Fat Chance
Hello World,
Well, just when you think that February (which is after all the shortest month of the year, even during Leap Year) has just about thrown everything that it had at us and then some, by golly, it turns out to be not so, and not by a long shot. After we've already seen the likes of the Super Bowl, Groundhog Day, Waitangi Day, Valentine's Day, Presidents Day, and even Pitchers and Catchers, it seems there's still more to come before the end of the month on the following Saturday. For observant Christians the world over, next week features Shrove Tuesday, followed closely by Ash Wednesday, which ushers in the season of Lent, and that will pretty much be wearing out its welcome until Easter on April 12th, so don't say I didn't warn you. For people of a more boisterous nature, next Tuesday is also Mardi Gras, which is about the only thing that can give Chinese New Year a run for its money in terms of a wall-to-wall, grand-old-time, bop-till-you-drop, devil-take-the-hindmost, blowout of a party to end all parties, and somehow, they manage to do that every year. You can tell at a glance that the organizers from the St. Patrick's Day parade have never gotten their hands on this event, and the folks from Waitangi Day, even less so, and a good thing, too.
But even that's not all, although you would think it would be impossible for there to be anything else, especially if it was something that people had never heard of. We have Bill to thank for bringing this to our attention (courtesy of wikipedia.org) which seems like a pretty big fat international deal, considering that this is the first we're finding out about it.
===============================
Fat Thursday (German Fetter Donnerstag, Schmotziger Donnerstag, or in areas where carnival is celebrated Weiberfastnacht, Polish Tłusty czwartek) is a traditional Polish and German feast marking the last Thursday before Lent and is associated with the celebration of Carnival. Because Lent is a time of fasting, the next opportunity to feast would not be until Easter. It is similar to, but should not be confused with, the French festival of Mardi gras ("Fat Tuesday"). Traditionally it is a day dedicated to eating, when people meet in their homes or cafés with their friends and relatives and eat large quantities of sweets, cakes and other meals forbidden during Lent. Among the most popular all-national dishes served on that day are pączki or berliner, fist-sized donuts filled with rose marmalade, and faworki, French dough fingers served with lots of powdered sugar.
In Italy, Giovedì Grasso (Fat Thursday) is also celebrated, but it is not very different from Martedì Grasso (Shrove Tuesday). It is also similar to the Greek custom of Tsiknopempti (loosely translatable as "Barbecue Thursday"), which involves the massive consumption of barbecued meat. In Spain this celebration is called jueves lardero, and in Catalan-speaking areas, dijous gras.
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Well, anyone can tell you that when it comes to fat, I'm all over it, so I don't mind saying that I'm happy to climb on board the Fat Thursday bandwagon, and don't spare the horses. Garcon, more faworki, if you please!
The last time I complained about snow, I thought we had already seen plenty of the dratted white flakes, in one storm after another, from November to December and right up to the end of January. I was prepared to let the storm on February 4th just slide by as an anomaly, but when I left work on Wednesday and had to clean the snow off my car and drive all the way home in a winter wonderland, well, I thought that was just the other side of too much. I can't say that I care much for the idea of snow as late as February 18th around here, and I am unanimous in that, and that's not just the faworki talking, believe me. We can only hope that it's not one of those infernal years where it turns out that we're still having blizzards in April, because I've been there and back in my time, and not looking forward to seeing that again, that's for sure. In a mild winter, snow in February is a novelty, but after all we've been through already, I don't mind saying that the next snowstorm that hits New York had better be wearing a bullet-proof vest, or else I wouldn't care much for its chances in this area anymore, Lent or no Lent.
