Last night we went to the Desert Aids Project’s annual holiday gala – Sparkle.  It was fine, but it didn’t sparkle.  The highlight was Florence Henderson reading “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, the rest of the evening was basically a holiday open-mic.  Granted, a talented open-mic, but just a parade of mostly Broadway performers (nobody you would know, I don’t think) singing holiday classics.  Some better than others, but not much personality.  The host introduced it as a classic holiday performance, in the vein of some great TV specials.  Now, some of you may remember (or may have suffered with or through) a holiday nightmare I was in in Washington, DC.  I thought this would be a better version of that, but alas, it wasn’t.  At the event afterwards, we did get to see the legendary Barry Manilow.  He really has left the real world and joined Joan Rivers in the world of surgically unrecognizable.  I just wonder what some of these folks are thinking.  All I can say, is it must be very difficult and time consuming to get up each morning and have to become Barry.

Enough of the bitchiness.  Today, I had am impulse to bake, and decided to try my hand at making french Macarons.  They came out pretty good, but not perfectly shaped.  It think that will take some practice. Chocolate with an orange spice ganache.  Wish you could judge the taste, but they look OK, right?