her agent and her publisher has dropped and and she's lost a lucrative deal with Illumicrate, a boutique book subscription service. Gizmodo has a good write up about it, but highlights.... Cait created a whole bunch of sock puppet accounts in Goodreads and proceed to one-star bomb other authors who were debuting around the same time as her in the same genre who she perceived as possible rivals. Most if not all were POC. Meanwhile her book was being reviewed with 5-star raves by these fake accounts. An Eagle eyed reader noticed and started gathering the receipts. Cait was confronted with it behind the scenes and was offered the quiet opportunity by to explain and fix it. But instead she decided to create a fictitious person named 'Lily' to blame on who did all of this (complete with fabricated screen shot conversations with 'Lily' where innocent Cait confronts superfan "Lily' about what "she" did and claiming that Cait did not really know "Lily" they were just friends through the Reylo Discord fandom). This all blew up on Twitter this past weekend. Her house of lies came tumbling down when a) people immediately got suspicious of the screen shot conversations because they did not read as if two people were talking to each other and b)the Reylo fandom chimed in that they had never heard of this Lilly person in the fandom and there was no history of any chats or of her presence on Discord. And finally came the admission complete with explanations of depression, mental breakdowns and meds.. The irony of course is... her book was getting good word of mouth and there was going to be a major marketing push for the book. She didn't need to do all that. This is the type of stuff new authors dream of and she piddled it away out of unwarranted envy.

Yeah Candy Cane Lane was fun. Robin Thede (who played the miniature lady) said that Reggie Hudlin, the director, allowed the miniature crew to adlib. And because she and Chris Redd (who played the lamplighter) were cracking everyone up, the mini-crew parts got expanded. The whole cast was great with those two, the two actors who played the new casters made a lot of their smallish time, Nick Offerman and of course Eddie.

I made a veggie pot pie. included: roasted butternut squash, portobello mushroom, peas, celery, onion, black garlic, carrots, roasted parsnipa, and lentils. In a bechamel with white wine and nutmeg all in a puff pastry crust.

Oh I think it is absolutely intentional. And this is a great way to encapsulate it. This woman is bearing a whole lot of weight approx. what ...? 6 foot? 190 lbs? In the form of Sir. She is lying to everyone and is holding someone hostage. She has to be guarded at all times. Even beyond her issues with Sir, I just don't get the impression Gabi's life has been easy. And I wonder if the actress is using that to fuel the character? I agree that she serious but I don't agree that she is harsh all the time. She's shown gentleness to the people she rescues, especially the younger ones. And they've shown her being a bit flirty with Trent only to pretty visibly shut it down when he seems to see it as a sign to get closer to her. Of all the the characters, I see Gabi and Dhan as most similar who act outward with their coping, usually behind a very tough, aggressive facade, whereas the other three are inward and much more emotional with their coping. I quite like Gabi but I am really curious if/when they are gonna let her crack a bit. She seems ripe for it.

RIP, sir. A true titan whose work was impactful in all the right ways.

WooHoo!!

I'm sorry but that headline cracks me up. First sighting? What is he a bird? "We've just had a rare sighting the Red-Breasted Caruso in the wild!"

Honestly she should have left out a lot. What may have started out as a discussion about the protests, imo, 100% spiralled into a racist rant. YMMW, but I hear a woman's voice dripping with condescension and entitlement. It isn't just what she said it is how she said it. There was more than a whiff of transactional allyship implied in what she said in a finger wagging 'don't you know better?' superiority. Flat out saying that black people are brainwashed is a choice. She went beyond her own cause, imo, and went after the entire black community in a harmful way. This, to me, says more than a single issue point in time frustration with a campus group and exposes a larger mindset. People upset over and a single incident do not instantly lapse into dog-whistle speech unless there is something latent there.

But she had to. She had to give her daughter a FUTURE!!! Without getting into the school she wouldn't have had one, She would have died right after graduating high school. That is just facts. Also something....something... Black people! Meanwhile black and brown people everywhere are:

I only listened to some of the snippets as well. But I didn't get a sense he gave any real pushback. The podcast actually aired over a week ago and it is only in the last 24hrs that it is getting any real traction. I wonder if now he'll address it in some way or just sit back and enjoy the added hits on his podcast. In all the truly awful racist/homophobic stuff, this little gem got missed: She is truly a piece of work.

Well damn. Juliana Margulies did a podcast and what came out was a rather racist, unhinged rant against black people, non-binary folks and gays. This snippet here is both horrifying and rather funny: Girl whut? Fuck you! The tone of her voice when she said 'Blacks' and 'Those people' onthe podcast when referring to non-binary is so disdainful. I guess that kinda clears up who was probably the problem between her and Archie.

I think my soul just died inside. Not Moby!

I believe that when asked a lot of people will say 'I'm just a Bill' or 'Conjunction Junction' is the best School House Rock song. But for me, it is hands down 'Verb: I Do My Thing with Action.' A small but mighty minority of us love that one best. It is the 70s kinda funky vibe + the back up singers are an entire mood. And as with most of the SchoolHouse Rock songs the writing is very clever. I just adore this stanza... I can tell you when it’s happenin’, Past, present, future tense Ooh! Tell you more about what’s happenin’, Say it so it makes some sense And the entirety of the song is about decisive action, doing, being etc.. with an action hero as the central figure... just great concept from start to finish.