That doesn't count as candy. I'm mad I ate that.

Jenny alerted me to this hilarious slideshow of flavored candy corn varieties and Bon Appetit tasters' reactions. For the record I think all candy corn is gross. Not enough chocolate.

Best chocolate chip cookies of all time?

Apparently the secret is in the refrigeration time. Recipe here. They were good, but didn't change my life ... yet.

Birthday in Beertown (Santa Rosa)

Mike turned 39 over the weekend and we celebrated by drinking a large volume and variety of beer(s).

On Saturday morning, in keeping with Yom Kippur traditions, we flew to Oakland and picked up our rental car at Advantage. Did you know that Advantage car rental in Oakland is so far from the airport that you have to take two shuttles to get to their rental center, which is in an abandoned parking lot near a vacant field haunted by the ghost of John Wayne Gacy? Their office is in a trailer, and I had to wait a long time to pick up my vehicle because the woman in front of me in line didn’t have enough money in her bank account to pay for her car.

We had time for a quick stop at McDonalds (Mike got a breakfast meal, I got a 3 piece Chicken Selects) and then it was time for the North Bay Brewery Tour. We went to Lagunitas, The Beverage People, Bear Republic, and Third Street Aleworks. My favorite stop was Lagunitas, because I like their beer (esp. their pilsner and Lil’ Sumpin Sumpin) and all of their employees appear to be dropouts with criminal records, who are back on their feet thanks to the generosity of Tony Magee, founder and owner of Lagunitas. Lagunitas recently bought a ROLEC (huge German beer making system) that is so big it has to be brought to the US by ship and will be helicoptered into Petaluma.

Besides visiting Lagunitas and Bear Republic (Healdsburg is very pretty), my favorite part of the tour was when Mike almost strangled our bus driver so she would stop the bus so he could get out and relieve himself. He held out for a freeway offramp, near a Burger King.

On Sunday we went to Russian River and back to Third Street Aleworks. At Russian River, Mike had great wings and I had some good sour beers. Then I bubble-wrapped some bottles of beer, packed them in my luggage, and we flew home. This trip confirmed what we already knew: Mike likes IPAs and Belgians, I like pilsners, porters, stouts, and sours.

5353 Fest

While I was buying fall denim at the Neiman Marcus in King of Prussia, PA, some people I know were having a fantastic dance party in a parking lot.

Waters


DJMG


He's my Brother, She's my Sister

Dengue Fever

Dustbowl Revival

Class Actress was there too. Here is some footage of her elsehwere.

Dances with Dustbusters

Thank you, Lisa.

Guess the celebrity mustache

The LAT and I disagree on the proper spelling of moustache, but I choose to put our differences aside and unite to celebrate the celebrity moustache guessing game.

Macarons at home?

I wonder if I could do this recipe justice. I might have to take a stab and see what happens, using memories of Pierre Herme as inspiration.

If there were decent Hannukah songs I would post them

But there aren't!



Ray Charles version of That Spirit of Christmas


Ray LaMontagne version

Express train to fat town

The study serves as a warning that even brief periods of increased food consumption -- the first few weeks of college dorm life, a three-week cruise with its all-you-can-eat buffet, the string of parties from Thanksgiving through New Year's -- should be avoided.

Too late!

Just Dance 2 track list revealed!!!

Thank you Laura.

Highlights:

2. Bangles – "Walk Like An Egyptian"

12. Elvis Presley – "Viva Las Vegas"

38. The Jackson 5 – "I Want You Back"

44. Wham! – "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go"

Worst track:

39. The Pussycat Dolls – "When I Grow Up"

Julienne's graham cracker chewy bars

I made these last night. Easy and extremely tasty (esp. with vanilla ice cream). Everybody wins!

Serenading Unicorn

Brought to you by Juicy Fruit.

Happeepness

I have read a lot of sad news lately:

A respected judge dies and the comments section can only talk about gun rights and if the Constitution is anti-God. I also saw this which was a view into a world I don't want to know.

Kids are dying (sometimes at home) and being mean, and the most recent This American Life is about what to do after your parent is murdered.

BUT this story about the first Peeps store and the link to the WaPo diorama competition photos made me smile, and I don't even like Peeps!