Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah!

I'll be taking a break for the holidays, so I wanted to leave you with some favorite holiday treats that I guarantee you I'll be enjoying over the next couple of weeks.

LAURA BUSH COWBOY COOKIES



Makes about 36

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter (at room temperature)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1-1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups sweetened flake coconut
2 cups chopped pecans (8 ounces)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in bowl. In 8-quart bowl, beat butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy, 1 minute. Gradually beat in sugars; beat to combine, 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each. Beat in vanilla extract. Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Add chocolate chips, oats, coconut and pecans. For each cookie, drop 1/4 cup dough onto ungreased baking sheets, spacing 3 inches apart. Bake for 17 to 19 minutes, until edges are lightly browned; rotate sheets halfway through. Remove cookies from rack to cool. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

NOTE: For 6 dozen smaller cookies, use 2 tablespoons dough for each. Bake at 350 F for 15 to 18 minutes.

Note: As seen on "Good Morning America."


POTATO LATKES



yield: Makes 12 to 16 latkes
active time: 45 min
total time: 45 min

What is the secret to making great latkes? We found that the starchier the potato, the crisper the latke.

Ingredients
* 1 pound potatoes
* 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
* 1 large egg, lightly beaten
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 to 3/4 cup crisco

* Accompaniments: sour cream and applesauce

Preparation"

Preheat oven to 250°F.

Peel potatoes and coarsely grate by hand, transferring to a large bowl of cold water as grated. Soak potatoes 1 to 2 minutes after last batch is added to water, then drain well in a colander.

Spread grated potatoes and onion on a kitchen towel and roll up jelly-roll style. Twist towel tightly to wring out as much liquid as possible. Transfer potato mixture to a bowl and stir in egg and salt.

Heat 1/4 cup crisco oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Working in batches of 4 latkes, spoon 2 tablespoons potato mixture per latke into skillet, spreading into 3-inch rounds with a fork. Reduce heat to moderate and cook until undersides are browned, about 5 minutes. Turn latkes over and cook until undersides are browned, about 5 minutes more. Transfer to paper towels to drain and season with salt. Add more oil to skillet as needed. Keep latkes warm on a wire rack set in a shallow baking pan in oven.

Cooks' notes: ·Latkes may be made up to 8 hours ahead. Reheat on a rack set over a baking sheet in a 350°F oven, about 5 minutes.
·Grating the potatoes, soaking them briefly in water, and then squeezing out the liquid (as we've done here) keeps the batter from turning brown too quickly.

Alternative: Potato Kugel: Instead of frying latkes, put all latkes mix into a 2 qt rectangular pyrex dish, bake at 350 degrees until golden brown

Happy Holidays and thanks for reading!

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Pulsar Award

Every once in a while you come across an individual who is friendly, kind, supportive, witty, intelligent, humorous...pretty much just an all-around great person. In the blogosphere, people like that are harder to find because your interactions with him or her are usually completely online. Online it's even harder to be warm and friendly and to make a lasting impression. But that's not the case for Roxy of Roxiticus Desperate Housewives. I met Roxy, or Bree as she is affectionately known on her DH blog, after she was a little disheartened from a losing streak in Blog Explosion Battle of the blogs. I had a few words to cheer her up. After all, losing a round or two or three in Battle of the Blogs is NOT the end of the world. From the day we first exchanged comments and emails she's been warm, friendly, caring, helpful, and a bit of a mentor in new blog promotion tools and networks and overall the kind of person just in general that this world needs more of.

Every day we hear about so much negativity in the world, in our nation, in our neighborhoods. Negativity is amplified on the internet as news instantly travels the globe. That being said, it's so important to find the beauty and the brightness and the lights of hope that are out there.

A pulsar is a brilliant flashing star in the sky. The Pulsar Award honors those who add a bit of brightness to life. If bloggers everywhere can find pulsars, other beacons of hope and friendship and display them on their blogs, then we all can make this world a better place together.

There are beacons of light out there to guide us in the darkness. Pulsar Honorees are one more beacon of light.

Thank you, Roxy, for being a pulsar!

Thanks for reading.

Wordless Wednesday: The City of Detroit

Thanks for reading.

