349. Coal in Your Stocking

You know what happens to naughty boys and girls this time of year, right?  I'm talkin' to you, Typepad. 

Actually, no, I think the good boys and girls at Typepad are working on it and I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. They still provide a well-priced service for my hobby and usually it works well. They get back to me in a reasonable period of time, and though they are often in denial at first that there is an issue, they do usually come around. 

Once in a while the whole shebang seems to get constipated and needs a colonic, though. And when I can't comment on other people's Typepad blogs (a little row of circles just goes round and round and the screen freezes, then I go back and actually find out that a comment DOES post, though it says it hasn't) and people can't comment on my blog for either the same reason, or they get some incredibly complicated error message (I'm assured that their engineers are WORKING ON IT) or their comments are not emailed to me, well....it just feels hardly worth it. 

Talking into the ether with no feedback or relationship-building behind the curtain (does that sound dirty?) is NOT the reason I'm doing this.

In the misery-loves-company category, poor Sandy's blog is also broken, and hers is not a Typepad blog.  Perhaps there's something deeper at work here.  She's blogging today in her substitute blog.  Go see her there. 

Anyhoo, speaking of tastegasmic (I'm totally stealing that from Kristen), can I just say that that figgy pudding that I talked about the other day, the one that is posted on the NPR website, is -- no exaggeration -- the best friggin' cake I have ever eaten?  I ate it as cake, warmed up slightly in the microwave, the morning after I baked it, with a nuclear-strong cup of Joe in the French press, and oh.my.goodness.  Make that pudding.  Please.  In the name of all that is good and holy.  It's worth the extra trips to the gym.  And do it the way I did -- it's worth the extra money.  I used Turkish figs from the co-op, dried tart cherries (they cost a bundle, but SO.WORTH.IT for the flavor shines through in the cake/pudding), and dried sweetened-with-apple-juice cranberries.  It is really nothing like your normal fruitcake or Christmas pudding, and oh, so very superior thereto. 

Do it!  And serve it (I didn't, but I will later) with brandy or cognac whipped cream or creme fraiche.  Or hard sauce if you must, but really cognac whipped cream. 

When Terry read my post, her comment was something to the effect that when she read my title, "Bring Us Some Figgy Pudding," right at that same moment she was listening to Miss Piggy sing the same lyrics.  I couldn't stop laughing, and said to her if I keep eating this stuff, I'm going to BE Miss Piggy.  Then I went and had another bite on the way to the gym. 

Do it. 

Comments

[Cookie]

Did they tell you how that dumbass TypePad Key Connect Thingy(TM) is still in beta? Yes, even though they have forced it on all of us, that piece of shit is still in effin' beta. I can't even get logged in to comment on Maryse's blog. Not that Maryse misses me, but damn!

Figgy what? ;^)

xo

[Linda B.]

We have that same recording. John Denver and the Muppets singing Christmas songs. Favourite is "It's in every one of us, to be wise...."

[Kristen]

Oh jeezus. I shouldn't have read this during a break from dissertation frenzy. Now I'm not going to be able to concerntrate. Kee-rist, woman, tart cherries? I think you just gave me multiple tastegasms!!

[sandy]

Well, you know, that around here, when the Figgy Pudding song was on, we'd all laugh and imagine a cat pudding. But we are sick like that, as a family.
Blogs. Love 'em/hate 'em. We're stuck in a web. (heh)

[sandy]

Well, you know, that around here, when the Figgy Pudding song was on, we'd all laugh and imagine a cat pudding. But we are sick like that, as a family.
Blogs. Love 'em/hate 'em. We're stuck in a web. (heh)

[Nora]

This explains why I got the circle-go-round thingy of death on another blog this morning. I thought it was me.

[Michelene]

Shouldn't the title be Junk In Your Trunk? Now I have the Poroit episode with a stolen jewel and poisoned pudding stuck in my head. Or the new Dr. Who. But he's usually knocking around in there anyway.

[Barbara M.]

Hi, Norma.... I always read but don't often comment, and reading your post today I realized that makes this a very one way "pseudo-relationship" coming through your blog. So now I will comment, because I have enjoyed knowing you in this peculiar way so very much. (And I will go read the recipe and make the figgy pudding, because who could resist!) Thanks for giving me so much... the courage to plan a garden, the need to knit and send off red scarves, and many great laughs!

Barbara M.

[Carole]

At least I can comment on your blog. But it takes forever these days and sometimes it hiccups and shows up as several comments. Maryse's comments are broken for me, just like Cookie said.

[Jean E.]

I just read the recipe. Sounds interesting, I must try it. I actually like fruitcake, so I imagine I will love this! Also, I now have a great reason to visit the kitchen store AND the liquor store. Sweet.

[Mary K. in Rockport]

My comments have been rejected - or ignored, I don't mean by YOU. So I'll try again. Re: the supposedly excellent washer/dryer set that gave you trouble. I am now forbidden by my family from buying or even choosing any appliance no matter how big/small, expensive/cheap. When I bring it home, it doesn't work. It could be a car or just a kitchen timer, doesn't matter. The current bottle of deodorant with the roller ball top? Ball is too big for its orifice, and it won't turn. Like I said, if I buy it, it doesn't work. What peculiar karma do I have, anyway? P.S. I didn't vote for Bush, so don't me blame for that!

[margene]

Typepad sucks lately. At least with Typepad we have someone to bitch to and hopefully to fix the problem...eventually?

[KittyMommy]

Yeah, the Figgy pudding song makes me think of the Muppets' Christmas Carol with Animal hollering "Won't Go! Won't Go!"

[KittyMommy]

Yeah, the Figgy pudding song makes me think of the Muppets' Christmas Carol with Animal hollering "Won't Go! Won't Go!"

[Imbrium]

Ha! I thought the comment problem was me...it's not me, it's you! Ah, the joys of working with an ever-changing medium.

[Laurie]

Typepad told me it was ME and not IT, in their answer to my help ticket. Helpless ticket is more like it. Shitheads. I'm sending LOTS of examples to them, per their idiot request, of comments that never make it my email.

[kmkat]

I just commented on a Blogger blog using the TypeKey identity thing that I have been using for months and months, and some new and different screen popped up and it made me sign in to TypePad! Garrrrgghhh!

Now to see if your TypePad blog will let me comment...

[Lucia]

I have been bending my diet rules left and right, with no ill effects to speak of, but I absolutely cannot eat cranberries. It's truly a shame, because that pudding looks awesome. But maybe some pecan pie...

While you're on with the Typepad folks, couldja please ask them to put back the thing where you can see all the comments at once if there are more than the stipulated number of them? (whine)

[elizabeth]

Yeah, my blog was hacked about three weeks ago and I've been in the Depths of Hell trying to get it fixed. Finally had to switch hosts and have my blog rebuilt from scratch - thankfully I'd run a backup just three days before the hack!

Hope your Typepad issues resolve!

[--Deb]

My theory is that Sandy's blog misses Fig.

[claudia]

Considering my mom is arriving with a (no joke) suitcase full of xmas cookies, I might have to pass on figgy pudding. It does, however, look delicious.