Things I've been meaning to post about:

Ordering glasses online:
I did it. I looked at a bunch of different sites, and I ended up buying mine at Zenni Optical. They were about $35 inc shipping, high index lenses, and anti-glare coating. My goals were: cheap, and try someplace that does tinting so that N could order cheap prescription sunglasses once he gets his prescription updated. Eye Buy Direct had the nicest site, but charged more for the high index lenses, and don't do tinting in all frames, just sunglasses in a few high price frames. Googles4u got pricey fast in my prescription.
At first I thought I would buy some cute frames and maybe like them enough to wear them more than just when my contacts are out at night. But it turns out that I am not daring (these look nearly identical to my last pair, except for the way they fit my head far better) and I hate wearing glasses. But since the eye doctor demands that I take out my contacts every night now, it was good to get a spare pair.

Thanksgiving:

Mostly I want to fill you in on the culinary success stories.

I made homemade cranberry dressing, with orange juice and orange zest. It was YUMMY.

and N came up with the thoroughly brilliant idea of molding it in the skull cake pan! Despite it taking up a ridiculous amount of fridge space, it was still fun to scoop out some jawbone to garnish the turkey with.

I made acceptable dinner rolls for the first time ever: Parker House Rolls from Baking Illustrated. They are ridiculously buttery, which is fine for a special occasion. I'm not sure I'm shaping them right, but I end up with little folded buns that make great tiny sandwiches with leftover turkey and some dijon. mmmm. But still on the lookout for a good "everyday" dinner roll recipe.

I also tried a new variant on Hypocrite Pie, Sour Cream Apple Pie from the Modern Baker. Malgieri's version has a much better custard - it really holds together while still being chockful of apples. Unfortunately, his crumb topping is kind of bland and there's way too much of it. Next time, I'll try halving the topping.

That about catches us up. The dogs say Merry Christmas!