Oranges and Cloves for Christmas

Can you believe we are taking oranges and sticking cloves into them? Dad tells me it is an old European Christmas tradition. We used clementines instead of oranges cause that's what we had around the house. It turns out clementines are actually better for this project as their skin is not as tough and easier to poke the cloves into. After the pic above was taken, we rolled them in cinnamon and placed them in a wooden bowl. I must admit they do smell great.

I got to wondering about this "old European Christmas tradition" so I sniffed around a bit.

In Renaissance times, both exotic spices and citrus fruits were not commonly available nor easy to come by. Fruits were only available in a particular season and only for a short span of time. The technologies to support year-long agriculture, specialized storage (refrigerators and the like), mass harvesting, and cross-country (and cross-continent) delivery were all many decades away. During the time, simply possessing such things as citrus fruits or exotic spices was a sign of wealth and prestige and what better way to get the attention of a paramour than to give some of that wealth to them?

As with any gift, it is always polite to thank the giver for their generosity. A kiss was often all a demure young lord or lady could part with, so thus began (in theory) the practice of the kiss in return for the presentation of the cloved fruit!

Like that story? It's totally fabricated, but it sure does sound like it could have happened that way! Historians assure me that during Medieval and Renaissance time periods a lot of things we take for granted were wholly absent. As the new world had yet to be exploited, all new world flora and fauna were as yet unknown, so medieval Europe wouldn't have known what an orange was even if a sparrow dropped it right upon their heads. Although I assure you, were that to happen, they would have cloved the strange ruddy round object immediately. Really.

It turns out that cloved oranges are also know as pomanders. The first pomanders were made from gold or silver. They were shaped like balls and hung by a cord from the waist. They were filled with sweet smelling herbs and spices, and used as perfume. They were also thought to keep one from getting sick.

The most likely actual use of a cloved fruit was as a pomander and worn on one's person as a type of human air freshener or left in places where one might wish to disguise odors. While giving one's paramour 'primitive deodorant' might seem a little crude by today's social mores, it might have been perfectly acceptable in time periods when personal hygiene was a bit less advanced.

Are You Starting to Look Like Your Dog?

Perhaps a makeover is in order!

A Makeover for a Dog Lover who Looks Like her Dog! by Leashes_and_Lovers

Dancer as Walker, Baker, Reader

The first time she performed the role of Dewdrop in “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker” with the New York City Ballet, Ashley Bouder was 17 and made a memorable entrance: she fell on her face. Now 27 and a principal dancer for the company, Ms. Bouder is in her eighth season as the Sugarplum Fairy and her 11th as Dewdrop. She will perform that role in a live City Ballet broadcast in movie theaters on Tuesday and on the PBS program “Live From Lincoln Center” on Wednesday. Ms. Bouder lives on the Upper West Side with her boyfriend, Matthew Dibble, 35, now touring in Twyla Tharp’s “Come Fly Away,” and their dogs: Scout, a Beagle; and Enid, a Boston terrier. On nonperforming Sundays, she unwinds with the dogs, naps, posts to Twitter and has a big dinner.

LATE RISER I sleep until between 10 and 11; I would sleep longer, but I know I have to get up and walk the dogs. They’re angels; they sleep with me. I put the coffee on, feed the dogs, and jump in the shower.

WALK, THEN TWEET I grab a cup to go and take the dogs around the block, come home, and drink a few more cups while I watch NY1 and catch up on e-mail and Facebook and Twitter. My family and friends are on Facebook; it’s a nice, no-pressure way to connect. Three years ago my friend Daniil Simkin, a soloist with the American Ballet Theater, told me I had to do this thing called Twitter because it’s like “one big status update.” Twitter has become a little overwhelming. I follow 164 people and they tweet all the time!

FAVORITE TWEETERS I recently began to follow Ricky Gervais — he’s really funny. I used to follow Will Ferrell but I don’t think he’s funny anymore. Barack Obama, for links to his speeches. I was an Artist for Obama in 2008.

LUNCH WITH A BOOK When the weather is nice, I take a book and sit outside at Bella Luna at 88th and Columbus. I’ll have soup, a glass of red wine and the linguine with meatballs. I got a Kindle a month ago, but I do love real books — I just finished Jock Soto’s autobiography and Alison Weir’s “Eleanor of Aquitaine.” If it’s awful outside, I cook a big omelet with bacon, cheddar and broccoli. And I’ll eat Greek yogurt while I’m making the omelet.

A WALK AND A NAP After lunch I take the dogs to either Riverside Park or Central Park. If we go to Central Park, we might walk for two hours; my hound likes to smell everything. Then we go home and everybody takes a nap on the bed. During the season, I often have rehearsals or performances on Sundays; when that happens, Monday is my only day off.

