Iron Bowl

Today is Iron Bowl Eve in Alabama. You have to choose sides — no excuses. And even though today also is the first official day of Christmas shopping and we women throughout the state are eager to start wearing the snowpeople sweaters and angel earrings and candy cane-embroidered pants we put away this past January, we have to wait three days more. Today and tomorrow are for wearing crimson and white or orange and blue, and then Sunday (and perhaps Monday if you want to rub it in for co-workers) is the day for the winners to wear their colors proudly and triumphantly and the losers to look ahead to 2009. Read more about it at http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20081128/ARTICLES/811280301

Like many Alabama families. we’re a house divided. I try to remain neutral, unbiased and completely objective. Sort of. Younger daughter Carolyn is rabidly anti-Alabama. It stems, she explained this morning, from when we moved here to Alabama from Tennessee. She started third grade here and on her first day, everybody in her class demanded to know whether she went for Alabama or Auburn. The Alabama kids seemed especially intensely scary, she says, so she chose Auburn as the safer option and has never wavered. Older daughter Liz with her husband Jason and eight-month-old Nolan are blissfully unaware that this is a major football weekend. Husband John Pitts is totally focused on the Ole Miss/Mississippi State rivalry that culminates in the Egg Bowl, which is a big story, too, at least to those folks who live in Mississippi and we who claim honorary Mississippi citizenship.

Thanksgiving Day

We have a new name for 8-month-old grandson Nolan Thomas Behel: Tractor Boy! When his grandad Buddy Behel put him up on the tractor after Thanksgiving dinner at Behel family headquarters on Hawk Pride Mountain in Tuscumbia, Alabama, it was as if Nolan had found his natural place in the world. Hard to tell who was more delighted — grandpa or grandson! The Behels are my older daughter’s in-laws and graciously include my family in any holiday celebration. And am I glad. Honored, really. Twenty-five friends and Behels were there for Thanksgiving along with all the classics – sweet potatoes, dressing, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie. Could it get any better? Yes! I didn’t have to cook! My assignment was macaroni and cheese, which I let the frozen-food aisle take care of. (Thank you, Chef Stouffer’s.) After dessert, Buddy took everybody for a hayride – the non-scratchy kind with cushions instead of hay. As we rode through woods and fields and gentle hills, he showed us the remains of his family’s original log cabin. Plus, some of the city dwellers who’d never tasted persimmons before got to sample some straight off the tree. I’d rather have my persimmons in jelly and jams, so when we got back to the house I had another slice of my daughter’s yummy sweet-potato coconut pie instead. Thank goodness her mother-in-law taught her to cook — Stouffer’s will take you only so far.

Thanksgiving

How cool is it that we have a holiday dedicated to 1) food and 2) gratitude? The first one’s easy, but I’m glad to have a day when I’m reminded about the second since I rarely forget to eat but I almost always forget to be grateful. And this morning, my gratitude cup overfloweth. For one thing, I’m grateful to be a guest at Thanksgiving dinner. Yippee — no worries about thawing turkeys and juggling oven space this year! I get to relax and make another pot of coffee and remember the family and friends and good times that have made this past year so blessed. And you know what? I think I’m even grateful for the year’s tough times and scary times and sad times and the very, very extremely few people who have aggravated the &*%@ out of me because that’s sort of part of the deal, too. What fun would it be if everything were a piece of cake? Hmm … cake … coconut cake … carrot cake … and pumpkin pie and pecan pie and chess pie and … Happy Thanksgiving!

Restaurants in Florence, Alabama

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that some of the best places to eat are in your own backyard — or your own downtown. Dish Gourmet Cafe and Catering in Florence, Alabama, is a small and cozy lunch bistro serving some of the freshest sandwiches and salads in town. Favorites include the Sesame Seared Ahi Tuna and the Thai Beef salads as well as the Portobella and Goat Cheese Panini, Blackened Salmon Reuben and Pimento Cheese BLT Wrap. Even the fresh-fruit side is delicious and, well, fresh — unlike some so-called “fresh” fruit salads that taste freshly thawed instead of freshly cut. In warm weather you can eat on the sidewalk and watch most of Florence drive and/or walk by, but eating inside is a delight, too, with the abundant greenery in the window seats and a hand-painted  mural on the wall. And do not forget to choose a homemade dessert. Dish is the perfect place to take company visiting for the holidays or to meet friends for a work or shopping break break. It opens at 11 a.m., Mondays through Fridays. Call 256.766.2414.

Family Get-togethers

Front, daughter Carolyn holding grandson Nolan, sister-in-law Tammie, sister-in-law Susannah and brothers Michael and Mark; and back, son-in-law Jason, nephew Samuel, daughter Liz, parents Ray and Susan and husband John.

Me in the middle, trying to keep my brothers under control. As always.

Oh, wow — how many times does the whole Wood clan gather in one place? Not many, that’s for sure. My parents and my two younger brothers and their families got together with the Alabama side at my older daughter’s apartment in Huntsville, and we had a blast. My son-in-law, Jason, was such a good sport to give up his Sunday afternoon/evening to the Wood invasion, and my husband was equally good natured about sharing his one day off. Thanks, guys! We did the Wood favorite things when we meet in the Rocket City: eat at Bonefish Grill and shop at Fresh Market. We also got in plenty of talking, Nolan admiring and even a game of football — which the girls won, by the way. And I also got a photo of my favorite people in one place at one time. Priceless!