We had Presidents Day off from work on Monday, which made for a nice three-day weekend, and for the most part, the weather cooperated in making it a fine time to relax and get some things done, sooner rather than later. I took the opportunity of catching up on some yard work, and I always say that it's never too early to start making headway on camping firewood, although I would have to admit that I was less than successful in my attempts at propping up the plastic birdbath from being tipped over by our marauding raccoons. Since like our juvenile delinquent squirrels, these ring-tailed bandits have nothing better to do with their time than knock over my birdbath, their persistence can usually thwart any obstacles placed in their way. I thought that a tomato cage could be pressed into service to give the birdbath more structure and overcome what I consider its top-heavy design flaw, but the plant stand was not equal to the challenge, so this remains a work in progress. The best part about the week, however, was that schools were closed all over the region, with the result that many people were off from work the whole week with their children at home, and so it was a very quiet week at work, not like the usual 4-day week that winds up turning into a cataclysmic free-for-all of epic proportions. It would be too fanciful to claim that I was the soul of patience for four days, but it must be said that my Evil Twin didn't show up in my office as much as usually happens during the average short week, for which I'm sure my co-workers were very grateful, not to mention, extremely surprised.
While we're on the topic of surprising things, Bill and I have been watching a new weekly drama series on TV, which has been on for several weeks now, and it has continued to be remarkably good, and we really enjoy it. As a rule, we don't tend to watch any new programs on television, and count on our TiVo mostly for sports, or reruns of old shows that are no longer in production. As it is, we already find that we have plenty of stuff to watch that we like, without being tempted by any new offerings from the broadcasters, which seem to be more of the same reality programs, game shows, sitcoms, crime dramas and the supernatural. So we really didn't pay much attention when a new series started, but it turned out to be a revelation. The show is called "Leverage," starring Timothy Hutton, and it airs on Tuesday nights on the cable network TNT, which has a raft of other original programs also in their nightly line-up. This one is more or less of a caper format, like the old "Mission Impossible" series, but the writing brings it to a whole new level that is interesting, sophisticated, inventive, witty and even ethical. It's sort of like "The A Team" for thinking people. We were hooked right from the start with the pilot, and it has continued to hold up week after week, which would seem impossible in this day and age of schlocky ideas and cheap shots. All of the characters are wonderful, and they seem like genuine people that you really care about. They don't need me to toot their horn for them, because apparently it's already popular enough to have its own blogs and fan web sites, and it seems that the ratings have been so positive that after just a few weeks, it's already been renewed for another season. So I'm happy to climb on board that bandwagon, and recommend it highly, and please remember if there's going to be faworki, don't start without me!
Elle
Well, just when you think that February (which is after all the shortest month of the year, even during Leap Year) has just about thrown everything that it had at us and then some, by golly, it turns out to be not so, and not by a long shot. After we've already seen the likes of the Super Bowl, Groundhog Day, Waitangi Day, Valentine's Day, Presidents Day, and even Pitchers and Catchers, it seems there's still more to come before the end of the month on the following Saturday. For observant Christians the world over, next week features Shrove Tuesday, followed closely by Ash Wednesday, which ushers in the season of Lent, and that will pretty much be wearing out its welcome until Easter on April 12th, so don't say I didn't warn you. For people of a more boisterous nature, next Tuesday is also Mardi Gras, which is about the only thing that can give Chinese New Year a run for its money in terms of a wall-to-wall, grand-old-time, bop-till-you-drop, devil-take-the-hindmost, blowout of a party to end all parties, and somehow, they manage to do that every year. You can tell at a glance that the organizers from the St. Patrick's Day parade have never gotten their hands on this event, and the folks from Waitangi Day, even less so, and a good thing, too.
But even that's not all, although you would think it would be impossible for there to be anything else, especially if it was something that people had never heard of. We have Bill to thank for bringing this to our attention (courtesy of wikipedia.org) which seems like a pretty big fat international deal, considering that this is the first we're finding out about it.
===============================
Fat Thursday (German Fetter Donnerstag, Schmotziger Donnerstag, or in areas where carnival is celebrated Weiberfastnacht, Polish Tłusty czwartek) is a traditional Polish and German feast marking the last Thursday before Lent and is associated with the celebration of Carnival. Because Lent is a time of fasting, the next opportunity to feast would not be until Easter. It is similar to, but should not be confused with, the French festival of Mardi gras ("Fat Tuesday"). Traditionally it is a day dedicated to eating, when people meet in their homes or cafés with their friends and relatives and eat large quantities of sweets, cakes and other meals forbidden during Lent. Among the most popular all-national dishes served on that day are pączki or berliner, fist-sized donuts filled with rose marmalade, and faworki, French dough fingers served with lots of powdered sugar.
