Thirteen Things, and Thanks

There are some things in this world that I just don't understand:

1. Scented antiperspirant
2. Flavored coffee
3. American cheese singles
4. Artificial sweetener
5. Football
6. American Idol
7. Mashed potatoes from a box
8. Aluminum siding
9. Fruit-flavored toothpaste
10. Polyester sheets
11. Uggs
12. Cosmetic surgery
13. Margarine

On the other hand, I am thankful for butter, and good coffee beans delivered by mail, and freshly laundered cotton sheets, and bare feet, and garlic mashed potatoes, and excellent cheese, and cinnamon toothpaste, and iTunes piped through the house.

Oh, and you.

I am thankful to have all of you in my life. Happy Thanksgiving.

Thursday Thirteen In My Pants

When Alejna commands you to add pants to everything, one must obey. More specifically, her edict was to append "in my pants" to a random selection of song titles obtained by using the shuffle feature in iTunes. So I did.

1. Speeding Motorcycle In My Pants (Yo La Tengo)
2. I Cried Last Night In My Pants (Junior Kimbrough)
3. Heart of Stone In My Pants (Rolling Stones)
4. Shine On Harvest Moon In My Pants (Leon Redbone)
5. April After All In My Pants (Elvis Costello/Anne Sofie von Otter)
6. So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright In My Pants (Simon & Garfunkel)
7. Love Is For Strangers In My Pants (Luciana Souza)
8. Because The Night In My Pants (Bruce Springsteen)
9. Freight Train In My Pants (Peggy Seeger)
10. Big Yellow Taxi In My Pants (Joni Mitchell)
11. Private Idaho In My Pants (B-52s)
12. I've Got To See You Again In My Pants (Norah Jones)
13. The Valley In My Pants (k.d. lang)

The performing artist is in parentheses. The composer/songwriter is not listed.

A pants-less aside: It is a frequent frustration for me that the performer is supreme in the iPod metadata - while the composer can be included in the "info" panel of iTunes, that information doesn't flow over to the iPod. So, while I have two copies of April After All on my iPod, one by Elvis and Anne, and the other by Ron Sexsmith, there's no way to know that the song was written by Ron Sexsmith and and, therefore, that the Elvis/Anne version is a cover. Although I do know it. But I digress. Though while I'm at it? Freight Train was written by Elizabeth Cotten. And The Valley was written by Jane Siberry. In fact, only six of the above songs were written by the above listed performers. Which six? For bonus points, discuss the history of #8.

If you want to play, consider yourself tagged, in your pants. You can skip the singer/songwriter/composer performer discussion.

Graces #13-25 = Thirteen Graces

13. Mail order coffee on auto-delivery.
    
14. The fact that my bluetooth headset never seems to need to be charged.
    
15. Grapefruit cologne.
    
16. When strangers pronounce my last name correctly.
    
17. Aglaia.
    
18. Euphrosyne.
    
19. Thalia.
    
20. Introducing the child to Bringing Up Baby, a movie with dinosaurs AND sharp-toothed animals, not to mention Katharine Hepburn.
21. The smell of warm rain on wet grass.
22. A job where I need not wear shoes in the office.
    
23. Picking arugula that I grew myself.
    
24. Mock Sancerre.
    
25. Internet friends who turn into real life friends, and take pictures of your childhood.
    

Wishes Desires Needs

I want my daughter...

1. To be kind.
   
2. And generous.
   
3. To question authority,
   and
   
4. to respect others.
   
5. To know that people and institutions are not infallible.
   
6. To understand that people believe and don't believe in different things,
   and
   
7. to tolerate those who think otherly than she does.
   
8. To be able to forgive.
   
9. To be a force for positive change.
   
10. To push the limits of her intellect,
    and
    
11. to be creative.
    
12. To take care of her father and me when we grow old.
    
13. And to be herself.

Oh the Google, the Google searchers..

Time for another edition of peculiar Google searches that landed people on my site:

1. my baby loved squash now all of a sudden he is gagging on it.

Okay, don't feed him squash. Try peas.

2. pumping musing

Pumping, being the most boring activity on the planet, does lead to musing. It is not, however, amusing.

3. annie's macaroni and cheese is gross

Word.

4. mom dad enema remembered

Um, I really don't want to know what you were looking for.

5. i am sorry what happened to your mom. i hope

You hope what? I hate being left hanging like that.

