Notes From All Over: Thanksgiving Leftovers Edition

i realize thanksgiving is quickly becoming a distant memory.... but i had a houseful of people through sunday and then i've just been busy (or worn out) the past couple of evenings.

i do, however, still have the remnants of three pies in my refrigerator plus an odd mixture of thanksgiving leftovers... mostly mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce.

i think my brother finished off the dressing last night...

the big news of the thanksgiving holiday: i held my first baby.

well, not my first baby. for the first time i held a baby. yes, i met my pudgy, little niece leah kathryn.

and what everyone said would happen, happened: i melted.

she is just an adorable little butterball, full of personality. and she knows what she wants and when she wants it... my favorite quality in a woman.

so...despite being up early (even for me) every day of the holiday break, it was a wonderful time. let me break down some highlights.

the dinner
wednesday night i made the celery/sage dressing, the double crust apple pie and a roasted garlic and potato soup. the soup would be the accompaniment to the turkey sandwiches for the UT v. A&M game thursday night.

thursday i made the pumpkin pie, the corn casserole, mashed potatoes and roasted acorn squash and cauliflower. i also made a delicious cranberry sauce my friend rhoda suggested:

simple cranberry sauce
1 orange, quartered (rind and all)
1 bag cranberries
1 cup sugar

pulse together in food processor until desired thickness.

it was yummy.

my younger brother handled the dead turkey (which i refuse to touch) and everything was marvelous. in fact, we were all too full for soup and sandwiches during the game so we all just had pie.

mmmm....pie.

A&M vs. Texas
we all hunkered down to watch the game thursday night and watched the horns spank and embarrass the aggies..... it was an incredible game for colt mccoy and one that may have put him back in the lead for the heisman.

unfortunately.... OU beat OSU handily on saturday and when the sunday BCS standings came out... no one was surprised when oklahoma leap-frogged over texas to go ahead to the big 12 championship and, probably, the BSC championship game.

it was a big disappointment..... but texas, at #3, is still ensured a great bowl game.

the bouncy chair
okay... so, there's this thing that babies sit in that hangs from the door frame and it twists and turns and swings and bounces. my niece fuckin' loves this thing.

the first time they put her in it...she just jumped and jumped and jumped and giggled and cooed and smiled.... i fuckin' lost it. i was laughing so hard i had tears in my eyes.

it was like watching a monkey at the zoo. my god - it was so funny.

but hey...she loves it. and it keeps her entertained.

by the way...i took to holding my niece more as the visit wore on. it's not so hard afterall... except that she is really heavy.

it felt very odd at first... but i made sure i held her one last time before she left for baton rouge.

p.s. don't expect me to want to hold every baby now that my hymen has been broken. i just want to hold my niece. get your own damn uncles to do your heavy lifting.

the 2nd annual pie off
we held the second annual pie off on saturday this year.... i'd like to think it was a great success.

eight pies... each one more delicious than the next.

the entries:
2 sour cream, apple pies
1 classic pecan
1 double crust apple pie
1 lemon ice box pie
1 orange meringue
1 chocolate peanut butter pie
1 triple chocolate pumpkin pie

the last pie was mine... straight from martha stewart's november magazine. and while i still need to master my dripping technique... i thought it was fierce. rich, dense, chocolaty. delish.

but...the judges were not judging on difficulty or style, clearly...so the sour cream apple pie scored the blue ribbon, followed by the melting chocolate peanut butter pie and finally the pecan pie...which had style and taste.

but we all know mine was the best... i'm just not allowed to win because i host.

oh - and a special shout-out to sister epiphenita's friend lori for bringing the makings for pie-flavored drinks: pumpkin pie and apple pie. yummy and potent.

but there were about 13 people at the pie off and i thought it went well.

except for the losing part...

monday night debut
the houston texans made their monday night debut this week against the jacksonville jaguars. i don't know if the texans played particularly well or if jacksonville played exceptionally bad... but we won. 17-30, houston.

this is in large part thanks to our defense, in particular mario williams.

meanwhile, sage rosenfels remains inconsistent and steve slayton continues to be this season's pleasant surprise.

the national exposure was nice... but jesus - those commentators on ESPN talk incessantly. i swear they're stoned.... just three giggling stoners.

election update
saxby chambliss won his reelection bid to the U.S. senate in yesterday's georgia run-off against democratic challenger jim martin. there goes the dem's hope for a 60-seat majority.

meanwhile in minnesota: 93% of the ballots have been recounted with norm coleman holding a 303 vote lead over democrat and all-around great liberal, al franken.

franken did win a ruling by the state attorney general that will include more absentee ballots, however, so i'm hoping he can close the gap.

expect results in another week or two.

madam secretary
monday, president-elect barack obama made his choice for secretary of state official: hillary rodham clinton.