Dedicated to Jena Isle

Back around Thanksgiving I had a Battle of the Boys Band Contest inspired by a post made by Ken Armstrong. I never got around to announcing a winner due to the things that happen in life. So anyway, I wanted to make good. Jena, of The Clamor of Kalinga, and a host of other blogs, is the winner.

The race was close between Backstreet Boys and Westlife, but ultimately, the overall favorite was determined to be Westlife. Jena had the best reasons why the Westlife video was the best.

So Jena, this one is for you.

Thanks for reading.

Sarah Palin Just Gets No Respect

Today is our company holiday party. In honor, here's a political cartoon that I find hysterical.

Thanks for reading.

The End of Detroit?

Just having returned to the mountains of North Carolina from Detroit, where I spent the last ten days over the Thanksgiving holiday, I have to say that I am greatly saddened. It's not that Thanksgiving wasn't a great holiday and it's not that I didn't get to see so many friends and family and share great times and make new memories; because I did. What saddens me is the state of the city of Detroit, the surrounding suburbs, and what it means for the future of the city where I was born and for the state of Michigan.

Forty-four years ago I was born in Harper Hospital in Downtown Detroit. My whole life has revolved around the city, and it's been a very vibrant life thus far. But shortly after I was born, race riots erupted and hit Detroit hard and I don't think the city has ever recovered. White flight began. People moved into the suburbs. Businesses moved into the suburbs. Shopping malls moved into the suburbs. When Northland opened in 1954, it was the first major shopping mall outside of a central city. Of course, as home to the auto industry, Michigan can cite many firsts regarding freeways--their construction, their spread, the number of lanes and the number of miles they covered. So it seemed that when the race riots happened in 1967, the infrastructure was already in place for the exodus. Back in the 1950s, Detroit's population approached 2 million and it was an economic and political giant. Now, only fifty years later, the city's population is barely 900,000 and it's a city of urban decay and blight. There are pockets of renewal and the Lions have returned to the city, but still the Pistons stay far away. And perhaps for good reason. Detroit is the city where Nancy Kerrigan got whacked by Tanya Harding's thugs. Figures, right?

But it isn't just the white flight and the city's decay. It's the false hope and promises and corruption. Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's conviction is just the latest in the string of many. When the Renaissance Center opened in 1977, the gleaming hotel tower and the million square feet of office space surrounding it was supposed to be a symbol of a cultural and economic turn around in the city. Thirty years later, there's been little to applaud as the Detroit City Council continues to waste money and corruption has run rampant. For the last thirty years, despite every new mayor, every new police chief, every new project such as the Casino District, the People Mover, Comerica Park, Ford Field, the renovations of Wayne State University, the Science Center and the IMAX theater and the Detroit Institute of Arts renovations...the city has continued to slide because it can't seem to unbury itself from crooked politics and deep corruption. The city is ill And it's been sick for a long time.

That being said, even though I've never lived inside the city of Detroit, but rather I called the suburbs home for my first 35 years, my whole life has revolved around the city and the auto industry. Many of my father's clients were dependent on the vibrancy of the City of Detroit and the health of the auto-industry. So goes the auto-industry, so goes the economy of metro-Detroit and for the most part Michigan. My family was not alone. Between the auto industry and parts suppliers and robotics and engineers and construction firms and retail shopping and entertainment and restaurants....the health of virtually every industry and every family in Detroit is dependent on the auto-industry, its financial success and the trickle down of economic benefits when money is available to spend.

Last week, the day after Thanksgiving in Detroit, the highways were empty. There was no traffic anywhere. Restaurants were empty. Stores were empty. Movie theaters were empty. Parking lots were empty. Driving around the suburbs, for-sale signs were everywhere. I spent the Monday after Thanksgiving at one of my friend's home. I was informed it was recently appraised at over seven figures, but even if my friends wanted to, they couldn't sell it for even 1/5 its value. My friends are not alone. Even brand new homes that were built at the end of the last construction boom sit empty, having never been lived in even after 3 years on the market.

Several years ago there was a man, in the middle of winter, that somehow was standing in the middle of the Niagara River just a few feet upstream of the brink of Niagara Falls. He was there for hours before a helicopter was finally able to rescue him. It seems to me, that the whole city of Detroit and the State of Michigan are on that brink above Niagara Falls.

