it was infinitely late at night

Since I've been on blog hiatus for the Thanksgiving break, I seem to be hitting a wall about getting a post together today. Since this is going to be random and tangential to the extreme, I figured I would lay it out in just that manner.

• On Wednesday night, I completely made an a$$ out of you and me, because I thought the only thing on television would be Thanksgiving-themed tripe, and re-runs. Instead, I was treated to an all-new, almost perfect Lost. I fell in love with Mr. Eko. I continued to hate Jack & Kate. Shannon, still dead. Naveen Andrews got a chance to actually flex his acting muscles. And Ana-Lucia nearly showed signs of having more than two dimensions. Squee to that, b*tches!
  
  
• Though I was armed with grannysmiths to take on Thanksgiving, my GBF vetoed my involvement. Instead, I went over to his place at 10 in the morning and basically participated in interpretative recipe art. He wanted to fry something in the oven at 350 degrees. I gingerly informed him that it's hard to accomplish frying in an oven, especially an oven set to 350 degrees. Then I went home. That was the full extent of my participation in the preparations. When I went back to his place later that evening, a full feast awaited.
  
  
• When you sit around a table eating and drinking for six hours, conversation takes twists and turns. At one point, two guests argued about whether or not Nicole Kidman is pretty. The bro-seph and I exchanged annoyed glances. Why do people argue about things that are a matter of subjectivity? Did one really expect the other to throw up her hands and concede, "You're right, she actually is pretty. I hadn't thought of it like that."
  
  
• There's a mediocre Indian restaurant that I pass often when I walk in my neighborhood. I have a habit of casting pitying glances at the customers (none of whom have been South Asian thus far) who are looking out the window as I walk by. Keep in mind that, in all honesty, I don't know jack about good Indian food. I'm no expert, and I can't really handle spicy food. Is it wrong that I take great pleasure in the perturbed looks on their faces as I pass by?
  
  
• After the obligation of Thanksgiving cooking and baking was removed, I was left wanting. Suddenly, I had to make something. My organic chemistry roots reemerged, and demanded some kind of finished product. Late one evening, I took a walk to the local market. I came back with this:
  
  I know what you're thinking- she's either reverted to a six-year old, or accelerated the aging process by turning sixty. However, when all was said and done, at two o'clock in the morning, I wound up with these:
  
  There are crushed Whoppers in these suckers. You either like the taste of this sort of thing or you don't. I almost gave a batch to my pseudo-bro PG, because he despises malt-flavored chocolate... although he doesn't seem to mind malt liquor at all.
  
  
• Making the cookies did not quell the need to make. I am not a big pumpkin pie fan, but I feel it is important to make use of pumpkins at some point between the months of October and November. Since I had shirked this duty this year, I tended to it, and the result were these things:
  
  The pumpkin spice cakes needed to be tested. So I brought one over to the bro-seph last night. He is my chosen, official taste tester. He does not eat everything. He is, in fact, very picky. He is also my sibling, and, as such, can deliver gloves-off critiques of my end products. Yesterday's assessment: the icing could have gone either way. If you like cinnamon, the icing is a winner. If not, the icing probably should been more plain. It passed the basic test, however, so I marched another cake over to JP's to thank him for the Thanksgiving extravaganza.
  
  
• Incidentally, iPod minis are very handy when you are baking, especially at the midnight hour. Well, as long as you don't mind dancing a little in your kitchen while waiting to pull a cookie tray out of the oven.
  
  
• It occurred to me this past weekend that there are certain friends you keep in your rotation simply because they are a 24-hour drama freakshow. They do not make good close friends, but wow, as a scientist, I enjoy having them in my life. I sit and gather data, while said freakshow spews out one diatribe of crazy after the next. If all goes well, I plan to write a dissertation on this someday, and it shall be titled: Anatomy of a Freakshow.
  
  
• Last night, I fell into a funk, realizing this temporary vacation from reality was just that- temporary.

Hope you all had a pleasant Thanksgiving. I know it is the season for bah humbug for some of you, but if you remove yourself from the consumerism craze, something about December and the holidays is actually quite lovely.