COOK, MAYBE BAKE If my boyfriend is away, I’ll stay home and cook myself something I really want, broil a steak and make a salad with everything in it, or make one of my mother’s recipes, like pork chops with mushroom gravy and potatoes. It’s a substantial meal, and I of course feed the dogs some, but I have a small stomach, so it takes me forever to eat it. On my day off sometimes I’ll bake. I don’t have a sweet tooth, but I like pumpkin, so I make pumpkin muffins or pumpkin banana bread. It doesn’t last.

TV AND STRETCH I take the dogs out around 8; I like to walk them three times a day. Then I’ll watch TV or Netflix — nothing special, my TV night is Wednesday for “Modern Family” — and drink a glass of wine or two, mostly pinot noir. When I’m watching TV at night, I’m not a couch potato, I’m always stretching and exercising. I’ll put tennis balls under my back or feet. I might be on the floor doing the splits. Or I have the heating pad on. I have a machine called the Reflex Roller; it massages my legs and calves. I’m learning a new ballet, “DGV: Danse à Grande Vitesse,” by Christopher Wheeldon, so everything aches.

BEDTIME I go to bed around 11:30 and probably read for a couple of hours before I fall asleep.

Random Licks by Glenn Close

Did you know that Glenn Close is related to Marjorie Merriweather Post? She is a great dog lover and has her own blog, Random Licks. Here, she posts about another great dog lover, Lauren Bacall. Thanks Glenn!

It's a supremely daunting challenge to write an introduction to a woman who has been declared one of the American Film Institute's top 25 film legends of the century. So I'm not even going to try. In this era of sound bytes, spin and packaging, Lauren Bacall defies categorization. She is feline and ferocious, bawdy, beautiful and brilliant. She is my neighbor and friend, who happens to be totally in the thrall of her spectacular Papillion, Sophie. When I approached Ms. Bacall about doing a profile of her and Sophie, she told me that she wanted to be interviewed in person and invited me to her home in the venerable Dakota on New York's Central Park West, where I had the great pleasure of spending the afternoon with Sophie and her handmaiden, Lauren Bacall - surrounded by extraordinary art and artifacts, pictures of family and friends and evidence everywhere of an amazing life and career. It is an afternoon I will never forget. As fall starts creeping into the trees around Sheep Meadow, the Great Lawn and down the paths of Strawberry Fields, we are planning to walk our dogs together in the park. Or should I say they are planning to walk us.

Glenn Close: When and how did you become a dog lover?

LB: I was always a dog yearner. I didn't have a dog growing up in the city with a working mother. As an only child, I yearned for someone to talk to. When I was sixteen, we got a champagne-colored Cocker Spaniel and named him "Droopy". He was very male. From the first moment, he was very possessive of me. All my dogs have been possessive of me. We eventually mated Droopy and kept one of his girl puppies---Puddle. I went to Los Angeles for a screen test when I was eighteen years old. My mother followed me out later. The dogs came, too.

In LA, Droopy was killed by a hit-and-run driver. There was a place in the valley where a nutty woman had a funeral parlor for dogs. I went to pay my last respects to Droopy. All the dogs were there in open caskets. Droopy was resting his head and paws on a pillow. It was terrible.

Bogey and I had Boxers. We were married on Louis Bromfield's farm in Ohio. Louis had Boxers that would fight under the table at dinner. He gave us a week old Boxer puppy for a wedding present. We named him Harvey, after the invisible rabbit. Harvey was really smart. He knew he wasn't allowed to get on the furniture so he would only put two paws on at a time. He would sit between us if we had a fight. Harvey died six months after Bogey. I went to see him at the vet's and said goodbye. Five minutes after I got home, I was told that after I left, Harvey had eaten his dinner and died.

Video: Join Glenn Close in Lauren Bacall's apartment to meet Sophie.

GC: I know that you are devoted to your Papillion, Sophie. If she were a human, what kind of car would she drive?

LB: A Mercedes coupe. A perfect two-seater: one seat for her and one for me.

GC: What is Sophie's pet peeve about you?

LB: She doesn't like it when I'm on the phone. She doesn't like to be made to leave the boudoir when she is all curled up. She doesn't like it when I don't get out of bed when she wants me to.

GC: What is your pet peeve about Sophie?

LB: She dictates. I'm her slave. She barks when I'm on the phone. She doesn't like it when my back is to her.

GC: What musical instrument would Sophie play if she could?

LB: A trumpet.

GC: What does Sophie think about cats?

LB: She doesn't like other animals, especially white dogs. She barks at every dog in the street. Every dog that sees her wants to kill her---Labs, Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds. They think she is a snack.

GC: What excites Sophie the most?

LB: A diversion, like when my son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren come over.

Also, she has a stuffed Shar Pei that she humps. After she goes for a walk, she runs into the bedroom and humps her Shar Pei. Then she has a long barking conversation with it.