I am not a fan of any Congressional Bailout. I phoned and screamed at my US Representative and Senators to vote "NO" on the bailout. I am certainly not a fan of money being given to AIG or Citibank or anyone else, including the Detroit automakers. But I feel that loan guarantees should and must be given to the these companies. At the same time I want Congress to tie their hands and screw-in deadbolts with iron-clad conditions on the loan guarantees and a firm repayment plan. But in this case, if the billions of dollars requested are not given to the automakers, I see it as the collapse of the economy in Detroit and Michigan and I see the city falling over the brink of Niagara Falls. If this happens, I don't know how Michigan will ever recover. Not that there are any guarantees that this won't happen even with the loan guarantees the auto companies are asking for--it might just be a postponement of the city's ultimate fate.

Right now, there's little to keep young people in Michigan. Unemployment is among the highest in the country. Cities have lost major revenue streams. As more and more homes are foreclosed on and people lose their jobs, tax revenues go away. City and government workers get laid off. Restaurants and small retailers won't be able to survive. School programs will need to be cut. Many might attend the awesome educational programs at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University, but then they'll look for jobs elsewhere.

The mood of Detroiters is somber--far from the happiness and feelings of hope and excitement when the Renaissance Center opened thirty-one years ago this March 15th. I've always called the city of Detroit home, and I always will. And it's devastating to see that home, even though I've moved away, crack at the seems and crumble to the ground.

Thanks for reading.

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Back From Detroit: Film at Eleven

I'm on Steroids

OK, it's not what you think. My entire life I've suffered from allergies, and consequently, my entire life I've taken daily cocktails of antihistamines and decongestants. Well this year they stopped making my favorite decongestant, Drixoral, which I've been taking for over twenty years and I've been at a loss. It's not like I've wanted to take drugs my entire life, however.

Thirty-five years ago I had my tonsils and adenoids taken out with the thinking it would help my sinuses. A decade ago I had surgery to correct my deviated septum. And that helped for a little bit, but the only way for me to be able to breathe and to cope is with my nasal passages open, and the only reliable way to keep them open is with aspirin and anti-histamines and decongestants.

However, at my recent physical, my new doctor suggested nasal steroids. Since I'm getting up there in age where the effects of antihistamines and decongestants are now a concern--raising blood pressure among them, it's important to try and find a more local solution versus a systemic one.

So, for the past week I've taken Flonase every morning, and I'm finding it very effective so far in opening my nasal passages and allowing me to breathe. And this is especially true at night. Last night I slept soundly without waking up all night long for probably the first time in months.

My doctor thinks the nasal steroids will ultimately cure my snoring as well. The jury is still out on that one, but with time, who knows? So far though, I'm pleased. I like to be able to breathe, you know?

Thanks for reading.

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Almost Wordless Wednesday: It's My Birthday

I already received my birthday present, folks: I was carded last night. Even though I'm more than twice the legal age. Where did all the time go? I mean, really!

But if you want to get me a gift, here's what you can do:

1) Buy an ad on MTMD or Inside Government.
2) Purchase a Project Wonderful Ad on MTMD--just click the link at the top of my right sidebar.
3) Send a donation to Paypal: msurdan@aol.com
4) Buy me chocolate or coffee--leave me a comment with your email address and we'll figure out the details.
5) Comment on this post with your favorite ABBA lyrics.

Thanks for reading.

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Musical Monday: Il Divo & Celine Dion

I Believe In You

Just within the past week, I've discovered Simon Cowell's super boy band, Il Divo. I'm not exactly sure what they are. They're not a boy band. They're not a backup band to Barbra Streisand or Celine Dion, they're not pop, they're not rock, and they're certainly not opera or classical. I guess whatever class you put Josh Groban, Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli, Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand in you'll put these four talented guys in as well.

In any case, I purchased their latest CD, The Promise on my way home from North Carolina for Thanksgiving in Detroit and I was so impressed I had to stop and pick up their previous CDs. Each of the four men who make up Il Divo have incredible voices, but the power they display when all four are singing together at the crescendo of a song is spine-chilling.

Some of you have already noticed this in your votes for them on my recent post: Battle of the Boy Bands--Carol. But I don't think any of their music is as representative of their power and musicality as this duet with Celine Dion: I Believe In You.

Watch it. Listen to it. Comment on it. And if you agree, there's still time to change your vote on the Battle of the Boy Bands post before I announce a winner after I return to North Carolina on Friday.

Thanks for reading.

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