Hey, folks:

It's the holiday time again, and I figured I'd share my favorite recipe with you all for anyone who'e into baking. If others are willing to put in their favorite recipes for the holidays, no matter what it may be, you're more than welcome. Here goes:

Chocolate Pound Cake with Rich Chocolate Glaze:

Cake:

2 cups all-purpose white flour
2 cups of sugar
2 sticks of unsalted butter (I always melt the butter first)
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder

Sad to say, I don't have a kitchen this Thanksgiving. We're ripping out the walls and ceiling of the now-empty room where it stood. I don't even own an oven! So instead of my usual 24-hour cookathon, I'd like to host a Vitual Thanksging this year on Universal Hub.

I hear that there are fresh turkeys to be had in Brookline (as a public service of course!). I'll start with that. I usually cut the skin in places and shove in garlics. Then I annoint the beast with a mix of melted butter, sage, old bay, and gravy master. Stuffing contains the usual things, with some onions for flavor and water chestnuts for crunch. Sometimes, bacon or chicken sausage gets tossed in too.

What are you all going to bring for sides and desserts?

Today, I'm taking a break from posting about Boston's politics to blog in something different. Here goes:

Much has been noted, and said about the force(s) of nature kicking back when people have shown little to no respect for it.

Nature, I believe, is a very strange, if not intense and exciting phenomenom that frequently works in various, if quirky ways. Nature can be beautiful, yet ugly. It can be gentle and yet harsh. Nature can also be calm, and yet it can also be tempestous, wreaking much havoc and destruction towards anything and/or everything in its path.

Ana: Every day this week a different unit in my building has been broken into.

Right in front of Tom Bruno's house in Gloucester.

Kelly needs help identifying whatever it is that started coming up through her basement floor yesterday, because she's not going down there again until she knows what she's dealing with.

When Caity and her roommate realized they'd locked themselves out of their house, they started walking to the neighborhood hardware store to see if there was any sort of tool they could buy to break in. But then they passed their local fire station:

... The fire fighters sitting out front said hello, saw the look of panic on our faces, and asked what was going on. We explained the situation, and after a short discussion, they offered to help us out. They called to a fourth fireman, and the guys got things ready to go. One of them even went through the formality of putting his coat and boots in the truck! After listing our call as "stove left on and occupants locked out" (teehee), the four guys came out front. One of them looked and said, "would you girls like to ride in the truck with us?" Um, HELL YEAH! So we climbed in (I got the seat that faces backwards - cool!) and rode the 3 blocks to our house. ...

Any advice on how to deal with neighbors' volume control issues without enduring too much wrath? My plates are rattling in the sink.
Landlord has already sent neighbors letters and talked to them about it, nothing he has done has been too effective. Of course, he doesn't have to live with them.

What do you do about a neighbor who is both impressive and annoying at the same time?

Maureen Rogers ponders nascent efforts in local leafy suburbs to fight McMansions, and considers John Henry's plan to tear down the $16-million mega-house in Brookline he recently bought from never-will-be Sox owner Frank McCourt:

... It should seems like a shame that, for a measly $16 mil you can't find anything decent in Brookline. ...