Christmas – Ben East Books

I picked a parcel with care and opened it to find a handsome cutting board crafted of wood felled in a New Hampshire forest. I aimed to keep the item and held it close to my chest.

Illusions

Dec 1, 2024

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by

Ben East

in Automobile, Calendar, Driving, Holidays, Home, Seasons, Thanksgiving, Time, Travel, Virginia, Washington, Winter

Surrounded by reality, I had to accept that it didn’t matter what the mirror said about the objects on the road. I just had to make my way home.

Christmas Cream Cheese

Dec 23, 2020

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by

Ben East

in Cooking, Eating, Holidays, Recipes

Candy cane cream cheese did not exist before today. Google the concept and see for yourself. The phrase turns up false narratives, like cream cheese cookies shaped like candy canes, or a candy cane-shaped Danish with cream cheese and cherry filling. Delicious, yes. But candy cane cream cheese? For a bagel? Nosir. Here’s our recipe.…

An Indian King from the East

Dec 21, 2020

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by

Ben East

in Foreign Affairs, Holidays, India, News, Saudi Arabia, Travel

Every year brings new challenges to our myths. This year, astronomers turn our attention to the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn low in the night sky, an event said to have occurred two thousand and twenty years ago at the birth of Jesus Christ. The three wise men, we are made to understand, found…

Don Turkey & Key Lime Pie

Nov 24, 2020

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by

Ben East

in Cooking, Eating, Family, Holidays, Non-Fiction, Recipes

Me bloggy familiars: recognize this? We made such pies a few years back. And we ate those discs of lemony lime so again Kodachrome the tarty goodness in oven-baked form. After Don Turkey loses his head we’ll top ‘em with cream. Whipping it first! (Did I say, Don Turkey, THE Donald Turkey? Pardon me, pardon…

Mexico Time

Dec 26, 2017

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by

Ben East

in Humor?, Writing

We are waiting on a shuttle from the Cancun airport (CUN) to Puerto Morelos, half an hour south. The driver checks on some paperwork after shoving a couple dozen suitcases into the rear. Sweating in the sun, he reviews his clipboard, makes a call, consults his coworkers dressed in matching tropical shirts. The Americans behind…

What’s for Dinner? Butter.

Dec 24, 2017

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by

Ben East

in Writing

The whole house smells like butter. And onions. Butter and onions. As well it should: our five-person assembly line this morning put together one full gross of pierogi. That’s 144 butter-filled, butter-fried dumplings. With 12 for dinner, that’s a dozen pierogi apiece. So what, exactly, is a pierogi? Depends who you ask. If you ask…

Tag: Christmas