Both Susie and Joe linked to this story saying there are no acorns this year.

As the story points out, though, that’s true for just some parts of the country.

Simmons has a theory about the wet and dry cycles. But many skeptics say oaks in other regions are producing plenty of acorns, and the acorn bust here is nothing more than the extreme of a natural boom-and-bust cycle.

We’ve got 5 mature oaks on our property, and there are about 15 across the street. And I can assure you, we’ve got plenty of acorns this year. And if the squirrel I saw waddling around my backyard last night is any indication, squirrels here are getting plenty to eat.

Though I will say that the squirrels also appear to have discovered the buttercup squashes that didn’t quite make it out of my garden. Ironically, though, my local squirrels appear to like buttercup squash, but not acorn squash.

Obviously, the fact that my yard in cold Michigan has acorns doesn’t alleviate the worry that the squirrels in DC’s suburbs don’t have acorns. But I thought it a worthwhile data point.

Tanta was an example of what is best about the blogosphere: someone with real expertise–expertise (on mortgage finance) that at one point seemed obscure, until it became utterly critical to all of our lives–who contributed pseudonymously and humorously to the great enlightening conversation we conduct in the blogosphere.

Tanta passed away this morning of ovarian cancer.

Calculated Risk has a long post reflecting on her contributions. Here’s my favorite paragraph:

Tanta liked to ferret out the details. She was inquisitive and had a passion for getting the story right. Sometimes she wouldn’t post for a few days, not because she wasn’t feeling well, but because she was reading through volumes of court rulings, or industry data, to get the facts correct. She respected her readers, and people noticed.

I never met Tanta in person, though I remember the joy I had one day when I mentioned her in a post and she emailed me and I discovered she was reading me and I was reading her. It so happens that that exchange came about because she was kicking the NYT’s ass on their inadequate coverage of the mortgage crisis. 

Today, the NYT honored her with an obituary.

My condolences to her family and loved ones. I am thankful that she shared her expertise at a time when we were all so frantically trying to learn about it.

Don’t know where that slacker bmaz is with this week’s Trash Talk (oh wait? Trash is supposed to be my job, you say??). But today is the day when teams’ playoff hopes will live or die and it’s already 5 AM in the desert yet still bmaz sleeps.

But before we talk about the on-the-field fun, let’s talk about Plaxico Burress.

How does a guy whose career depends on his 4.4 speed (and whose team depends on his ability to stretch defenses) happen to head out to a nightclub one night and shoot himself in the thigh? It seems Plaxico doesn’t want to talk about it–having left the cops standing outside his home for 37 minutes yesterday…

New York City police arrived at Burress’ sprawling $4-million home in Totowa, N.J., at 4:35 p.m. and spent 37 minutes outside the home. According to a police spokesman, Burress’ wife, Tiffany, told them, "You can’t come in. You can’t talk to my husband."

Police made a second visit just after 7:30 p.m. and left when no one answered the door.

And the hospital that treated Plaxico doesn’t want to talk about it–having failed to inform the cops of the gunshot wound they treated…

Police said they learned of the incident yesterday only after reports of the shooting surfaced around noon, because the hospital did not report the gunshot wound to police, as is expected.

And the Gents don’t want to talk about it–at least not until after they play their big division game against the ‘Skins today.

According to police, the Giants have agreed to put police in touch with those two players, saying a meeting could be arranged this week after they return home from Washington, D.C.

They also appear to be in no rush to give the cops the gun.

According to police, the Giants told them that a team representative might be able to bring them to a third location where the gun is currently being held.

All this reluctance to talk probably has something to do with the fact that it is a felony to carry an unlicensed gun in NY–and Plaxico’s only gun permit is an expired one for Florida.

Records show New York Giants’ star receiver does not have a permit to carry a weapon in the city, meaning that he had no legal right to do so in the LQ Club in Manhattan, where he allegedly shot himself in the leg.

Burress did have a concealed-weapon permit issued to him in Florida, where he has a home, but records show it expired in May.

And even if it was still valid, New York does not recognize out-of-state permits.

Incidentally, the bullet appears to have gone through his leg, missing all bones and arteries, but piercing some part of that 4.4 speed thigh. Plaxico’s hamstring injury–which was already slated to keep him out of today’s game–is now the least of his worries.

