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Anyone have favorite Christmas recipes to share? This is one of mine, an old-fashioned English recipe that makes a dense yellow fruited pound cake. Great holiday alternative if you don't like the dark batter and funny green things in traditional fruitcake. Gets better if you have the willpower to let it sit and age for at least a week. English Pound Cake 3 sticks butter 2+1/2 cups sugar 6 beaten eggs 1 tsp grated orange rind 1 tsp grated lemon rind 1 tsp lemon juice 1 tsp vanilla extract 4 cups plain flour 1+1/2 tsp baking powder 1+1/2 tsp mace 1 lb currants (macerated in brandy optional) Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, rind, juice, vanilla. Mix. Sift flour with baking powder and mace. Fold into batter (reserve 1 Tbsp. to dredge currants). Dredge currants in 1 Tbsp flour mixture, fold into batter. Grease large tube pan, line with wax paper, grease paper. Spoon batter into pan; batter will be very stiff. Bake at 325 deg. 1+1/4 hours or a little longer, until tester comes out clean. Cool. Store in cool place without removing wax paper. Keeps indefinitely.

Another 1,000, please! So beautiful.

more pictures, please

This kid is impressive, intelligent and it sounds like his family has raised him the right way. Very beautiful Mitzvah.

The only mention of choosing the Speaker of the House in the Constitution resides in the statement: The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. Thus there is no requirement that he be a member of Congress or anything else other than the choice of the House. So why haven't these ideological House stalwarts of the new GOP not pressed to install as Speaker a national Conservative voice imbued with the real truths of ideological conservatism? It would not lessen the number of votes in the House, just that the new Speaker would not be able to vote. (The Speaker often doesn't vote now as a matter of custom.) Many Conservative names leap to mind that are ardently supported by the RWWs (right wing wackos). With all the crazy ideas they have come up with, one wonders why these Tea Partiers haven't thought of this. Having the House organized and led by a true believer would seem a page right out of their book, marching them right down the path they wish to travel. This certainly would be less cataclysmic than forcing the nation to default on its Full Faith and Credit. Um... maybe not on second thought as both roads may end at the same terminus. File this under idle rant due to too much time on hand or... idle fantasizing about making mischief.

Quoted from the site referenced below: What is that green stuff in fruitcakes anyway? There are two things that are green in fruitcakes. One is the bright green maraschino cherries that are often used, especially as decorations on top. I don't blame you for being leery of those - they are a color seriously not found in nature. The other is citron, which is a paler green (and is seen in the Society logo at the bottom of the page). This is a naturally occuring fruit which has been candied as a means of preserving it. Citron is a family of fruit which includes the Etrog used in Jewish Sukkot, or Feast of Tabernacles. Ref: http://mbgoodman.tripod.com/sppf_faq.html

Hey Ax, powerful World leaders cant achieve Peace.... How do you expect Oz and Tampa to do so ???? Sometimes it just aint possible when there are people that dont want to Live and Let Live......

This sounds pretty tasty. I wonder how it compares to the old 'pound of butter, pound of sugar, pound of flour, pound eggs...' old fashion recipe? I love the classic fruit cakes if made right -- with glace cherries, pineapple and pecans. No citron or raisins (well maybe a few golden) or walnuts. It must have brandy or bourbon by the purveyors hand or mine. A good fruitcake is very expensive. I've made a few in my day -- very hard prep with hours of cooking (7) and weeks of aging in your liquor of choice. I have some good ones made for me -- few and far between. Every year I go online to find the perfect fruitcake, throwing my Scotch purse to the wind, or threatening to. Money is no object I say. It takes much searching to find a cake to my specs and then it is just close. First disappointment. Then I read the reviews: dry, too crumbly, too this, not enough that, etc. I rethink sending fifty dollars for that gamble. I end up with a tried and true but unfortunately adulterated Claxton Fruitcake. Not the one of the Days of Old -- walnuts instead of pecans, raisins and citron too. However the cherries and pineapple remain. It always comes a bit dry but that suits my need as I always serve a slice doused in good brandy. The cakes may not be as good as in the old day but the brandy is far better. And the combination focuses my recollection of the fine cakes of the past.

Light fruit salad I can pineapple chunks 1 can tropical fruit coconut flakes to taste---several tablespoonsful Maraschino cherries 3/4 cup nuts of your choice 1 container of Cool Whip lite or similar Thaw Cool Whip, gently incorporate other ingredients and serve. Nothing fancy but a nice exception to "heavy" desserts like pies, cakes, etc. Best regards, RA1

The change is described in the company press release that NCBored linked to. The side note to the recipe is my own untested speculation -- neither mama nor I have made these cookies since Crisco changed. In fact I haven't baked anything with the "new" Crisco. Cook's Illustrated published test results showing no difference in baking performance. But enough cooking forums contain complaints about it that I took note. Several posters said they found a small amount of water would fix the problem, thus my guess that some butter could right the balance here. We have a bag of English walnuts lying around (poor substitute, but at hand) that I may use to test this out.

Thanks for posting

Hito, this article explains why you're just going to have to get used to putting out http://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/news/20131125/how-the-love-hormone-works-its-magic if you want you your prince to hang around.

After watching the speech, got me to thinking as to what type of rabbi would permit this speech in his shul on shabat. Reformed, of course. I'd love to see this speech before a conservative or orthdox congreation and see ans hear the responses..

Bert Larh? In your dreams maybe!

Well Lurker, Actually his bod was displayed in the Katy Perry/Lady Gaga episode a few weeks prior, so maybe lack of comment is because you are Late to the party ? But thanks for RE-Focusing on this delicious Guy.

