Holiday Food Extravaganza

 Happy Christmas to everyone celebrating it!

As non-Christians, my most excellent spouse and I treat Christmas as a kind of second Thanksgiving, all about the food and the family.  Last night we went over to Ukrainian Grandma's to treat her to the traditional fish-based Christmas Eve dinner.  Since it was just the three of us plus my father-in-law, I kind of went all-out and served lobster tails steamed in wine, green-and-white fettucini with herbs and pine nuts, and gem potatoes fried up in duck fat.  Followed by red velvet cheesecake that my f-i-l brought over.  

Grandma said that she doesn't know how many Christmases she has left (this is #92), but if we keep feeding her like this, she might make it to two hundred.  :D

Anyway, the fun continues today; I have a chocolate cake roll in the oven to make the Choco-Coconut Cake Roll I loved as a child, plus I'm making ham and a small roasted pheasant for the main dinner this afternoon.  

I do suspect that once Ukrainian Grandma has decided she's eaten enough in the material world, my husband and I will basically start doing "Jewish Christmas" (Chinese food and a movie) despite not being Jewish.  Last year we watched Black Swan; this year he wants to see the new Muppet movie.

Thirty(?) Days of Fire Emblem, Day "Five"

 OK.  Let's just get this one over with.

#5: Favorite Lord

Hector, of course.

...

Oh, sorry, that wasn't even funny.   I mean, nothing against Hector, but he's totally not the one and anyone reading this already knows it.  So let's just get the explanation over and done with.

( Adaptation decay and the violation of expectations )

Thirty(?) Days of Fire Emblem, Day "Twenty-One"

 Most of the questions on this meme hold scant interest to me, or at least I have no opinion on the matter.  This was a kind of cool question, though.

"What Country Would You Live In?"

I was going to say "Sofia" because life is there is totally sweet as long as Mila's running it, but Mila went bye-bye and now I guess everyone has to actually work for a living and till the soil for food and stuff.  So that's out.  Oh, and the king was a dick, but he's dead anyway.  And I'm not 100% sure all the zombies went away.

So, with that in mind...

Frelia.  It appears to be stable and prosperous, with a secure and capable king and a competent crown prince.  The Frelian outlook on life seems pretty sensible, the food there is apparently good, gender dynamics don't appear to suck as much as they do in some other Fire Emblem countries.  It's not a theocracy.  It's not ravaged by earthquakes.  It's not governed by Joshua.  I'm not 100% sure the zombies went away here, either, but all things considered?  Oh, and they have flying horsies.   

Khadein would be really interesting, too, but it's in a desert and I can't take the heat.

Places I don't want to live: Grado.  Duh.  Post-war Jehanna (hell, pre-war Jehanna doesn't seem nice, either).  Rausten.  Anywhere in Archanea with the possible exception of Talys.  Gallia (though the feeling would be mutual).