According to Wikipedia, because I’m too lazy to do real research, “Pumpkin pie is a traditional North American sweet dessert usually made in the fall and early winter, especially for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The pumpkin is a symbol of harvest time and featured also at Halloween. The pie consists of a pumpkin-based custard, ranging in color from orange to brown, baked in a single pie shell, rarely with a top crust. The pie is generally flavored with nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and ginger and is traditionally served with whipped cream. This pie is often made from canned pumpkin or packaged pumpkin pie filling (spices included); this is a seasonal product available in bakeries and grocery stores, although it is possible to find year-round.”

Mr. Wiki also thoughtfully provides a little poetic flourish in his pumpkin pie entry, which I am also pilfering, because I am too lazy to do real research.

Ah! on Thanksday, when from East and from West,
From North and from South comes the pilgrim and guest;
When the gray-haired New Englander sees round his board
The old broken links of affection restored;
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before;
What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye,
What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie? — John Greenleaf Whittier/1850


Bull.  If actual Pilgrims had been served what most people pass off as pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving they’d have hopped back on their barge and paddled their way back across that frosty pond.  Religious persecution be damned. Squanto and Samoset would have taken their maize right back to their own villages and maybe even started the first war in the New World – The Pumpkin Pie battle of 1621.  (There is so much wrong with that, both historically and linguistically, that I’m not quite sure what to do except proceed as though nothing is amiss.)

This pumpkin pie, however, is something we can all be thankful for, even if we are wearing silly hats and shoes with buckles or we are soon to be exterminated and kicked off our land.

Regular pumpkin pie is gross. 

This pumpkin pie is the opposite of gross.  I swear.

pie crust – I have a very rigid “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy about pie crusts.
1 tablespoon gelatin – do not, under any circumstances, read the ingredients.
3 eggs
1 cup white sugar
1 1/4 cups canned or cooked pumpkin
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon each cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger

Soak the gelatin in 1/4 cup cold water.
Beat 3 egg yolks slightly.
Add 1/2 cup of the sugar, pumpkin, milk, salt, and spices. 
Cook and stir these ingredients over – not in – boiling water until thick.
Stir in the soaked gelatin until dissolved.
Chill until mixture begins to set.
Whip 3 egg whites until stiff, but not dry.
Stir 1/2 cup sugar into egg whites gradually and fold into pumpkin mixture.
Fill the pie shell and chill several hours to set.


Nom Nom.

Reasons why England is cooler than Pennsylvania:

1)  Jane Austen lived there
2)  Daniel Craig lives there
3)  Decorative Royalty for gawking and envy purposes
4)  British humor a la Eddie Izzard and my new favorite dude Terry Darlington.
5)  Twee village names like Diddlebury and Eckersley Tump
6)  A refreshing degree of comfort with blurring traditional gender lines…

“There’s no good way to say this, but some men like wearing pantyhose. I don’t mean in a cross-dressing, “Just call me Phyllis,” sense, but in a normal, “Well, it feels nice and boxers can be so bulky,” kind of way.

The truth is that “mantyhose”, featuring a special “male comfort panel”, caught my attention some time ago, but I kept it to myself. No point burdening all of you with a mental image that could put you off your meat and two veg. But I now see this was futile. The trend for straight men to invade female fashion territory is seemingly unstoppable. Even before manscara and guyliner there were man bras, or manzieres. Now there are umpteen websites for male nylons. One, e-MANcipate! (www.e-mancipate.net), describes itself as “a project to accelerate the acceptance of male pantyhose as a regular clothing item” with tips on how to deal with snagging (a dab of clear nail varnish, I find, fellas, and do watch those shoe buckles). “

The final proof of this shift was when, at the height of the Jonathan Ross/Russell Brand fiasco, Ross was pictured wearing a swingy red coat with a clutch bag tucked prettily under his arm (below). I know man bags are not new, but I’d never seen one carried quite so girlishly before. There was even a miniature SpongeBob SquarePants hanging off the zip. But where was the bitchy derision, the piling in to kick a man and his bag when he’s down? Nowhere. Ross’s ensemble barely elicited a snigger, which must mean that acceptance is here. Ronnie Wood wears Uggs (Muggs, surely?), Ross dresses like a lady who lunches. It’s all fine.

Which is good because we’re always stuck over what to buy men at Christmas. Perhaps people like me who feel ill at the thought of a chap in American Tan should just get over it and treat the men in our lives to some pantyhose. I’ve trawled the websites so you don’t have to, and can reveal that www.comfilon.com does a very reasonable “ultrasheer” range starting at £4.40, which could make an inexpensive – ho, ho – stocking filler. The leg fabric is “smooth, just a bit shiny, and glides extremely well under trousers, massaging and energising your legs all day”.

As the man behind e-MANcipate! says, “Men have great legs, and hosiery is a great way to show them. It’s quite practical in some ways. It prevents chafing, for example, when horse riding or cycling.” Indeed, so let’s all lighten up. But I would just say to any man thinking of embracing the 20 denier that having to wear tights is one of the very worst things about being a woman. Still, if you don’t mind an itchy crackle-fest around your nether regions, then please be my guest. Oh, and don’t expect your tights to be much of a chick-magnet. In fact, I’d say that mantyhose is probably the perfect gift for the man who never wants to get laid again. “

by Carol Midgley, The Times Online, filched from The Daily Beast, 11/25/08