More rain in the Mid-Atlantic tonight. I am loving it. I want to curl up with a cup of tea and a book, but several pounds of hard plaster on my left forearm are making that impossible.

Allow me to share some little joys instead.

Joy #1: the mental_floss blog.

It doesn’t need to be the day of the posting for you to find something interesting to read. Go back through the archives and read some craaaazy shit. But interesting crazy, not crazy crazy.

Joy #2: Seth Godin’s blog.

The link above takes you to a fun little entry about lambchops - not the meat, not the puppet, but as a descriptive term for a certain kind of person. A nice person. “A kind, thoughtful person. Someone who keeps her promises. Someone who does great work but doesn’t always brag about it. Someone you’d like to work with again.” Ties in nicely to an upcoming business book called The Power of Nice

Joy #3: The podcast I participated in at work.

It’s not something I do regularly, but I was a guest to talk about the mother country, Poland, in our overview of destinations for 2007. w00t!

Joy #4: A busy pre-holiday weekend.

Tomorrow night is Survivor’s Night (with the girls from my old job, some of whom are still there - for the laughs, I hope) at a hibachi steakhouse (though not Mt. Fuji, sadly). I have a feeling we’re going to laugh until we cry and I am exceedingly pleased to have this to look forward to. On Saturday, I am having lunch with my friend Theresa and my friend Michelle’s mom. Michelle is living in England, so it’s a nice way to kind of be “in the loop.” Afterwards, we might watch a movie or talk about Theresa’s wedding ceremony. Then I’ll be going food shopping with my mom for Thanksgiving preparations, and on Sunday, I’m seeing my mom’s friend, the colorist, to do something fun with my color.

Joy #5: Cast Removal Tuesday!

I’m hoping that everything is OK and that the doctor deems me ready for a brace and releases my arm so I can unbend my elbow. I’m leaving work a little early that day, so I hope he frees me so I can be comfortable while slaving over a hot stove on Wednesday, when I’m taking a floating holiday to prep for Thanksgiving.

Joy #6: Cooking for Thanksgiving.

IMHO (and from three years of using it), Alton Brown’s turkey brining recipe is the best. Easily customizable with other herbs and aromatics, though his version is lovely. Yes, the Kosher salt makes a difference (large crystals = greater surface area = draws moisture out of meats more effectively). Or…

By soaking meat in a salt brine, the moisture loss percentage is reduced to as little as 15%. During brining, muscle fibers absorb liquid. Some of this added moisture is lost during cooking, but the meat retains some liquid for a juicier meat. The salt causes muscle fibers to unwind and swell. Protein structures are broken which allows water to bind to the proteins. The water will get
trapped in the proteins. During cooking, the proteins tighten and
squeeze water out. As long as the meat is not overcooked, a juicy meat will grace your dinner table.

There’s a great pumpkin cheesecake recipe on Good Housekeeping’s site. We made that last year, too.

There are also some great ideas from Mark Bittman on The Splendid Table site - Mark Bittman’s Minimalist Thanksgiving. Looks good.

Now I’m getting settled in with a book.