. Oohlala ...

... I got included in the SF Center for the Book post on the NEA blog:

. Strudel-Off Results

Who won the Great 2011 International Strudel-Off?

It was a draw.  7 votes each.  Further competitive baking will be required to determine a true winner.

. merry merry

. Favourite Things of the Year

Favourite Album 
Diamond Mine by King Creosote and John Hopkins

Sweet, slow folk songs sung in a Scottish accent.  Ideal for late nights sitting in the living room staring at the Christmas tree lights if you like that kind of thing and you don't have anything better to do.

Favourite Movie

Attack the Block

Joe from Adam and Joe's movie about aliens invading a South London housing estate.

[Okay, I hadn't actually seen the movie when I added it to the list]

Favourite Movie on DVD
Another Year

Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen in another Mike Leigh bittersweet slice-of-life type drama.  If your heart has cockles, it will warm them.

Favourite Animated Movie
Rango

I'm not a big fan of Westerns, but this one's got funny cartoon animals in it.  It's like Wind In The Willows in the wild west.  It's not particularly child-friendly, but who is?  Am I right?

Favourite Animated Short

The Loner by Sticky Monster Lab

This is a music video about a young person in a hoodie and a little dog thing who wants to be his friend, I think.

Favourite British TV show

The Trip

Steve Coogan and Rob Bryden drive around the North of England, eating and talking and loving and hating and doing impressions.

Favourite American TV show

Men of A Certain Age.

Are you approaching a certain age?  I am.  That's why I like to watch television about men with paunchy guts going on sweaty hikes.



Favourite Hike
Butano State Park

Trees and ferns and views of mountains and trails so overgrown it's like you're blazing your own.  We only saw one other person there, and he was a boy scout.

Favourite Comic Book 

X'ed Out by Charles Burns

This guy is sick or dreaming, and you don't know what's real and what's not, and there's a man with no nose who eat a worm, and the worm is crying.

Favourite Blog
Co-Optimus

Do you need to know which video games you can play co-operatively with your wife and/or chums?  Yes you do.  Co-Optimus is not pretty, but  it's functional.



Favourite Video Game

Portal 2 

The same distopian future nightmare as the first Portal game, but longer, and slightly more grim.  And now with Steven Merchant!  Puzzling and exciting and cynical and hilarious.

Favourite Podcast
Stop Podcasting Yourself

Two Canadian stand-up comedians talk about stuff they've done and things they've overheard, usually with a third one as a guest.  Clever, dumb, funny, and strangely comforting.  Good for cooking with, or driving to work with, or changing the cat litter with, etc.

Favourite Cat Litter
Feline Pine

Just like regular cat litter, but less dusty, less stinky, and slightly less painful when pieces get kicked out of the litter tray and you tread on one with your bare foot in the middle of the night while your groping your way to the bathroom for a pee.

Favourite Beer

Lagunitas Undercover Investigation Shut Down Ale.

Tastiest 6-pack of the year.  An imperial IPA, I think.  Rich and sweet and chewy like a toffee.  This was a limited release so you can't get it now.  I hope it comes back next year.

Favourite Pie

Leek and Potato and Cheezly Pie 

Adapted from a quick and easy recipe by Simon Rimmer - the bald, vegetarian Jamie Oliver.  Delicious with lentils, or salad, or more vegetables.



Favourite Sugar Fix
Cocomels

You can't get Booja Booja chocolate truffles in America, but you can get these chewy caramels made out of coconut milk.   Original, salt, vanilla, and coffee flavours.  Dairy free for vegans, but tasty enough for normal people.