6. phobia of blood and organs

Then don't go into medicine; it's probably the wrong field for you.

7. teenage crisis

Sorry, I can't help - I have a four year old, not a teenager. Come back in 10 years.

8. plumb bob barbara

She sounds like fun.

9. pancakes for people with no gallbladder

Hmm, since there really aren't dietary restrictions on people with no gallbladder, any pancakes should be okay.

10. colcannon poem

Since you asked, here's a haiku:

The sublime marriage
of potato and cabbage:
Irish colcannon

11. facts about Princess Diana in bullet points

This site is not about Princess Diana. Try wikipedia. They've got her in outline form.

12. riddle with 10 candles and open window

What happens when you have your tenth birthday party in a room with open windows? Your wishes don't come true, because the wind blows out the candles for you.

13. girl Pirates

Yes, girls can be pirates. I have a girl pirate. Want to make something of it?

Where What When

1. Living in New Haven, not yet 3 years old, when Kennedy was assassinated (1963).
2. On a family vacation in Montauk, when Richard Nixon resigned (1974).
3. Away at Exeter for summer school, when the infamous NYC blackout occurred (1977).
4. In a college dorm, visiting my boyfriend, when the US hockey team improbably beat the USSR in the Olympics (1980).
5. Just beginning graduate school, when flight KAL007 was shot down (1983).
6. In my mother’s kitchen, when I learned that my grandfather (her father) had died (1984).
7. At work, at a downtown white shoe law firm, when the Challenger exploded (1986).
8. Working at my first non-profit job, when the stock market crashed (1987).
   
9. In the stadium, when the Mets last won the World Series (1986).
10. In San Francisco at the tail end of a California/Oregon driving trip, when Princess Diana died (1997).
11. At home, getting ready for work, when the planes hit the World Trade Center (2001).
12. On the crosstown bus, when I got the call that IVF#2 had failed (2002).
13. Walking up Broadway, when I found out that my CVS was normal and my baby was fine (2003).

I don't really remember #1. But I'm the only one that remembers #12 & #13 - that is, the moment of transmission, not the news in and of itself.

Christmas in 13 Bullet Points

Christmas has come and gone, leaving pine needles and presents, sleep deprived children and many empty wine bottles in the recycling bin. Here are some of the highlights:

1 – raucous game of Mille Bornes, because someone was making up the rules and we spent so much time putting him back in his place with the rule book that he didn't want to play again (though we still love him).

2 – apple confections to bookend Christmas day: apple French toast for breakfast, and apple clafouti for dessert.

3 – batches of cookies made by me (ginger thins, cinnamon clouds, and candy cane crisps).

4 – Christmas ornaments received: 1 pair of pointe shoes, a snowman, a Santa Claus and a fuzzy sparkly red ball.

5 – CDs received: Bridge Over Troubled Water, Bonfires of São João, La Radiolina, We'll Never Turn Back, and The Polish Diva's Polka Party.

6 - copies of the Banksy book Wall and Piece that were floating about, either given or lost in transit, I think (we had trouble keeping track).

7 – articles of clothing received by Miss M: two dresses, one shirt, one fleece pullover, one pair of silver plastic mules with pink marabou trim, one pink feather boa, and one pink petal tutu.

8 – grownups at Christmas dinner: me, my mother, my husband, my brother, my sister and her husband, and two spare adopted family brothers, because we fed the children hot dogs and turned on a movie so we could have dinner in peace. How's that for the holiday spirit?

9 – gifts of food and drink received by me and W.: a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, a box of Arborio rice, a bottle of balsamic vinegar, a box of crystallized ginger, a bottle of dessert wine, a package of Beignet mix, a bottle of sherry vinegar, 2# of red popcorn, and one jar of duck rillettes.

10 - lords a leaping...

11 – handmade objects that I’ve given away (or will be, hence no photo!).

12 – picks and probes in the kit I gave to W. – for woodworking, not dentistry!

13 – Princess Diana died when her car hit the thirteenth pillar of a tunnel in Paris, on August 31, 1997. What does this have to do with anything? I gave copies of the Tina Brown bio of Princess Diana to both my sister and my friend Peter.

And yes, we unveiled the fruitcake. It had become dust - and so we buried it.

13 Ways to Help

For many people, the impending end of the calendar year is impetus to take out the checkbook and give to charity - to get that deduction into this tax year. And it dovetails nicely with the coincident spirit of giving that surrounds Christmas and Hanukkah (and Kwanzaa, though I'm not much of an expert there).