brava and yay!

no need for a book tour
doris kearns goodwin need not worry about a book tour for her new book on lincoln, team of rivals. more commentators and pundits have used that phrase over the past two weeks than i've heard in my life!

i'm sure doris thanks you for helping her sell more and more books... but cut it out, for fuckssake!

obama is being a pragmatist and picking the best people for the jobs.... no matter who they are.

but...congratulations, doris. love ya, girl.

in closing
are there really only 21 shopping days left until christmas.

fuck me, i'm just not ready.... and i've really neglected my movie watching in anticipation of the upcoming awards season. i mean...the independent spirit award nominations came out today.

rachel getting married leads the way... and it's really a very good film. devastating. and anne hathaway and rosemarie dewitt are superb.

okay...i guess i should end my work day with a bit of work. but i needed a sanity break so i thought i'd catch up.

more soon, i'm sure.

e.

p.s.
did anyone see jupiter and venus the past two nights? lovely celestial viewing.

Let's Talk Big 12

okay, kiddies... it's been a long time coming. you know i've been sidetracked by the election but the goodies beat the baddies so now it's time to refocus on football.

more pointedly: college football. specifically: the big 12 south.

we currently have a three-way tie in the big 12 south...universally considered the strongest conference this year in college ball.

so....first texas beats oklahoma at the red river shootout.

then texas tech beats texas in lubbock surrounded by one of the most rabid football crowds i've seen in a long time.

and just last night....oklahoma put the hurtin' on tech and whooped up on them 21-65.

so...each team now has one loss. so who goes to the big 12 championship to play mizzou? whoever goes will most likely go to the BCS championship game and face (i predict) florida.

and, of course, whichever big 12 team goes to the championship game becomes the frontrunner for the heisman.

this means we need to figure some things out. basically, whoever scores higher in the insane calculation of the bowl championship series (BCS) poll....meets mizzou in the big 12 championship.

to recap: texas beat oklahoma. tech beat texas. oklahoma beat tech.

the latest BCS poll has the following top five:

1. alabama (the only remaining undefeated team in a BCS conference)
2. texas (hook 'em!)
3. oklahoma (OU sucks!)
4. florida (they should probably be #2)
5. USC (is anyone else sick of USC?)

texas tech dropped to #7.

okay, so texas goes on to the big 12 championship, right...? not so fast.

several things need to happen:

1. texas has to beat A&M in austin this thanksgiving. this should be easy... A&M has been playing like shit all year long... but a rivalry game is a rivalry game and i never count out the faggies.

remember: last time texas played A&M in austin, texas lost. of course, colt mccoy was hurt. he's healthy this year and in the running for the heisman.

i think texas should run away with this... but they have to run away B-I-G! i'm talking 52+ points and hold the aggies to 7. whatever happens... it needs to be a blowout. because (let's be honest) beating the aggies won't add much to your BCS score. they're unranked...so you have to win big.

2. oklahoma has to beat oklahoma state (OSU). if OU loses, then it's down to two teams with only 1 loss and tech beat texas so tech goes to the championship game.

but....we need OU to beat OSU just slightly. if they kill OSU, who is ranked #12, it looks much better in the polling.

texas only holds a slim lead over OU in the BCS poll: .920 to .912 - only .008 points. so anything can change....

i listened to lee corso and kirk herbstreit last night after the tech slaughter and they both put texas ahead of oklahoma.... simply put: head-to-head, texas trumped OU by 10 points: 45-35.

and remember...texas only barely lost to tech 33-39 in a hostile lubbock environment.

the other important point made by herbstreit.... beyond beating OU head-to-head, texas beat oklahoma in a neutral stadium.

it's easy to beat a team on your home turf.... you have the excitement of the crowd. the noise... just that feeling of protecting "our house."

tech won in lubbock. OU won in norman.

i think this is an important point and one that cannot be emphasized enough.

head-to-head in a neutral stadium....texas won.

assuming tech beats baylor this week (and how could they not? and if somehow tech does lose...it's all a moot point and texas goes to the championship - they beat OU.) and texas beats A&M and oklahoma beats oklahoma state... the BCS rankings make the call.

texas has to stay ahead of OU.

i.e. hook 'em.

e.

p.s. i see the heisman trophy race thus: another three-way tie between mccoy of texas, bradford of OU and tebow of florida. harrell and crabtree blew their chance for a decent bowl and a heisman trophy when they allowed OU to spank them. i think it'll come down to tebow (who would win a second year in a row) and whoever wins the big 12 championship. that quarterback becomes the frontrunner: mccoy or bradford.

p.p.s. the houston texans scored their first W on the road this season. they topped the browns 16-6 in cleveland. well played, boys... especially the defense.