Gents at Skins

Look, the Gents are going to win the NFC East. And they’re going to continue to be a superb team even without Plaxico. But all this distraction is precisely the kind of thing that gives the Skins an opportunity to win this game and keep up with the Boys in the hunt for the top wild card spot in the NFC. And since Zorn is a much nicer coach than Coughlin, I’m gonna say the Skins stay focused and beat the champs today.

Bears at Vikes

Yes, they still do let one NFC North team come to the playoffs (figuring that, on average, the division is much stronger than the NFC West). And the winner of today’s game ought to be the favorite to win the division. This will be a contest against two great running backs and two decent defenses. I think Childress will goof something up and give it to the Bears. But then you never know whether Da Bears will have a last minute penalty to give the game away. Ah! NFC North–who couldn’t love it?!?! I’ll go with Da Bears on this one.

Stillers at Pats

Remember when everyone but me and a few other diehards believed that Matt Cassell was gonna sink the Pats’ season? You know, Matt Cassell, the guy who has thrown two-straight 400-yard passing games? Well, I’m going to take this opportunity to say "I told you so" now, before the Pats meet the best defense in the league today, just in case I don’t look so smart around 7PM (besides, it’s about the only thing I’ve been right about this year). In any case, I think this game will be decided by the Pats’ D–can those old farts chase down Rotty after the sieve-like Stillers O line breaks down? I say yes, if only because a Pats loss today would make bmaz even more intolerable with his friggin’ "J-E-T-S" inanity than he already is.

Those are the marquee games today, but the potential surprises include Colts at Brownies (remember, the Brownies have been the only team to beat that other Manning this year), Ravens and Bengals (yeah, the Bengals suck, but screwing up the Ravens’ shot at the AFC North is the kind of game they might pull off), and the Falcons at San Diego (I predict Michael Turner will have a much bigger game than the guy he used to back up).

Plus, how much fun will we have with everyone at their mother making fun of Plaxico today?

graphic by twolf

Clearly it is Eric Holder day here at FDL and I didn’t want to be left out of the party. Especially since I was one of the ones starting it. Now Looseheadprop has covered a lot of the ground, here, here and here and Dr. Kirk Murphy here and here, but I would like to elaborate and knock back a meme that has been floated by Glenn Greenwald, namely that Holder’s involvement in the Chiquita matter is just principled, zealous representation of his client akin to the heroic souls that have taken the mantle of defending Gitmo detainees.

I’ve seen some attempts to criticize Holder based upon clients he has represented while in private practice, most notably his defense of Chiquita Brands in a criminal case brought by the DOJ arising out of Chiquita’s payments and other support to Colombian death squads. Attempts to criticize a lawyer for representing unsavory or even evil clients are inherently illegitimate and wrong — period. Anybody who believes in core liberties should want even the most culpable parties to have zealous representation before the Government can impose punishments or other sanctions. Lawyers who defend even the worst parties are performing a vital service for our justice system. Holder is no more tainted by his defense of Chiquita than lawyers who defend accused terrorists at Guantanamo are tainted by that.

I admire Glenn Greenwald’s writing and respect his work immensely, but I take pretty big issue with this position. The key that Greenwald is putting in the wrong lock is that those ethical standards of guaranteed zealous representation, like the detainees at Gitmo and other defendants are entitled to, apply to formally charged actual criminal defendants.

Chiquita, their executives, offices and board, et al. were not. Instead, what you had here was a dirty as mud corporation that had been illegally and immorally playing both sides a third world country’s violent terrorist/factional problem, sometimes clandestinely with the CIA, including drug running and attendant money laundering, but always for the benefit and profit of Chiquita. You then have this complicit company, whose powerful Board member Rod Hills (and his wife, Carla Hills, a powerful former DOJ official and significant voice with the Bush Administration) is a major friend, supporter and donor to the Bushies, conspiring with the Bush DOJ to whitewash and cover up all this muck. And that is what Holder and the DOJ, together, did.

This from Marcy Wheeler gives a good description of the Chiquita situation:

The Sentencing Memorandum the government filed in the Chiquita case reveals something rather interesting. Chiquita was an equal opportunity terrorist supporter. You see, from 1989 to 1997, Chiquita paid protection money to FARC and ELN, left wing terrorist groups. Then, after FARC and FLN were declared terrorist groups in 1997, Chiquita switched sides, paying protection money to right wing terrorist group AUC instead. Of course, Chiquita got in trouble because, in 2001, after the US declared AUC a terrorist organization, Chiquita kept right on paying their protection money, presumably having no other side to flip to. I guess it’s nice not to be bound by ideology in your support of terrorist organizations.

