Foucault is alive and well at my local Walgreens

No doubt because he got a free blood pressure test and consultation today*:

Biopower!

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Believe in Google!

“I want to get married” = 42,800,000 results

“I want to die” = 69,800,000 results

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My coffee mug makes a multilingual pun

I’ve had this coffee travel mug for years. It’s made by Contigo, which I dimly recall means “with you” in Spanish (right?).

But what I find interesting is how that final syllable is emphasized through the lines—hence, “it goes with you.”

… It’s not a huge deal, but I like the fact that it’s making an interlingual pun.

Update: I guess conti means “accounts” in Italian. So the mug also accounts for your coffee?

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The Turkish Turtle

This is a new dish that I invented at a party my roommate Kailee threw. What you do is unwrap a Rolo and place it atop a waffle pretzel, like so:

Voila! The end result is called a “Turkish Turtle.”

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Obligatory Thanksgiving Food Blogging, Part 5 (The Epic Conclusion)

Back in Chicago, my diet returns to normal:

Beans and wheat berries, with a side of hard boiled eggs.

Happy holidays, everyone!

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Obligatory Thanksgiving Food Blogging, Part 4

And yet there’s still more! The day after Thanksgiving, we traditionally have soup. This year, my dad made four different types.

There was cream of broccoli:

… Italian wedding soup:

… chicken pot pie:

… and a sauerkraut soup:

I contributed by making a big salad:

My dinner:

I’m not really a soup person. Instead, I had seconds on the salad.

Happy Day after Thanksgiving!

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Obligatory Thanksgiving Food Blogging, Part 3

Our longest-running family Thanksgiving tradition is that my dad makes a pie for every single person who joins us for Thanksgiving. That’s right, an entire pie per person. It’s excessive and every year we promise we’re going to cut back. And this year—we finally did! My dad made only eight pies (that’s for thirteen people, mind you, still an excessive amount of pie ).

Each person gets to choose his or her pie. My choice is always apple, which is my favorite:

Besides that, we had two Boston cremes:

… a cherry …

… a French apple …

… a key lime …

… and two pumpkins …

Taken all together, here’s what they looked like:

(Why, yes, that is Turkey Hill ice cream in the background.)

And here’s what my (first) plate looked like:

And here’s the aftermath:

There’s still plenty left, if you’d like a slice! (This means you, Jeff.)

Once again, I hope you’re having a Happy Thanksgiving, no matter where you are  …

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Obligatory Thanksgiving Food Blogging, Part 2

Another Thanksgiving dinner is already in the books. My family eats early!

Our meal is for the most part very traditional. We have sausage stuffing and gravy and mashed potatoes:

Usually my dad makes his own sausage, but this year we got it from the marvelous Sabatelle’s Market in downtown Pittston:

Oh, there was also corn:

And sweet potatoes, too, which I never eat:

And there were roasted brussel sprouts, which I failed to snap a picture of.

As for meat, we had a ham and two turkeys. (There are thirteen of us this year, over a few days, and we were originally expecting fifteen.) One of the turkeys was roasted, the other smoked:

Here are some larger views of the table as the food was being brought out:

My cousin Karen posed for one of my photos. Like me, she’s a real show-off:

We all knew where to sit because my mother makes place cards for everyone. I doctored mine a few years back:

And here’s what went in front of my place card:

Observing the whole affair was my parents’ cat, KC:

Finally, I like to dress up some for Thanksgiving dinner. Here is the outfit I chose this year:

Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. Part 3, forthcoming, is where the real action is.

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Obligatory Thanksgiving Food Blogging, Part 1

Every year, I go home to my parents’ house in Scranton for Thanksgiving. My dad is a chef, and Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday, and it’s the one time he asks that everyone come home. I’m happy to oblige.

This year I thought I’d share some of the wealth. First we have…homemade pickles (mostly all eaten):

Next is some of my dad’s horseradish:

And meatballs and sausage:

… which go well with National Bakery rolls:

My mother also contributes. She makes the cranberry sauce:

… but more on the more traditional stuff tomorrow.

Finally, we have a new brewery in town: Susquehanna Brewing Company. (I’m actually in Pittston). So we’re trying out some of their ale:

Happy Thanksgiving!

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If Taylor Swift can’t find love, what chance do I have?

I mean, honestly.

I should note that, like Swift, I, too, have dated Joe Jonas, Taylor Lautner, John Mayer, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Conor Kennedy (but not at the same time that she did; I’m not like that).

And also like Swift, I own a duplex penthouse in Midtown Nashville, Tennessee as well as a residence in Beverly Hills, California, and a house, purchased for my parents’ use, in Brentwood, Tennessee.. And earned $18 million in 2009, $45 million in 2010, $45 million in 2011, and $57 million in 2012.

Ms. Swift, you and I are maybe not so unalike. …Call me?

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