Need inspiration? Here are thirteen ideas:

1. Last week, Oh The Joys wrote about visiting New Orleans, and about how one could help rebuild the Singleton Elementary School's library. It's easy - buy a book via their Amazon wishlist - it'll get mailed directly to the school. Books for kids - what could be better?

2. A whole mess of food bloggers are having a fundraiser for the UN World Food Programme - with a twist. For every $10 you donate to Menu For Hope, you get a virtual raffle ticket toward your choice of prize.

3. Instead of a donation, make a microloan. For small businesses in developing countries, a loan of $25 or $100 can be a real help in getting going and reaching sustainability. There are a handful of "banks" out there connecting lenders and borrowers - one that I've participated with is Kiva.

4. Your local food bank could probably use help - this article from the New York Times explains why. Do you have non-perishable food items that you could spare? Or give them a check and let them put it to the best use.

5. Last spring I wrote about two healthcare organizations in Africa, both tending to mothers with a childbirth injury called obstetric fistula - the Edna Hospital in Somalia and the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia. They both have US based non-profit organizations, so your contributions are tax deductible.

6. DonorsChoose lets you direct your contribution very specifically - to a classroom project of a teacher's devising. I've contributed to two: "Dance Classroom Needs Ballet Barres" and "Building Self Esteem Through Music and Movement". Poke around, you might find something that pushes your buttons.

7. Cancer feels omnipresent these days - despite Richard Nixon's 1971 declaration of war on cancer. This year, I've given to the American Cancer Society (by sponsoring my sister at her local Relay for Life, and by donating old clothes to my local thrift shop), to the Pan-Mass Challenge, to Susan J. Komen For The Cure (supporting WhyMommy's walkathon), and to Joan's Legacy. Likely you know someone with cancer - maybe a donation to a cancer support or cancer research organization is the one for you.

8. Schools are an easy one. I give to my college every year, because I'm a happy alumna. I also support my child's non-profit daycare, because they do a wonderful job taking care of and teaching my child.

9. Since moving to the suburbs a few years ago, I've been spending a little more time in the car. Also, we finally got our clock radio fixed. All of this means that we listen to the radio more than we used to. So I've started donating to the local public radio station. Mine's WNYC. But yours probably needs support too.

10. Doctors without Borders does a great job of providing medical care to people who need it - often in war-torn, famine-struck countries.

11. If you want a bit of whimsy with your contribution, give someone a goat! Heifer International takes care of the actual goat procurement, but you get to sleep better at night knowing that some family has a goat because of you.

12. Planned Parenthood is a really good organization, doing really important work. Lots of people have a knee-jerk reaction that Planned Parenthood is all about abortions. In fact, if their family planning and women's health care services weren't around, there'd be a lot more abortions. Bitch PhD says it better than I can - be sure to read her post. If you'd rather help pregnant women, an article in the Times last month profiled the San Francisco Homeless Prenatal Program.

13. Last but not least, look around at your local community. Before the year is out, I'll likely send a check to the local volunteer ambulance corps (with fingers crossed that I'll never need them), the local volunteer fire department (ditto) and the nearby hospital (where a kindly postpartum nurse gave me spare parts for my Medela pump at 8:00 on a Saturday morning right after we moved in and I'd had an accident with the kitchen sink - and, no, I hadn't given birth there).

Okay, open your checkbooks!

Thirteen Pet Peeves

Aha! Killing two birds with one stone - pet peeves for Julie's Hump Day Hmm (okay, a day late) AND Thursday Thirteen. I'm cranky, and I just want to get where I'm going.

1. Men who spit on the street (and it’s always men).
2. People who amble along the sidewalk two or three abreast.
3. Folks who go up the down staircase or down the up staircase.
4. People who fail to stand to the right on escalators.
5. Drivers who don’t signal.
6. Drivers who tailgate.
7. Anyone who talks too loudly on the train (whether on a cell-phone or with a companion).
8. Dogs on leashes that are too long.
9. Wheelie bags anywhere but the airport, because their owners never seem to understand where the bags are.
10. Litterers.
11. People who put their feet up on the seat of the train.
12. Pushy people who fail to let the passengers off first.
13. Anyone who stops – coming or going – in a doorway or at the top or bottom of the stairs.