In spite of funding the AUC long after Chiquita became aware they were breaking the law, the government is recommending that Chiquita be able to keep half of its profits from doing business under the protection of a terrorist organization. They’re recommending a fine of half their profits, when the maximum fine was twice their profits for the period.

We knew that that was the government’s recommendation for a fine. What is new, though, is that the government has decided not to indict the well-connected Republican lawyer Roderick Hills for recommending his clients engage in ongoing criminal behavior. Perhaps Michael Chertoff had something to say about that decision. You see, Hills alleged that Michael Chertoff, the guy who’s in charge of our Homeland Security, okayed Chiquita’s ongoing payments to right wing terrorists. The government denies those allegations in its Sentencing Memorandum.

The Department of Justice never authorized defendant Chiquita to continue under any circumstances the Company’s payments to the AUC–not at the meeting on April 24, 2003, nor at any other point. To be sure, when first presented with this issue at the meeting on April 24th, Department of Justice officials acknowledged that the issue of continued payments was complicated. But this acknowledgment did not constitute an approval or authorization for defendant Chiquita to continue to break the law by paying a federally-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.

But I guess they weren’t confident enough in their own side of the story to take that to court.

And so it happens that another well-connected Republican with ties to funding terrorism gets off scot free.

Holder didn’t represent a charged criminal with protected rights in relation to an active prosecution, he conspired with an unethical and corrupt Justice Department to cover up and conceal crimes. This is a far cry from the heroic zealous public defender type of representation Glenn Greenwald, and others, are painting for Holder.

No, Holder is a lot closer to a mob consigliere than principled defender of justice. He should be treated as such. And if you want the Department of Justice to get serious about business and financial fraud, which this country desperately needs, we sure need someone diametrically different than Eric Holder.

You got to know when to hold them and when to fold them. Fold Holder.

I’ve been talking about the bloat among the ranks of the American manufacturers’ car dealerships in just about every post I do on the auto crisis. My premise is two-fold. First, one of the big problems the Big Two and a Half have in restoring their brands to credibility–even though the quality of their cars now matches the Japanese–is that there are too many dealerships out there given the number of cars being sold. This means that dealers have been discounting for years, cheapening the cars and leading consumers to expect deep discounts every time they buy American. This has cut into profit.

Then there’s the recent credit problems that exactly parallel the credit problems of the country as a whole and the manufacturers themselves: Car dealers buy their wholesale every month using credit. So if they can’t get credit, they can’t get new cars to sell. And if they’re stuck paying interest on a bunch of big trucks they can’t sell (as happened in August), then they’re paying into a black hole.

Any return to profitability for the Big Two and a Half is going to have to be accompanied by a gradual decrease in the number of dealers. But this excellent profile shows how dealers are disappearing much more rapidly than that–and with them, thousands of jobs.

Top executives of the Big Three automakers are preparing to return to Washington this week with business plans they hope will lead to a federal bailout. But any government help will probably come too late for thousands of dealers like Mr. Thomas who sell American brands.

They have been struggling for years, as Detroit’s fortunes waned, but what remains of their sales is evaporating along with consumer confidence and credit.

The National Automobile Dealers Association predicts that roughly 900 of the nation’s 20,770 new-car dealers will go out of business this year, and automobile analysts say the number of failed dealerships could rise into the thousands next year.

The article puts a scale on the importance of dealerships in smaller towns for good-paying retail employment.

In October alone, 20,000 employees of auto dealerships lost their jobs nationwide, more than half of those who were newly unemployed in the retail trade, according to the Labor Department.

The auto dealers association estimates that new-car dealers produce a $54 billion annual payroll for 1.1 million workers and nearly 20 percent of the retail sales and sales taxes in small and large communities alike. [my emphasis]

Read the whole article to get a sense of the further effects this has locally.

A Big Two and a Half bailout will help in one way–because it’ll get credit flowing again to dealers and to consumers.  But consumer spending–especially on big ticket items like cars–is down significantly. Until people are buying cars in big numbers again, dealers are going to continue to go under.

I’ll be curious to see this week whether a couple of weeks back home watching dealerships struggle will help convince Congress that this crunch will affect more than just Michigan and Ohio.

I pointed out the other day that those worried about Obama’s foreign policy plans ought to be more focused on his National Security Advisor, reported to be retired Marine General James Jones, than Hillary at State.