Family Reunion

One of the best things about the holiday season is families gathering together — for me, anyway! I love all my various families that graciously have allowed me to be a member but of course the one closest to my heart is my original family: the Wood clan. With everybody scattered — me and my family in Alabama/Mississippi; middle brother and family in Chattanooga, Tennessee; younger brother and family in Portland, Maine; and our parents still in Wood Family Headquarters in middle Tennessee — we only can manage a full get-together every year or so. The most recent was this past Thanksgiving, and even then my newspaper-sports-editor husband was missing since Thanksgiving is a big day in his line of work. So we’re trying again today and it looks as if everybody will be there — even almost-eight-months-old Nolan, who hadn’t quite made his appearance in the 2007 photo. Dinner tonight kicks off an anticipated week of friends, family, food, feasts and fun. Can’t wait!

Britcoms

Okay — this is an admission of what a geeky nerd I truly am. In lieu of being with family and/or friends on a Saturday night, one of my favorite things to do is hunker down at home, turn on public television and enjoy Britcoms, those reruns of old BBC half-hour comedies. I love them! I’m a huge fan and they never get old. My favorite is ”Are You Being Served?” (pictured) with Mr. Lucas and Mr. Grainger and the original young Mr. Grace — I could do without Mr. Spooner or young Mr. Grace’s brother. I also adore “Keeping Up Appearances” with astounding female comic Patricia Routledge playing off an endearing cast of frustrated neighbors and family plus “Vicar of Dibley” with the amazing timing of actresses Dawn French and Emma Chambers and some of the wittiest dialogue on TV. I also love the upper-class stylings of Penelope Keith in “To the Manor Born” and “The Good Life,” and then there’s Judi Dench slumming and having a blast in “As Time Goes By.” And whenever John Cleese’s “Fawlty Towers” comes on, it’s a gold-star Saturday night. Two stars if “The Office” and “Yes, (Prime) Minister” are on and three for ”Absolutely Fabulous.” And if I’m ever lucky enough to find “Doctor Who,” well, I think I would run out of stars.

Anthropologie

My favorite shop in the whole world is Anthropologie. I love this store and I’m not really sure why. I immediately go to my happy place as soon as I walk in the door — in fact, this is my happy place. I mean, the clothes are far too young and funky for my post-menopausal body and I know I look ridiculous in the Cream-of-the-Crop Top paired with the Can-Can Pencil Skirt and coordinated with the Sylvan Scene Cardigan, but shopping hope springs eternal. Somehow, Anthropologie makes you believe. And then there’s the other side of the store: A sort of eclectic and hip yard-sale jumble of linens and glassware and kitchen goodies — all those things you never knew you needed until Anthropologie gently waves them under your nose and says, “Hey! You are just the right person to take home this Pitch Pine Sugar Bowl” and even though you do not even use sugar ever at all, before you know it you are at the cash register trying to remember if you’ve already signed up for an Anthropolgie card. This happens to me time after time. Is it something in the store’s oil-diffused air? Has Anthropologie perfected an undetectable form of consumer hypnotism? I don’t know. I think I need to go again to figure it out. And again. And again. And … Check out the Web site at http://www.anthropologie.com/

Organizing the Kitchen

I cleaned out my spice drawer this week! I’m so proud of myself!!! Isn’t the newly organized and easily accessible drawer a a work of art now? I mean, I know it’s not alphabetized or arranged in descending order of expiration dates, but you have to admit it’s about 40 times better. Remember what it looked like before? Yuck — the sorry result of unbridled optimism that this might be the night I actually will make Nigella Lawson’s Honeyed Almond and Orange Cake with Figs … if only Survivor and Ugly Betty weren’t on. I have my priorities, after all, right? But after writing about it in my TimesDaily column today, I realized how pathetic it is to hold on to chili powder from 1983 and that it all had to go: http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20081120/ARTICLES/811200346

Kota the Triceratops

Oh my goodness. Have you seen the TV ad for Playskool’s Kota the Triceratops? This thing is a riot. My college-student daughter and I thought it was a joke when the ad came on — as if we had somehow unknowingly wandered into Saturday-Night-Live territory. We literally were rolling on the floor laughing — mainly because we were already sitting on the floor watching TV, but still. This 2 1/2-foot baby dinosaur roars, moves his head, blinks his eyes and opens and closes his mouth. Kids can climb on his back, give him hugs and even feed him (it is a him, right?) with greenery he comes with. I mean, I realize that kids love dinosaurs and as far as we know, a triceratops never actually ate anybody, but I don’t know — the image of sweet little children jumping up and down and squealing with the delight at the sight of a three-horned foot-stomping plant-chomping dinosaur is somewhat unnerving. As is the $300 price tag. Check it out yourself at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10RTgbPlgqU

On the other hand, almost-8-months-old grandson Nolan Thomas Behel was content with chewing on an empty box of diapers the other day. In fact, this was more than a chew toy (and let’s not dwell on possible toxic components of diaper-box cardboard). His mom — my older daughter – looped one of her stretchy exercise bands (you can see a bit of the green in the photo behind Nolan’s head) through one of the box’s handholds and pulled baby and box around their apartment, thoroughly delighting both mom and baby and befuddling the confused cats. I can only imagine what the cats would think of a roaring, laughing and blinking baby dinosaur. And would chewing on a triceratops be as much fun for Nolan as chewing on a box? I don’t think so. Whoo-hoo — $300 and cats’ sanity saved!!!!