AS- You are totally incorrigible. Best regards, RA1

No doubt you do but they are a very small minority -- for either SS or Medicare. Most people who remember or know of FDR revere him and most of their parents revered him. He didn't get elected four times by the vast number of complainers. Medicare isn't perfect. Very few things in this universe are, especially if man made. And like our democracy, we shouldn't throw it out because it isn't perfect, just the best we've managed to do so far. I like Medicare. It works fine for me. Yeah, on occasion I have grumbled about something that was not covered or about the bureaucracy getting screwed up. I also experienced both with Blue Cross/Blue Shield when I dealt with them. It is what happens when you have complicated policies and bureaucracies, be they public or private. Medicare is not perfect but it beats the hell out of old folks going without health care and that is what the alternative would be for most without Medicare. We actually lived without Medicare. We have history. We were NOT better off as a country, society or elder class. Period!!!!! All the ineffectual sputtering ideology to the contrary. There are improvements that need to be made for sure. The Doctor Fix needs to be fixed permanently. The problem is that the GOP wants to improve Medicare away. Not much room for improvement with such a divergent path. Some insurance companies may not like it because they cannot take Medicare for the same ride anymore, siphoning off profits that they weren't entitled too, or were unnecessary from the perspective of delivering health care. My insurance company has no issue with Medicare -- none that they complain to me about -- and I have good coverage. I pay for it. Also, from the number of insurance companies that market me during open sign up over and over and over, they seem not put off by the current medicare/medigap market. The fixes are obvious to me. Take the cap off the Medicare tax. Index copays and deductibles with income. Institute a realistic permanent doc fix and come to some compromise on tort reform to reign in nuisance suits and damage awards for legit claims. What is not a solution is 'voucherizing' medicare to get it off entitlement status with an inadequate stipend that inflation will make totally inconsequential down the road, all the while leaving seniors to the benevolence of insurance companies. Truly a Health Care Nirvana in the making.

A bit of good news from the U.K., advancing same-sex rights over the claim that religious freedom should trump civil rights. Hazelmary And Peter Bull, Christian Hotel Owners Who Turned Away Gay Couple, Lose AppealReuters | Posted: 11/27/2013 7:17 am EST * Case highlights shift in British views on homosexuality * Christians said wanted only married couples at hotel By Estelle Shirbon LONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Britain's Supreme Court rejected on Wednesday an appeal from a devoutly Christian couple who denied two gay men a room at their hotel, saying this constituted discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation. In its judgment, the court said the high-profile case and the legal issues it had raised were "a measure of how far we have come in the recognition of same-sex relationships". The Christian couple had argued that they should not be forced to facilitate what they regard as a sin by allowing unmarried couples to share a bed. They argued they were discriminating against homosexuals only "indirectly" because they would also have refused a room to unmarried heterosexuals. The court rejected their argument, noting that the gay couple were in a civil partnership, a union for same-sex couples recognised under British law which gives very similar rights to those enjoyed by heterosexual married couples. "Marriage and civil partnership exist both to recognise and to encourage stable, committed, long-term relationships. It is very much in the public interest that intimate relationships be conducted in this way," the court ruled. "Now that, at long last, same-sex couples can enter into a mutual commitment which is the equivalent of marriage, the suppliers of goods, facilities and services should treat them in the same way." "MARRIED HETEROSEXUALS ONLY" The Christian couple, Hazelmary and Peter Bull, refused to let Steven Preddy and Martyn Hall stay in a double room at the Chymorvah House hotel in Cornwall, southwest England, in 2008. The hotel's online booking form stated at the time that the owners were devout Christians who preferred to let double rooms to "heterosexual married couples only". However, Preddy booked the room by telephone and was not made aware of the policy until he and his partner arrived at the hotel and were rebuffed. Reported in the media, the incident caused widespread outrage in Britain. Preddy and Hall took legal action against the Bulls, supported by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. A county court and the Court of Appeal both ruled that the Bulls had discriminated against the gay couple. The Bulls then asked the Supreme Court to overturn the Court of Appeal ruling, but the Supreme Court justices unanimously dismissed their appeal. Same-sex couples will be able to marry from 2014 in England and Wales under a new law passed by the British parliament in July this year. (Editing by Gareth Jones) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/27/christian-gay-hotel-appeal-loss_n_4349105.html?utm_source=concierge&utm_medium=onsite&utm_campaign=sailthru%2Bslider%2B

My fall trip to New York was the worst in years. there was so little theater that interested me that I might have well stayed home. I saw Big Fish, and cannot quarrel with its poor box office, and I saw After Midnight, which is more of a jazz show than theater. It was just okay. The best show on my list was A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, starring the wonderful Jefferson Mays, but I took ill right before the show and had to skip it. Spring theater looks more promising. Neil Patrick Harris will star in the wonderful Hedwig and the Angry Inch. No doubt it will be the must see ticket for gays. I remember seeing it off-Broadway many moons ago and being just knocked off my seat. Ticket prices keep climbing. Standard orchestra on Broadway is now in the $150 range, and they are just not giving value for the money, or so I think.

Aren't orchestra seats the good 'uns, the one you buy when you want to impress your date? I've read that tourism is way up in New York the last couple of years, recession not withstanding. So I'm guessing ticket sales are robust enough for the theater crowd to jack up prices and make hay while the sun shines. Still, 300 bucks for a pair of seats does seem a bit high even for orchestra.

Adorable! When you met them was one of them missing a slipper? I have one I have been trying on boys for years and it never really fits. This one might be the one.

Tom, your photos are great and very representative. But, for me, it looks so much larger in real life. I guess when you have 100 swinging dicks around your face, it is hard to get the right perspective.

Very nice. Must be lovely when filled with luscious Brazilian boys.