And there are reasons to be concerned about Jones. For example, Jones currently leads a US Chamber of Commerce initiative to forge an energy consensus that espouses some questionable views (though I am thrilled about an NSA who has been focusing on energy in recent years).

Eli Lake offers a different view, focusing on Jones’ possible tension with Hillary as it relates to Middle East peace. Lake argues that Jones will be much more accommodating of (moderate) Palestinian views in any negotiations than Hillary.

Last November, Condoleezza Rice appointed [Jones] as her special envoy for Middle East security, with a particular emphasis on working with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Palestinian security services. Last August, he drafted a report on security in the Palestinian territories that is said to have been highly critical of Israel’s policies in the territories and its attitude toward the Palestinian Authority’s security services. The White House and State Department opted not to publish the report.

In August, Israel’s leading newspaper, Ha’aretz, reported that the draft report challenged Israel’s conception of its security interests in the West Bank as being overly broad, and that the IDF in particular was too dismissive of the Palestinian security services. 

[snip]

In his interview with Inside the Pentagon, Jones said that the Palestinians should be granted increasing degrees of local sovereignty over the West Bank until an independent state is born–with an emphasis on giving the Palestinians experience with governance. On Sunday, Ha’aretz reported that Jones favors dispatching a NATO force to keep the peace in the interim. That’s a plan that the Israeli government would likely fiercely resist on the grounds that the Jewish state’s defense doctrine has always spurned the presence of foreign troops on its territory and that it could be a reprise of the disasters of the U.N. mission to Lebanon.

Now, consider his potential nemesis, Hillary Clinton. It is true that there is some doubt about where she ultimately lands on the Israel-Palestine question–confusion that followed her famous hug with Suha Arafat. But since becoming senator, she’s been a persistent critic of Palestinian media and schooling, an issue that has traditionally been swept under the rug by the State Department and a central argument the Israeli right has used to warn against the delusions of the Oslo process. Clinton has described the teaching of anti-Israel views in Palestinian textbooks as "child abuse," and held hearings on the topic in an effort to get the Bush administration to do more on the issue.

By focusing on the underlying tenets of Palestinian culture, Senator Clinton has in a way made common cause with the Bush administration hawks. While General Jones wants to take steps now to empower Abbas and his Fatah party to take over a Palestinian state, Clinton is asking if even the Palestinian moderates are ready to govern.

Now, it appears Hillary has negotiated direct access to Obama. And it doesn’t sound like Jones intends to act as a gatekeeper to mediate Hillary’s views.

Mrs. Clinton … has told friends that she does not expect the national security adviser to stand between her and the president.

[snip]

Because of his physical proximity — the national security adviser works in the West Wing of the White House and consults with the president several times a day — General Jones will automatically serve as a counter to the State Department. But a State Department that is at war with the White House is the last thing that General Jones wants, his friends and associates say.

“He’s not the sort of person who is going to be chasing down whether Hillary went through him or not,” said one of General Jones’s friends, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “He doesn’t have that kind of an ego.”

General Jones, friends say, gets along well with Mrs. Clinton and has even hired some of her former staff members to work for him on the energy task force.

Now, frankly, I’m more optimistic than Lake about Hillary’s aspirations in Israel (and to be fair, he suggests she might just be doing what Senators from NY do–go hawkish on Israeli issues), though he certainly follows these issues more closely than I.

That said, his notion that the push for soft power might derive from the NSA, rather than State, suggests a fascinating dynamic.

Just so you know, I’m still watching the Sunday show line-ups to see whether all the smart girlz who were on during the election still get invited back.

And FWIW, we’ve got two girlz of significance this week: Laura Bush (well, I’m not going to tune in, but she is a girl and she’ll be on before pickling hour),  and Claire McCaskill. If I’m not mistaken, McCaskill will be the first girl on Fox News Sunday since the election. May she channel her best prosecutor kick-ass when she faces off against Richard Shelby, particularly if and when they talk auto bailout (remember, Missouri has a number of (union) auto plants.

I should say "back in turkey coma" since I just had a hot turkey sandwich and feel a giant nap coming on.

The turkey, btw, was absolutely superb–those crazies who think turkey doesn’t taste good are like Sunday school teachers who poo poo sex because, well, let’s just say they were never really credible experts about the subject. When I bit into my first bite of white meat last night I was shocked at how rich the taste was.

