Rudy -- No AL Traitor

I am surprised to find myself defending Rudy Guiliani, but here I am.

I support his decision to root for the Red Sox in the World Series. But the New York papers crucified him for it yesterday. The New York Daily News headline screamed "Traitor!".

When your team doesn't make it into the playoffs or the World Series, it's natural to root for your division or league. When the Orioles were sitting at home in October, I used to root for the Yankees. No one considered it disloyal to the Orioles. If your team got beat in the season, you want them to have been beaten by the best.

But Yankee fans don't root for the Yankees -- they root against everyone else. The fan hostility against the visiting team is palpable in Yankee Stadium. Its a completely different vibe than I experienced growing up as a Baltimore Oriole fan.

Later, attending games at Milwaukee's County Stadium, the Milwaukee Brewer fans rooted for their team like civilized fans, even when the White Sox were in town. (Okay, maybe emotions were a little higher when the White Sox were visiting.)

Go on, Rudy, root away!

It's The Great Pumpkin, Coffeecake

After we broke up, an ex-boyfriend called up a mutual friend to ask for . . . what do you think? Something he left at my apartment? No, he wanted my Sour Cream Pumpkin Coffeecake recipe.

I'm feeling more generous now and I'm in an autumn baking mood, so here it is.

Putting this coffeecake together is like layering a lasagne, down to the colors and textures. I double the streusel and why not? You're already over the reasonable calorie limit. Bring this to a party with confidence; it is guaranteed to please.

I claim this recipe as my very own because I've struggled to hang onto it. (And not just because the ex was after it.)

I originally clipped it from a Libby's, Libby's, Libby's magazine ad in the 1980s. I kept it on the refrigerator but the index card must have fallen behind the fridge. I didn't notice the greasy card missing until after I moved to a new apartment. A couple of years later, I got the recipe back, thanks to my good friend Denise.

She wrote to a "you-asked-for-it" recipe column in The Milwaukee Sentinel, back when there was a Milwaukee Sentinel and there was no Internet.

I later lost it again in one of my many moves. But no recipe is gone for good in this Internet age.

Click on the recipe card for a larger image.

Like a Dog with a Cone

G. and I are subjecting our Yellow Lab, Aimee, to the worst humiliation a dog can suffer--the cone.

Aimee has a food allergy, the vet said. She has red rashes all over her belly that she scratches and two bald spots (perfectly symmetrical) on either side of her back where she has bitten. Therefore, the cone.

The latest cones are clear and seal with a velcro strip. But that doesn't improve the cone experience enough for poor Aimee.

Aimee's equilibrium has always been off and the cone makes her balance worse. Misjudging distance, she walks into doorways and furniture with her cone. She needs help jumping on the couch.

Earlier I posted that Aimee weighs 57 pounds. Correction: she weighed in last week at 86 pounds. G. says he and the vet were holding her on the scale and they probably got a misread. Aimee doesn't look any fatter to me.

(Artwork courtesy of Gene Cawley)

Red Velvet Recipes

Cupcakes are hot and so is Miami.

I topped off a dinner of conch, truffled polenta and Florida Pompano at Michy's restaurant with their Red Velvet Cupcake.

The cream cheese frosting under red sugar sprinkles sat high on the little cake. The tiny glass of milk served with the cupcake, intended to inject the experience with down-home irony, was unnecessary.

Michy's is on Biscayne Boulevard, next to a creepy motel. Don't park there.

You're not venturing down to Miami soon? You shy away from Bates-like motels? But you love red velvet you say? Then click here for a full-size version of the recipe at the left. Don't forget the cream cheese frosting. And the red sugar sprinkles.

No Loss: The Moth Storytelling Series

The Moth storytellers told "Stories of Loss" at the New York Public Library last night. Sounds like a downer, but not so.

The first storyteller, Jeffrey Rudell, talked about being the first contestant kicked off a reality series. But his story really was about overcoming his lifelong fear of feeling dumb.

Josh Swiller told a story about randomness of tragedy. His message was about not feeling sorry for yourself. Halfway into the story, Swiller told the audience he is deaf.

The third story was hysterically funny about Ophira Eisenberg letting go of her ex-boyfriend by way of a Haitian Witch spell.

At intermission, I called a dogwalker, so I could stay for the second half.

Bliss Broyard then told how she discovered her father's secret when he died and how she finally accepted that her family would always live with the secrecy.

Melissa Banks, author of The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing, told how she would never feel invincible again after being hit by a car while riding a bike home from cancer radiation treatment.

The Moth is a non-profit organization created by George Dawes Green who missed his front-porch storytelling evenings in the South. He resurrected the tradition in New York City in 1997. The mainstage Moth events are held monthly. The organization holds more frequent "slams" open to a wider range of storytellers. Check out their website for event listings. Or you can buy one of the many CD collections offered on their site.

Polly Wanna a Craker?

The best dystopian novel, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, moved into second place in my opinion after I read Oryx and Crake. Surprise -- O & C is also by Margaret Atwood.

I was inspired to read Oryx and Crake after the recent death of Alex, the "thinking" African Grey parrot, who makes a cameo in O&C. Alex, like most parrots, talked. But his handler and many others argued that he didn't just parrot; he reasoned. When presented with an new object, an almond in a shell, Alex coined a new word for it: "corknut". Makes sense to me.

The protagonist of Oryx and Crake is a bit of a corknut himself. Jimmy/Snowman, apparently the world's sole human survivor, is the guardian of the creatures created by the genius-mad scientist, Crake. The offspring are known as Crakers.

Snowman, like Alex, got pleasure from making up words. Snowman snuck his invented words into advertising copy. (His job before everyone else went bye-bye.)

But the award for clever, linguistic hi jinks by an animal goes to Washoe, the famous, ASL-signing chimpanzee. An example: Washoe saw a swan and identified it by signing "water" and "bird" in American Sign Language. That's one smart chimp.

Casual Fridays, good; Summer Fridays, great; but Email Free???

Don't blame the message-sending device--blame the messenger.

According to USA Today, several companies, including US Cellular, are adopting "Email-Free Fridays" where employees are encouraged to pick up the phone or speak to their colleagues face-to-face.

I am against banning a tool because people don't know how to use it effectively. Teach people to use the tool. You toilet-train your children, don't you?

Is it the spam you're trying to avoid? Then don't open spam, just delete it. Don't tell me you can't recognize spam by the sender name and email title yet. We're all trying to avoid unsolicited advertising in all delivery methods. You haven't stopped watching television because of the commercials, have you?

Is it that you miss talking to your colleagues and bosses? If you like someone, you will get up and talk to them. If no one is sticking his head in your office, maybe no one likes you.

At work, especially in large companies, the same message often needs to be documented and communicated to many people. How should you do that? Work your way around the building and speak to each one? Call everyone individually? How much time you got?

Should you call a meeting? Great idea: let's substitute emails with meetings. People will be begging for emails back.

Emails are often misread or unclear. But all employees should learn to write effectively. That's what we are supposed to learn in school. Perhaps the next generation will be required to take "Writing Effective Emails." An email writer must close up loopholes by writing short sentences with a lot of specific nouns.

A well-written email is often the safest means of communications. Anyone who has a boss or colleague who flies off the handle when faced with new "challenges" can vouch for that. My advice for dealing with the Tina Tirades, if you haven't learned this already:

Write a comprehensive, carefully-worded email. Wait until 5:29 pm. Hit Send. Then head for the train.