The Jones Soda Co. is coming out with a holiday pack of five flavors - turkey and gravy, cranberry, mashed potato and butter, green bean casserole, and fruitcake. Yikes. Except for cranberry. And there is Pepsi Holiday Spice. Mulled soda? Really?

Earlier today I was thinking about preparing a veggie burger and, being too lazy to pull out a skillet, was wondering if there was anything I could put around the veggie burger so that I could heat it in the toaster. Then, like magic, the Toastabag appears on Core 77. The people at Firebox used it to make an omelette. I must have one of these.

Stitch 'n Bitch Nation, the second really cool knitting book by Debbie Stoller, is out. The web site, Knit Happens has been updated and has pictures of all of the new projects, as well as book tour dates. I really like the projects that are in this one, and I'm looking forward to the more advanced knitting instruction, it's time I learned a few new things. p.s. Fred Flare has got it too.

CHOW magazine looks like it'll be supergreat. The very first issue is out now, and they have a happy no-commitment free issue sign up thing. yay!

Ages ago I heard a segment on The Splendid Table (a public radio show about cooking and food) about taste testing grocery store chicken broth, and College Inn was the clear winner. The woman who spoke about it was positively gleeful. Ever since I have been keeping my eye out for this stuff, knowing that it is primarily sold in the northeast. Last weekend while Scott and I were perusing the off-season sunglasses in a cramped little drugstore I found an entire shelf of College Inn Chicken Broth innocently sitting there. It was sorta like stumbling across the grail. Matzo ball soup to follow.

The bad part about living in a state where I can vote by mail in ballot is that I don't get one of those I Voted stickers. I don't like what this country has been doing in the last four years. I dislike Bush very much. Please, go out and vote today and let's make some big, happy changes.

I made gingerbread waffles, yum, and this time tried to make some apple cider syrup using the easiest directions I could find from The Splendid Table -- boil four cups of apple cider down to one cup. I boiled it down to 3/4 of a cup and it still wasn't quite syrup consistency, but at least it wasn't the apple gel from my first try (which I forgot about and let go waaay too long). The syrup (in the cup closest to the camera in this picture) was ok, tart and apple-y, but I think it would go better with a different food. Tip for the gingerbread waffles - I leave them in the waffle iron for a little longer than usual, about 5 minutes. They are quite floppy when they come out so handle them carefully and stick them on the rack of a warm oven for a few mintues to crisp them up and keep them warm while the others are cooking.

"It's like they gave winter a one hour head start."