It took me about an hour to prepare the chestnuts for the stuffing–but the time was worth it. Sadly, even though I started with 12 cups of bread cubes, there is no stuffing left.

And even though, in a fit of distraction, I almost ended up with pumpkin flavored scrambled eggs, the pies were very yummy, too. If you’re not already using Northern Spy apples for your apple pies, you should try it. Just the apples and a generous (okay, very generous) grating of nutmeg and you’ve got the perfect intense flavor and strong tartness to hold up to a buttery pie crust.

Nap time!

America, indeed humanity, stands on the verge of a seminal moment in history. A turning point that inalienably alters our existence in so many ways, writ large and small, that it is hard to grasp. We are about to to inaugurate a black man, Barack Obama, President of the United States; a job that is still, despite all, the singularly most important and powerful position in the world. How did we get to this moment?

It is time to talk about race, and in a positive and constructive manner, not the sinister and tawdry below the surface baiting style so prevalent during much of the McCain/GOP campaign we just, thankfully, concluded. What has led us to the point where Barack Obama is about to give his first inaugral address; what paved the way for that? It just might, at least partially, be the shoes.

Specifically, the shoes worn by transcendental black athletes like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Venus and Serena Williams and Arthur Ashe. Athletes not just dominant in their sport, but in sports that were previously the exclusive province of whites. In the case of Tiger, the Williams sisters and Arthur Ashe, it was their sports; sports that were once, and still remain, not just white, but elite. In Jordan’s case, although in a sport long integrated, basketball, he became literally the face of the league and the most marketable and recognizable persona in advertising in the whole world.

One of the great gifts to sports journalism, really the literary field as a whole, in the last half century was the late Dick Schapp. A truly enlightened and renaissance man. One of the many enduring gifts Schapp left is a weekly sports roundtable discussion every Sunday morning on ESPN, The Sports Reporters. Not just any sports reporters, but giants that, like Schapp, transcend the field of sports with a view of the larger frame of the world. Journalists like Mike Lupica, Mitch Albom and Bob Ryan. On the October 5, 2008 edition of The Sports Reporters John Saunders, who has led the The Sports Reporters since Schapp’s untimely death, gave a fascinating parting shot (It is the approximately last two minutes of the linked podcast, which is very easy to fast forward to).

Saunders’ take was that Obama has had a surprisingly smooth and seamless run for the Presidential roses considering the historical context of black and white racial undertow of tension. Further, that one of the reasons for this is the way that certain black athletes, specifically Tiger Woods and Venus and Serena Willaims have come to be the singular calling cards of their sports, golf and tennis respectively. Saunders posits that the significance is immense because both golf and tennis have been historically not just the domain of whites, although that they have been, but elite and powerful whites. The country club set; power brokers that really run things. Elegant and compelling individuals, Woods and the Williams; black in skin color, magnetic, inspirational and colorless champions in conduct and ethos.

We can all see, and appreciate, the progressive evolution of attitudes on race. We long have celebrated barrier breakers leading the way like Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron. But Saunders is on to something here. Legendary agents of change are among us today, in their athletic prime, in the form of Tiger, Venus and Serena. Wonderful role models and avatars that have built upon the efforts of their racial predecessors, and are now able to be the leaders of their sports and societal symbols for who they are and what they have done, without the added characterization as "black". Tiger isn’t black; Tiger is just Tiger. Same with the Williams sisters, they are just Venus and Serena. This is a quite remarkable thing actually, something that even Muhammad Ali couldn’t pull off; but Obama has been able to do it. Obama wasn’t a black candidate; Obama was just a candidate. Barack Obama is not a black leader, he is our leader. Period.

Outstanding. It’s about time. This is real and tangible progress being built and expanded right in front of our eyes, and we should appreciate it as such. It is a transcendental and transformative moment.

As cogent as John Saunders’ thoughts were, I would suggest that it should be taken one step further to really fill out this part of the racial progress story. In fairness to John, the parting shots on The Sports Reporters are just that; relatively brief quick takes, so he did not have the luxury of the extended format allowed here. The additional elements I would add are Arthur Ashe and Michael Jordan.

Ashe was really the progenitor of the color neutral athlete transcending his sport and impacting on the social conscience in the broader sense. Indeed, considering that he was operating in a far different and more volatile atmosphere two decades before even Jordan, Arthur Ashe may be the most remarkable of those discussed herein; his commitment to social justice, health and humanitarian issues left a mark on the world as indelible as his tennis was on the court. And as with the others, he did it with dignity and grace in a sport and stage that was exclusive and white.