Can you tell that I commute by train and subway?

Incidentally, my mother had a cat named Peeve. Yup, she had a pet Peeve.

13 Google Searches

It's time for another edition of search queries! Here are thirteen ways that people ended up on my blog.

1. Magpie eggs for sale
2. What happened to my 9 cell embryos
3. How to paint leopard spots on bathroom
4. Is your husband in green paint
5. what does it mean if a cyst biopsy on my forehead comes back positive?
6. My chickens are sick
7. worksheets on the woods for preschool
8. Bun hairpin how to old-fashioned
9. Cabbage kings sea pigs
10. breastfeeding husband photo
11. "did you really make that face?"
12. one day at a time what was julies stuffed teddy bears name
13. leif garrett mom's birthday

The last one slays me, in part because I never wrote anything about Leif Garrett...it shows up in a comment left by the inimitable Bossy.

One of the things about looking at other people's search queries is parsing how they construct the query. Do they use full sentences? Do they use a question mark? In what order do the key words appear? And then there's the subject. Was query #10 trying to find a picture of a father breastfeeding? Apparently it is possible to induce lactation in men, but I think it's pretty rare.

Two queries that I get a lot are choreography ideas and extended breastfeeding. Extended breastfeeding I understand - I did write about it, and it is something that's a concern to people. But choreography ideas? It wouldn't occur to me that there were enough choreographers out there needing ideas and thinking that they might find ideas on the interwebs. Get in the studio, put on some music, and get your ass in gear!

13 Kinds of Apples

Continuing last week's apple thread...

There's a world of apples out there, beyond Macintosh and Granny Smith and Red Delicious. I just ordered my annual sampler pack from Apple Source. They'll send you a divided box of 12 perfectly picked and packed apples, with a chart like on the back of the Whitman Sampler chocolate box so you know what you're eating. Side by side, the many varieties are surprisingly diverse and differently delectable. And, they have fabulous, whimsical, evocative names. Like these thirteen:

1. Black Gilliflower
2. Dr. Matthews
3. Gold Coast
4. Grimes Golden
5. Hidden Rose
6. Moyer's Prize
7. Newtown Pippin
8. Kandil Sinap
9. Pitmaston Pineapple
10. Razor Russet
11. Turley Winesap
12. Ashmead's Kernel
13. Esopus Spitzenberg

I ordered the Antique Sampler, so I don't know what I'm going to get. But whatever turns up, it'll be fun. And tasty. And different. And not Red Delicious.

13 Ways of Looking at a(n) _____*

The constraint of Thursday Thirteen appeals to me - and I find myself constructing odd lists in spare moments.

1. It is crunchy.
2. It is indented.
3. It is juicy.
4. It is nutritious.
5. It is past.
6. It is portable.
7. It is potential.
8. It is prophylactic.
9. It is round.
10. It is sweet.
11. It is tempting.
12. It is versatile.
13. It is waiting.

So. What is it? Tiny prize to the first person to guess right.




(*with many, many apologies to Wallace Stevens)

13 Bears for Thursday

I don't know what possessed me to count the bears, but there are thirteen of them. Thirteen! Is that good luck or bad?


Top Row, Left to Right

1. Night Bear (in night cap)
2. Pinky Teddy (given to me for her, at my baby shower, by my sister, Pinky)
3. Purple Bear
4. Kiki
5. Ginger Bear (a gift from an erstwhile neighbor of my mother's, named Ginger)

Bottom Row

6. Brown Bear
7. Ganny Bear (lifted from Granny's house)
8. Roofus (in the red shirt, a giveaway from Habitat for Humanity, hence the idiosyncratic spelling)
9. Sparkle Bear (with wings and star, his fur is a little sparkly)
10. Pink Bear
11. Tiny Little Teddy
12. Butterfly Bear
13. Brown and White Bear

Pink Bear and Brown Bear used to go to school every day for nap time - they've been mended so many times that they look like Frankenstein.

Tiny Little Teddy used to be a teething object - frequently completely saturated in spittle. He's never been the same since.

Sparkle Bear is a Beanie Baby. He used to have a companion, a white bear with (I think) Mississippi embroidered on it (or maybe Louisiana). I sent the companion to Iraq. The problem is, she still asks about that missing bear. Oops.

Butterfly Bear was a baby present from some neighbors down the hall in our NYC apartment. We didn't know them much beyond hello in the elevator, but I think of them often because of the bear.