In Italy, Giovedì Grasso (Fat Thursday) is also celebrated, but it is not very different from Martedì Grasso (Shrove Tuesday). It is also similar to the Greek custom of Tsiknopempti (loosely translatable as "Barbecue Thursday"), which involves the massive consumption of barbecued meat. In Spain this celebration is called jueves lardero, and in Catalan-speaking areas, dijous gras.
===============================
Well, anyone can tell you that when it comes to fat, I'm all over it, so I don't mind saying that I'm happy to climb on board the Fat Thursday bandwagon, and don't spare the horses. Garcon, more faworki, if you please!
The last time I complained about snow, I thought we had already seen plenty of the dratted white flakes, in one storm after another, from November to December and right up to the end of January. I was prepared to let the storm on February 4th just slide by as an anomaly, but when I left work on Wednesday and had to clean the snow off my car and drive all the way home in a winter wonderland, well, I thought that was just the other side of too much. I can't say that I care much for the idea of snow as late as February 18th around here, and I am unanimous in that, and that's not just the faworki talking, believe me. We can only hope that it's not one of those infernal years where it turns out that we're still having blizzards in April, because I've been there and back in my time, and not looking forward to seeing that again, that's for sure. In a mild winter, snow in February is a novelty, but after all we've been through already, I don't mind saying that the next snowstorm that hits New York had better be wearing a bullet-proof vest, or else I wouldn't care much for its chances in this area anymore, Lent or no Lent.
We had Presidents Day off from work on Monday, which made for a nice three-day weekend, and for the most part, the weather cooperated in making it a fine time to relax and get some things done, sooner rather than later. I took the opportunity of catching up on some yard work, and I always say that it's never too early to start making headway on camping firewood, although I would have to admit that I was less than successful in my attempts at propping up the plastic birdbath from being tipped over by our marauding raccoons. Since like our juvenile delinquent squirrels, these ring-tailed bandits have nothing better to do with their time than knock over my birdbath, their persistence can usually thwart any obstacles placed in their way. I thought that a tomato cage could be pressed into service to give the birdbath more structure and overcome what I consider its top-heavy design flaw, but the plant stand was not equal to the challenge, so this remains a work in progress. The best part about the week, however, was that schools were closed all over the region, with the result that many people were off from work the whole week with their children at home, and so it was a very quiet week at work, not like the usual 4-day week that winds up turning into a cataclysmic free-for-all of epic proportions. It would be too fanciful to claim that I was the soul of patience for four days, but it must be said that my Evil Twin didn't show up in my office as much as usually happens during the average short week, for which I'm sure my co-workers were very grateful, not to mention, extremely surprised.
While we're on the topic of surprising things, Bill and I have been watching a new weekly drama series on TV, which has been on for several weeks now, and it has continued to be remarkably good, and we really enjoy it. As a rule, we don't tend to watch any new programs on television, and count on our TiVo mostly for sports, or reruns of old shows that are no longer in production. As it is, we already find that we have plenty of stuff to watch that we like, without being tempted by any new offerings from the broadcasters, which seem to be more of the same reality programs, game shows, sitcoms, crime dramas and the supernatural. So we really didn't pay much attention when a new series started, but it turned out to be a revelation. The show is called "Leverage," starring Timothy Hutton, and it airs on Tuesday nights on the cable network TNT, which has a raft of other original programs also in their nightly line-up. This one is more or less of a caper format, like the old "Mission Impossible" series, but the writing brings it to a whole new level that is interesting, sophisticated, inventive, witty and even ethical. It's sort of like "The A Team" for thinking people. We were hooked right from the start with the pilot, and it has continued to hold up week after week, which would seem impossible in this day and age of schlocky ideas and cheap shots. All of the characters are wonderful, and they seem like genuine people that you really care about. They don't need me to toot their horn for them, because apparently it's already popular enough to have its own blogs and fan web sites, and it seems that the ratings have been so positive that after just a few weeks, it's already been renewed for another season. So I'm happy to climb on board that bandwagon, and recommend it highly, and please remember if there's going to be faworki, don't start without me!
Elle
posted by El Tango Fandango @ 8:20 PM
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