cooking today

Hi again:

The picture here is the Old Executive Office Building, once described as Washington's ugliest building.

I spent a few hours today cooking in preparation for Christmas. I made my cranberry pie again, this time at 36 minutes instead of 40 minutes. It looks so very good.

I also made some peanut brittle. It is a sticky recipe so I like to make it only once. We shall see if one batch is enough for this season. I don't care for it, but others like it a lot.

I have a shopping list for tomorrow as early this week I will finish my cooking.

I have 12 quarts of sauerkraut to get out of here. I put that stuff on my cheese list. It is so easy and cheap to make, but I have to give it all away. My dad will get the vast majority of sauerkraut from me for Christmas.

I finished Pirate Latitudes. It is quite the page-turner of a book. The last 100 pages you must read in one sitting as you cannot put it down.

I see I have the latest David Baldacci book waiting for me at the library.

I am reading Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture by Ellen Shell. It shows the rise of our seeking cheaper and cheaper stuff. I can see the coming of goods made in China. I read where over 4,000 factories closed this past year as demand for cheap goods from China dried up. Over 3,000,000 factory workers were laid off.

The Chinese government wrongly thinks it can spur domestic demand to make up for the lack of demand in the west; in other words, it believes it can sell the same goods to the locals that it used to sell overseas. What a joke. Do not believe what you read from the Chinese government on the growth rate there. It needs at least 8% annual growth to keep the population happy. It is in the negative region now but you never hear China tell you that. Remember, that government lies and lies and lies.

End of this rant.

Stay dry this week. Happy Holidays and Merry, Mary, Marry Christmas to all of you.

Steven