Not only do I know the provenance of each of these bears, I know all their names. How is it that my head has room for all that clutter?

Thorny Thursday Thirteen

I have never:

1. Had a pedicure
2. Traveled to the Frisian Islands
3. Owned diamonds
4. Eaten roadkill
5. Driven cross country
6. Drank absinthe
7. Been self-employed
8. Flown a plane
9. Gotten a speeding ticket
10. Played golf
11. Had dinner at Per Se
12. Smoked a cigarette
13. Sailed to Europe on a Polish freighter

The prime numbered items I think I’d like to do. The others? I don’t think so.

Thirteen Ways That I'm a Bleeding Heart Liberal

I'm feeling cranky about the state of the country today, so for Thursday Thirteen, here are thirteen lefty-commie-pinko bleeding heart liberal things that I believe in:

1. Abortion rights (especially in light of last week's SCOTUS decision)
2. Gun control (especially in light of last week's shootings at Virginia Tech)
3. Higher taxes on capital gains
4. Universal pre-school
5. Universal single-payer health care
6. Higher gasoline taxes
7. Eating locally, and in season (no strawberries in January in NYC)
8. National Public Radio
9. Network neutrality
10. Rollback of copyright protection (yeah, let the mouse go into the public domain)
11. Recycling
12. Increasing the CAFE for cars AND trucks AND light trucks
    
13. Separation of church and state (starting with the removal of "In God We Trust" from our money, and the deletion of "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance)

Incidentally, I googled "bleeding heart liberal" out of curiousity. #4 on the list was this astonishing Best of Craig's list posting.

Thursday Thirteen Things

I got tagged for that "six things" meme, but some how it turned into more, so now it's Thirteen things about me, for Thursday Thirteen:

1. I was about 40 when I had my first professional haircut.
2. I have an MA in ethnomusicology.
3. I don’t eat fish, with the exception of mussels.
4. I can’t remember the last time I wore make-up.
5. I nursed my daughter until the night before she turned 3.
6. I can’t go to sleep unless the closet door is shut.
7. I have my grandfather’s bladder stone in a baby food jar in my desk drawer.
8. I cross my sevens.
9. I can’t wear sunglasses on top of my head; my head is the wrong shape.
10. I think mushrooms taste like dirt.
11. I prefer aspirin to acetaminophen, but I think neither really helps a headache.
12. I make my own granola.
13. I drive a stick shift.

Video Thursday Thirteen

For today's installment of Thursday Thirteen, here are the top rotation DVDs in my 3 year old's collection (in alphabetical order):

1. Babe
2. Dumbo
3. Fantasia
4. Lady & the Tramp
5. Looney Tunes - 28 of them on 2 discs
6. Mary Poppins
7. Milo and Otis
8. My Neighbor Totoro
9. Olive, the Other Reindeer
10. The Nutcracker (New York City Ballet)
11. Wallace & Gromit - 3 Amazing Adventures
12. Wallace & Gromit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
13. The Wizard of Oz

#9 and #10 are put away until next Christmas. Much as I love the Nutcracker, it was viewed, oh, 20 times between about December 18 and January 4. And Olive had never gotten put away LAST Christmas, so we were having Christmas in July.

Third Thursday Thirteen

Herewith, for Thursday Thirteen - thirteen books received for Christmas - by the three of us, not just me. There are others - these are just the thirteen presently near to hand.

1. A Stew or a Story (M.F.K. Fisher) - collected short pieces
   
2. Book of Longing (Leonard Cohen) - poetry
   
3. Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford
4. Dirty Sugar Cookies (Ayun Halliday)
5. English as She is Spoke (José da Fonseca and Pedro Carolino) - hysterical!
   
6. Little Tree (e.e. cummings/Chris Raschko)
7. Olivia’s Opposites (Ian Falconer)
8. Pete's a Pizza (William Steig) - which I have already read to Miss M. three times today
   
9. The Omnivore's Dilemma (Michael Pollan) – 2 copies, oops, my sister's getting one back for her birthday
   
10. The Reluctant Dragon (Kenneth Grahame)
    
11. The Snowy Day (Ezra Jack Keats)
12. There’s a Monster in My Backpack (Lisa Moser) – thanks to Mother Reader who reviewed this a month or so ago - it sounded charming, and it is.
    