She has her own chair with a cashmere throw on it. She always has to rest her head on a pillow or a stuffed animal. She loves soft toys. Her first love is her Shar Pei but she also has a soft pig, and some bears.

She loves the country. She will sit for hours at a drainpipe waiting for a chipmunk to come out. She also loves chasing squirrels.

GC: What is your favorite thing to do with Sophie?

LB: Snuggle. In the morning I have breakfast in the kitchen and I pick her up and hold her and her little body warms my chest and makes me feel so good. (Actually, she'd much rather be on a man's lap than a woman's.) She knows life is all about her. She's spoiled.

GC: What would be Sophie's favorite movie?

LB: Well...she doesn't watch television, but I think she would like Now Voyager. She would appreciate Bette Davis. She would be attuned to the hallowed moments.

GC: What is it about you that makes Sophie most proud?

LB: When she's just had her bath and looks beautiful and when she behaves well. But I still wouldn't want to cross her. I'm afraid of her!

GC: What is Sophie's idea of perfect happiness?

LB: To be in a gondola with me in Venice. Just as long as we're together.

GC: What is your idea of perfect happiness?

LB: When there is no one in the house and the phone stops ringing. (Of course, if it stopped altogether, I'd panic.) Happiness? I've tried the two-legged ones, and the four-legged ones win.

The Mutts

We just have to go see The Mutts at the Yacht Club. We just have to.

Formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by Spencer Eldridge, Larry Fortunato, Kevin Grover, Jacques Olivier and Eddy Sill, The Mutts became an influential garage rock group during LA's post-punk period and played on bills with many popular acts of the era, including The Go-Go's, The Bangles, Adam Ant, The Dickies, The Minutemen, X, Fishbone and many others. Fishbone debuted as an opening act for the band at Madame Wong's in LA's Chinatown. The group released two EPs on local independent labels, "Fire Hydrant" on Music Rage Records in 1984 and "The Mutts" on Shanghai Records in 1985, but the combo wouldn't come into its own until Grover and Sill took over as frontmen after singer Eldridge and guitarist Olivier left the group in 1986.

The band received widespread notoriety when their only major release, "Stinko's Ranch" Loud/WEA, debuted in late 1992. The album received an A in Entertainment Weekly, and the single, Emilyn, became a top-5 hit on P-1 (million+) radio markets in North America. The group appeared on the cover of BAM Magazine, and the late Eric Douglas played the bartender in the video for "I Live With a Cat." The owner of the WEA-distributed record label, Rick Laudati (Loud), mysteriously vanished into thin air the day after the album was released, and this threw the album into a hopeless legal debacle, which wouldn't be resolved until 1994. The band continued to play in Los Angeles until their famed rehearsal hall and party house was leveled to accommodate a Home Depot in 1996.

And...now...they are playing at the Yacht Club this Friday!

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Thanksgiving Dinner for Dogs

Winning ways with leftovers

Dogs love turkey and sweet potatoes, too. Cook this meal from scratch or use up the leftovers—either way, your chow hounds will chow down with gusto! Remember, don't stuff your dog on Thanksgiving and read A Safe Thanksgiving for Dogs before your overindulge your furry friends.

Nutritional Information

Per 1-cup serving (approximate, depending on ingredient substitutions)

Calories 321

Protein 44 g

Carbohydrates 16 g

Dietary fiber 1.9 g

Fat 7.7 g (with gravy; less if omitted)

Facts (Vet’s View)

This is a moderate-carb recipe suitable for healthy adult dogs.

Portion Size

For small dogs, 3/4 cup; medium dogs, 1 1/2 cups; larger or more active dogs, 3 cups.

Calcium

Add 400 mg calcium per 1-cup serving (600 mg if using bone meal).

RECIPE

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Makes: 9 1-cup servings

Ingredients

3 lb/1.3 kg skinless turkey pieces (light and dark meat)

1 cup (about 6 oz/175 g) oatmeal (cooked)

1 lb/450 g sweet potatoes, cubed

2 tbsp cranberry sauce

4 tbsp turkey gravy (optional; to reduce the fat content, omit the gravy or substitute olive oil)

Directions

Use turkey leftovers or roast the turkey:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. Lightly oil a roasting pan.

2. For boneless breast or thigh, cook 30–45 minutes; boned breast or thigh, 45–60 minutes; whole turkey, 1 1/2–2 hours or until the meat juices run clear when pierced with a skewer. Let cool.

3. Remove all the bones and dice the meat into large pieces.

4. If using fresh sweet potatoes, roast with the turkey for about 25–30 minutes or until tender. Let cool, then peel and dice.

5. Meanwhile, cook the oatmeal according to package instructions.

6. Mix together the turkey meat, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce. If using gravy or oil, add it now and mix thoroughly. (If your dog is at all prone to pancreatitis or other fat-related upsets, omit the gravy.)