And we have two more wonderful moments from The West Wing with their Thanksgiving episodes.

The first here is when press secretary C.J. Cregg comes to President Bartlet's office to explain he has to pardon a turkey.

And finally, this is perhaps my favorite last scene from a West Wing Thanksgiving Day episode.  One of the plots, that this scene refers to, is when a group of Chinese asylum seekers have stowed away to escape religious oppression, and when China demands they be returned, the White House has to figure out what to do with them.
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Also from the same episode, this is when a turkey was dropped off to press secretary C.J. Cregg so that it could be pardoned. 
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​And once the holiday event was decided upon, things didn't go as smoothly as plans would hope.

This is a short trip Out and About with Jiminy Glick, but yet another fun one.  It's a slightly different setting from most and comes from backstage at The Tonight Show.  He’s interviewing Jimmy Fallon here -- and more than with most of his subjects, I think, he goes after some real Fallon foibles.  Light-hearted ones, but real.
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​Yesterday, Rudy Giuliani and his legal team moved to have his trial postponed, but the judge didn’t allow it and said it would move forward as scheduled.  Afterwards, outside the courthouse, Giuliani spoke to the press –
 
"The reality is I have no cash. It's all tied up,” he said, adding -- "I don’t have a car. I don’t have a credit card. I don’t have cash.… I don’t have a penny, they have put stop orders on my Social Security account."
 
Sprinkled through that are words Giuliani uses to create sympathy and make a non-existence point, explaining things he doesn’t have – cash.  A car.  Credit card.  Cash, again.  A penny.  Social security.  All symbolic of money.  But missing in his mournful plea is the non-symbolic, actual word itself:  money.  That’s because of four words buried amidst it all – “It’s all tied up.”
 
Just to be clear, "It's all tied up" means he has money.  In fact, it means he probably has a lot.  Because if you don’t have much money and are leaving from paycheck to check, without savings, you don’t tie up your money.  And it requires a lot of money to tie it up. 
 
And if it’s “all tied up,” that means he can work on untying it, which he can then sell off.  For, y'know...cash.
 
I’m actually very sorry that Rudy Giuliani, after an admired career prosecuting criminals, being praised as “America’s Mayor,” chose to divert his life and tie his future to a racist, hate-filled, fascist sociopath and has fallen from such a high perch in society to become financially destroyed.  But that was his decision.  Of his own free will, he went on television, looked in the camera and defended his new circle of criminals who tried to undermine democracy and insisted “Truth is not truth.”  But I’m overwhelmingly more sorry that, using the office of president to shout from, he knowingly and repeatedly destroyed the lives of two people, even putting their lives at risk, as well, despite them doing absolutely nothing wrong, and who were in fact doing their civic duty as volunteers, helping run a free and fair election.
 
As a former U.S. Attorney, it’s a very safe bet that Mr. Giuliani understands how the court system, legal cases, civil offenses and penalties work.  And he, even more than most, is fully aware, having spent a lifetime making the very point in court, that there are actually consequences when you break the law.  And so his financial troubles, he most surely knows, are a direct by-product of when a jury finds you guilty of defamation to the extent of smearing, lying and ruining not just one, but two innocent people's lives, dragging them relentlessly through the mud, from the highest-profile platform.
 
Or as he might have put it before his law license was disbarred --
 
If you don’t have the cash, don’t malign and trash.

Okay, first, here's how actually easy it is to make.

Ingredients:
I package of washed cranberries
1 cup of water
1 cup of sugar

Yes, that's it!  Pour the water and sugar in the pot, stir and bring the mixture to a slow simmer.  Then, dump in the bag of cranberries, stir, cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

And that's all.  Really.  As I said, that truly isn't much more difficult than opening a can.  And it's delicious, and tastes like a real fruit, because it is.  You could probably eat it hot, but it's probably best to refrigerate it until it's cool and gels on its own from the sugar.

But here's my recipe to make it even better.  You can adapt the amounts according to your taste.  You'll note that it uses apple -- I got that trick from my Grandma Rose.  I'll explain more about that in a moment.

Ingredients:
I package of cranberries
3/4 cup of water
1/4 cup of dry sherry
3/4 cup of sugar
1 apple, cut to cranberry-sized pieces. (I use Red Delicious)

You make the dish almost the same way.  Bring the water, sherry and sugar to a slow simmer.  (Let it boil enough to cook the alcohol out.)  Mix in the bag of cranberries and the chopped up apples.  Stir, cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

And that's it.  Ideally, let it cool.  And taste it -- if you feel that the apples didn't sweeten it enough for your taste, just mix in some more sugar until it's how you like it.

Why apple rather than orange peel and orange juice like many recipes suggest (including the Epicurious chef)?  A few reasons.  First, orange peel is bitter and orange juice is acidic, and since cranberries are bitter to begin with, I think the sweetness of apples are a better complimentary mix.  Second, what Grandma Rose knew is that because apples are so sweet, you can use less sugar (which also brings the calories down). Third, she also knew that the blended flavor of apples and cranberry was especially delicious, tasting almost like strawberry (or strawberry-rhubarb).  And finally, the main reason Grandma Rose liked to use apples is because they have natural pectin, so it creates it's own "gel."  So, way to go, Grandma Rose!

And to those concerned about the alcohol from the sherry, know that boiling the sherry cooks the alcohol out of it.  But if you don't want the sherry, fine, leave it out and just use a cup of water.  But I think it adds a rich flavor.

But that's how incredibly easy it is to make cranberry sauce.  And to make it even better. ​