How does Santa Claus find his way on Christmas Eve?
Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef, Ph.D.
My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.
As of press time, Santa Claus was delivering presents over Tibet. How do we know this? NORAD (North American Defense) tell us . Why does NORAD do this? The official explanation (see below) is that in 1955 Sears accidently gave out the phone number for the CONAD Commander in Chief hotline. Many calls came to this number. The worthy staff decided to run with it and provided “live” updates to all the believing little ones. Staff and kids were so happy about the Santa Claus spotting that it became an annual event.
Yes, 364 days a year NORAD does protect America from nuclear and other threats coming over the North Pole. But on Christmas Eve, this worthy arm of America’s armed forces tracks Santa’s gift-giving trip. Give NORAD’s website, http://www.noradsanta.org a look on December 24. There also a Santa app from NORAD, so you can keep of Santa’s sled even when you’re away from your computer.
noradsanta.org was particularly exciting one year when they showed sightings of Santa by F-14s and other jets. One of the sightings had an Air Force pilot telling how he was providing fighter escort over Rio de Janeiro, I think, for Santa Claus. Egad, chill out people. No sledjacking. They’re enough presents for everyone. Besides NORAD is full of Santa Claus believers and would take a rather dim view of anyone causing Santa any grief.
– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef, Ph.D.
My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.
Norwegian Entree
INGREDIENTS
1 small onion
4 slices bread
¾ cup milk
1 pound ground beef
¼ lard or lard or suet
¼ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup beef stock
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
SPECIAL UTENSIL
non-stick skillet
shotgun (To scare away Norwegian witches and evil spirits.)
PREPARATION
Mince onion. Add bread and milk to mixing bowl. Let sit for 15 minutes or until all the milk is absorbed. Add onion, ground beef, lard, ginger, nutmeg, pepper, and salt. Mix with hands. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Make 1″ meatballs with hands. Add vegetable oil and meatballs to non-stick skillet. Fry meatballs using medium heat for 5 minutes or until meatballs brown. Gently turn over meatballs at least once to ensure even browning. Remove meatballs and drain on paper towels. Keep beef drippings in skillet.
Add beef stock and flour to skillet. Cook using medium heat for 4 minutes or until sauce starts to boil and thicken. Stir constantly. Add meatballs. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. This dish goes well with mashed potatoes or lingonberries.
TIDBITS
1) On Christmas Eve, Norwegian witches and evil spirits like to fly around on broomsticks and cause mischief. Don’t enable this sort of behavior; hide your broomsticks. Make the witches and evil spirits walk. Maybe if they did some sort of aerobic exercise, they would feel better about themselves. For we all know, when night baddies have better self esteem, they might perform fewer pranks. Some of these happy witches and spirits could even become politicians, the first step on the path to respectability. However, should a nasty night thingy find your broomstick, scare it away with a shotgun. Shotguns, they’re not just for weddings anymore.
– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef
My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.
Mexican Dessert
AGUA TAMARINDO
INGREDIENTS
8 cups water
1/2 cup tamarind syrup
1/4 cup confectionary sugar
PREPARATION
Use long wooden spoon to mix all ingredients in pitcher. Stir until sugar dissolves. This goes well served over ice.
TIDBITS
1) There are no weird facts about tamarinds.
2) Not even fun facts.
3) Tamarinds came India. Sailors carried them back on rest-infested vessels.
4) The rats often were so numerous and ravenous the sailors had to throw whole handful of tamarind pods at the rats.
5) Hence the popular nautical saying and anagram, “Tamarinds, I damn rats.”
6) Not all rats were pests. Some could be trained to race each other . Bosun Arthur Beans of the HMS Kidney could amuse for his ship mates with his trained rats.
7) Other seamen of the British Royal Navy trained their rats to do tricks, such as jumping through hoops.
8) However, Arthur’s trained rats could prove the Pythagorean Theorem and to waltz. Eventually, their fame spread so much that every Christmas Eve the Admiralty would witness a palindromic performance of Art’s Star Rats.
9) Or so I’ve heard.
– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef
My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.
364 days a year NORAD protects America from nuclear and other threats coming over the North Pole. But on Christmas Eve, this worthy arm of America’s armed forces tracks Santa’s gift-giving trip. Give NORAD’s website, http://www.noradsanta.org a look on December 24. Be sure to watch the videos showing sightings of Santa by F-14s and other jets.
“These are the times that try men’s souls.”
– Thomas Paine
I’m convinced that Mr. Paine has a time machine and wrote those immortal words after trying to park and shop at WalMart and Costco on December 24. Indeed, you could go seamlessly from life on Earth to an eternity in Hell if you happen to die while thrashing your way through the sea of Brownian motion that are their customers. You wouldn’t even notice the great passing over had occurred until you tried to leave the parking lot by a red imp with a tail and pitchfork.
Just as the use of land mines by armies is coming under greater and greater pressure by nearly every nation, so is the weekend deployment of Walmarts and Costcos in battle zones.
– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef
My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.
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