13. Wondrous Strange: the life and art of Glenn Gould (Kevin Bazzana)
    

Other books include The Twelve Dogs of Christmas, a cookbook by Donna Hay, Turn Turn Turn (an illustrated copy of the psalm with a CD of Pete Seeger singing the song) and a book of homophones written and printed by my sister-in-law.

Is there a theme here? Kids books, food books, word books, art and music books.

Totemic Thursday Thirteen

Another Thursday Thirteen - this time = Totemic Food Pairings!

1. Byrrh and Soda - Byrrh is a kind of aperitif, pronounce to rhyme with beer. My mother used to drink it occasionally, with club soda. Hence, Byrrh and Soda - sounds like you're mixing Budweiser and Coca-cola, no?

2. Fish Eyes and Glue - what you call tapioca when it's made with big pearl tapioca, the kind that's about 1/4" in diameter.

3. Waffles and Baked Beans - a family joke. It was, alledgedly, a favorite supper of my paternal grandfather's. I have actually never eaten waffles and baked beans together, though we've had many family discussions about the idea of putting a single bean in each crevice of the waffles.

4. Tomato Soup and Cottage Cheese - a strange and wonderful combination. The tomato soup must be Campbell's; the cottage cheese is your choice. I happen to prefer a "pot-style" cottage cheese, it's drier and works better with the soup. You put a big blob of cottage cheese in the bowl, grind some pepper on top, and add the piping hot soup. Yum.

5. Yogurt and pretzels - a nice lunch on the run. The pretzels should be small and broken up a bit; the yogurt should be Dannon with the fruit on the bottom. Once upon a time, this was wonderful with the now departed Dannon Dutch Apple yogurt flavor. The combination of soft and hard, sweet and salty, is hard to beat.

6. Peanut butter and sardines - perhaps another family joke? My maternal grandfather claimed to like a nice sandwich of peanut butter and sardines - he said that the peanut butter held the sardines on the sandwich.

7. Cottage Cheese and Pickle Relish - another quick lunch. I eat this occasionally - again, the sweet and savory combination is great. I like to pretend that the pickles are vegetables and therefore good for me.

8. Popcorn and Sherry - my paternal grandfather served this as hors d'oeuvres for holiday gatherings. The popcorn must be freshly popped in a pan, with salt and butter. The sherry must be Amontillado. He always presented the popcorn in a tall, straight-sided wooden bowl. My mother surmises that a vague rancidity in the bowl added to the distinct flavor of the popcorn. In any case, they do go strangely well together - the nuttiness of the sherry, the salt and grease of the popcorn.

9. Nassau County Snacks - okay, this one is terribly idiosyncratic. I grew up in Nassau County; the county colors are blue and orange. So, Nassau County snacks are Cheez Doodles (orange!) served in a blue enamelware bowl. Blue and orange.

10. Endive and Watercress - served as a salad for holiday meals. It's a great peppery, clean salad and it makes a nice foil for a standing rib roast or other big rich piece of meat.

11. Gin and Tonic - they just go together. It was the only mixed drink at our wedding. We had wine, champagne, beer and gin & tonic. What more do you need?

12. Orange Juice and Cranberry Juice. Yes, it can be a mixed drink if you add vodka, but just orange and cranberry together is a great combination. Somehow, the two together transform into a third flavor.

13. Ginger Ale and Saltines - what you have when you're sick. I don't even like ginger ale, but it does wonders for an upset stomach.

Thirsty Thursday Thirteen

I grew up in a sailing community. On Thursday evenings in the summer, there was a little racing series called Thirsty Thursdays. Cocktails under sail. It wasn't about the racing per se, as much as the being out on the water for a sunset sail and a picnic on a weeknight. With that in mind, here's my thirsty Thursday Thirteen - beverages for a work day seguing into a holiday meal:

1. Black Coffee – made from freshly ground Peet’s house blend
2. Hot Apple Cider from the Union Square Greenmarket
3. Lemon Zinger tea
4. Seltzer (plain or lemon-lime)
5. Chicken Noodle Soup (well, it’s mostly liquid)
6. V-8
7. Coffee with milk, and a chocolate chip cookie on the side
8. Gus Pomegranate Soda
9. Gin & Tonic, heavy on the lime
10. Billecart-Salmon Brut Rose
11. White wine, especially a nice crisp Sauvignon Blanc
12. Apple Ice wine
13. Calvados