Michael Jordan became simply the most recognizable and marketable personality in the world. Granted, not in a lily white country club sport such as golf or tennis, but Jordan’s impact became so much more than simply his basketball. Never before had a black attained the iconic status of Michael Jordan, without still being categorized as "black". As with Tiger, Michael was simply Michael. To black and white, to rich and poor, to the powerful and the powerless, he was just Michael. Must have been the shoes.

And the wonderful part is that the shift to color neutrality is not over; it is spreading like wildfire. The one picture above that most will not recognize is that of Lewis Hamilton, the newly crowned Formula One Grand Prix World Champion. This remarkable man, all of age 23, is the spitting image of a young Tiger Woods. If you think what Obama and Tiger have accomplished is earth shattering, picture this: A black youth from England, driving for a German team, winning across the globe and securing his championship in Brazil. Like the others, he is just Lewis. It is a beautiful thing.

We may not be there yet, but the promised land is starting to appear on the horizon. Dr. King may not have lived to see it, but we are getting closer and closer to the day where human beings "will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character". So, in a time where there is so much war, death, hunger and financial despair, let us celebrate and give thanks for that which is remarkable and good in our midst.

Happy Thanksgiving Folks!

(Photo by AFP/Martin Bernetti)

Earlier in the week, the blogosphere buzzed over this photo of Bush drinking Peru’s national drink, a Pisco Sour. There was a lot of discussion about whether Bush had fallen off the wagon or not–but the discussions of what a pisco sour is fell short, I felt, of what my good friend Jeff had taught me in grad school (Jeff, who is Peruvian, whined for a year straight that he couldn’t get proper Peruvian, as opposed to Chilean, pisco in Ann Arbor).

So I asked him to do a post on pisco sours. And, since he says they go well with Thanksgiving (if you happen to have pisco lying around your liquor cabinet), I thought I’d better link to his post today.

Here’s his description of what a pisco sour is:

In an effort to explain the significance of the pisco sour, I provide below a recipe for the drink that I had published in the International Cookbook for AU’s International Student and Scholar Services office. (Please feel free to order the cookbook, which has been created to raise funds for an emergency fund for international students on campus, something greatly needed. Not only does the book make a great stocking stuffer, but you’ll find a whole menu that I’ve come up with with Peruvian food.)

Pisco sours also make a great drink for Thanksgiving, as would making the stuffing infused with some pisco, as I did a few years ago. If I only knew the president would have partaken with us, I would have invited him over for dinner!

Pisco Sour
Submitted by Jeffrey Middents, Assistant Professor of Literature
Serves 4

History tells us that the War of the Pacific ended in 1883, but disputes linger on over 100 years later. The northern territory claimed by Chileans in the middle of the Atacama desert turned out to be very rich in nitrates, copper and saltpeter – and happened to be a wonderful growing area for grapes. Today, Chile is internationally recognized for alcoholic beverages made from grapes, including a lucrative wine industry and, recently, pisco. Peruvians would claim otherwise: a very potent type of brandy distilled from grapes, pisco has historical connections to many areas of southern Peru, including Chicha, Ica, Arequipa, Lima, Tacna and – not so surprisingly – Pisco. Although both countries now make pisco, there are subtle differences, primarily involving how long the fermented drink is aged. Although Peru has filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization for proprietary rights to the drink, it may still be easier to find Chilean pisco in the United States. As a Peruvian, I would disapprove and tell you to purchase it online… but if don’t tell your guests, they’ll never know.

The pisco sour is a very simple drink to make, and a favorite among tourists. I will warn you that its taste similar to lemonade masks the very potent alcohol. Being American and not knowing the Peruvians are notorious for starting everything late, my father mistakenly arrived on time for a function in his honor held in Peru in the 1960s and started drinking this tasty concoction – only to find he had become rather inebriated by the time the event got under way. (Thankfully, he didn’t make a scene.) The recipe I am providing here is a more traditional preparation; in a rush, my good friend Barbara says that substitute limeade concentrate for the limes and sugar syrup works just as well. The general proportions are 3 parts pisco for 1 part juice and 1 part sugar syrup.

Click through for his recipe. And please remember–don’t pisco and drive.

I’m still waiting, though, for his recipe for the funky stew with the corn on the cob in it.

Happy Thanksgiving!