Next tragedy of the impending climate change apocalypse

Your Thanksgiving turkey is going to be like all pasty and dry and just generally nasty:

Climate change could one day affect the cost and quality of dishes traditionally served for Thanksgiving Day dinner, suggests a recent paper in the journal Food Research International.

Pasty, dry turkey meat along with expensive fruits, vegetables and potatoes could be on the horizon if more variable extremes in regional weather patterns continue as a likely result of climate change, indicates author Neville Gregory.

The usual star of the Thanksgiving Day feast, roast turkey, could suffer in quality as a result.

Poor things are going to be all heat stressed.  Maybe it's just turkey menopause or something.  Meanwhile if  the country is actually cooking like a cat on a hot tin roof  we're going to be fretting that our Thanksgiving turkey is not very juicy?  I think not, but thanks for playing.

Via Memeorandum

Also blogging:  theblogprof, Watts Up With That?, YID With LID and Pirate's Cove

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Let there be pie

Happy Thanksgiving to all.  

There is much to be thankful for this year.  I have two healthy and relatively happy - as happy as teenagers get anyway - children who are doing well in school and appear to be on a path to being productive people in the future.  Whether they will have jobs waiting for them is anyone's guess but, hey, let's not let the small things get us down.  I am still hopeful we can turn this around.

I am grateful we have elected a new Congress that is unlikely to hold votes, at all hours, when the country is least paying attention, in order to pass legislation most of the country opposes vehemently.  That we get to wrestle the gavel from claws of a certain someone in the process is, as Martha Stewart would say, "a good thing."

I am grateful for all those who come here and read what I have to say.  I mean that more than I can say, so thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I hope you are all well and enjoying a wonderful day with family and friends.

I am endlessly grateful for my health and continued well-being of my family.  As I look around to some of my friends posting on the internet, there are amazing stories of people who accomplish so much with a positive spirit when many would become bitter in the face of such adversity.  Far too often, it takes a reminder that people make do with far less, thrive under the most tragic circumstances to remind us to be grateful for things we take for granted everyday.

Speaking of health, I am really grateful that our Queen Michelle has deemed, in her infinite wisdom, that on this one day we can eat cake.  Well, really she said pie, but why quibble when we get dispensation from the paragon of fitness and health herself:

Michelle Obama said it's fine to eat what you want on Thanksgiving.

"Don't worry about how much you eat. Just enjoy it," she said. "This is the time. Have pie."

There you have it, it is ok for just this one day, to have your pie and eat it too.  So, let there be pie.  Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Shout outs to my friends in the blogosphere below the jump.

My Favorite Holiday Recipes

This is simply the best recipe for cranberry relish I have ever tasted.  As a bonus, it is also the simplest.  The recipe comes fom Georges Perrier Le Bec fin Recipes.  
2 Cups Fresh Cranberries
Grated zest and juice from 2 oranges
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Grand Marnier
Put all ingredients in a food processor. Finely chop. Chill overnight.


I have been making this delicious recipe for Potato Gratin with Mustard and Cheddar Cheese ever since I saw it in the November 1995 issue of "Bon Appetit".  My copy of that magazine is so worn and tattered, I am grateful it is now listed on epicurious.  This is a bit more involved than the cranberry relish recipe but certainly not more difficult than most casserole recipes.  I make this every year at Christmas too. ( recipe below the jump)

DCCC Fuel For the Turkey Day Food Fight

As you head out over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house for a fine Thanksgiving turkey, consider yourself forewarned that cousin Cathy and Aunt Alice, the family flaming libs, have been armed with Democrat talking points to stoke the fire in the annual Thanksgiving political brawl.   Control issues much?  The downloadable cheat sheet gives a list of potential myths the family conservatives might trot out and supplies the family liberals with "facts" for effective "myth-busting."


 First off, the term myths, as used by liberals, requires an Inigo Montoya retort: " You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."  The cheat sheet begins with the "myth" "Democrats haven't done anything this year."  The DCCC provides the following facts to prove "House Democrats and President Obama have delivered more progress for America this year than George Bush and the Republicans did in the last eight."  For your convenience I have included a sample snarky response, in red of course,  in case someone in the family comes bearing a  DCCC cheat sheet:

Thanksgiving Traditions: Black Friday Sales Ads and Turkey Call Rap

Evidently there is a psychology to Black Friday Frenzy, who knew? I must have missed that course in grad school:

Retailers are doing all they can to tap the potential of the season. Black Friday-type promotions with door buster come-ons have been going on all month. The usual hype over leaked Black Friday ads is underway.

There's a lot of consumer psychology that goes into Black Friday. Retailers, of course, are expert at creating a shopping frenzy. The most popular toys are in short supply. Appliances are put on sale for $3 at the opening hour. Unheard of bargains are advertised, limit one to a customer.

Shoppers eagerly go along. It's some people's version of fantasy football. They compare newspaper circulars, scope out the best bargains, and craft a game plan for the big day.

There are going to be some amazing Black Friday deals on computers this year at Best Buy according to BlackFriday.info: