Cassie asked Brad what the subject of his high school PhD project would be. Brad said he was going to do it on Usain Bolt. Mom asked, "What's that?" Really.
We were having some issues (okay, I was having some issues) with Mom using the same knife to cut sweet potatoes and the butter to put on the sweet potatoes. (Who wants little orange bits in the butter the next time you use it?) So we wondered where we all fall on the "particularity scale." Surprisingly, Brad ended up being the most particular, though I wasn't far behind. Mom is definitely the least particular, with Cass and Dylan pretty close to Mom.
After Brad beat me by about a minute-and-a-half in the Kelly Watt Memorial Race a few weeks ago, I age-graded my time, which came out 18 seconds faster than Brad's time, thereby allowing me to claim a (hollow) victory . . . right up until I realized that a 16-year-old might benefit from age-grading, too. Sure enough, his time was well under mine when I plugged it into the calculator. Which makes me wonder about age-grading, if it helps a young whippersnapper beat a poor, old guy on the downswing of his running career. I lamented this development to my one-syllable friend Jim, who wisely responded that "We only like age-grading when it works in our favor."
And we also discussed "hijacking the conversation," which reached a new level this week, even for us. Cassie has started breaking in loudly with "Anyway . . ." when she's trying to get the conversation back to the topic she was discussing before it was rudely hijacked by someone else. I may have to institute a hand-raising rule at the dinner table.
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We tried to keep the spirit of Thanksgiving going when Mom made her yam and apple casserole a week later, then I chipped in with this cranberry sauce, which is the easiest Thanksgiving side dish ever.
Cranberry Sauce
Adapted from King Arthur Flour
¾ cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
¾ cup (177 grams) to 1 cup (236 grams) water (use the greater amount of water for a softer sauce)
1 12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries (thawed if frozen), picked over
1a. Stovetop: Combine the sugar, salt, and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium to medium-high heat. Stir in the cranberries and return to a boil. Reduce the heat and boil gently, stirring occasionally, until most of the cranberries have popped, about 10 to 12 minutes.
1b. Bread machine: Select the Jam cycle on your bread machine. Leave the paddles in the bread pan. Pour the cranberries into the pan. Combine the sugar, salt, and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium to medium-high heat. Pour over the cranberries. Press Start, and go about your business until the cycle ends.
2. Remove from the heat and transfer to a storage container. Cool completely at room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until serving time. Cranberries are high in pectin so the sauce will continue to thicken as it cools. Makes 2¼ cups.
Cranberry-Orange Sauce
Substitute ¼ cup of freshly squeezed orange juice for ¼ cup of the water. Add the zest of 1 orange along with the other ingredients.
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