Some mixed news for my dad: The good: the spots they found were declared "unremarkable" by the specialist; I assume that means non-cancerous. (It also turns out, his brother who is three or so years younger has similar spots - and he's a doctor, and he's not worried about them). The not-so-hot news is that they still think something's wrong and are sending him in for further testing. But the other things that could be wrong are not quite as serious or concerning as liver cancer. (He did say he was beginning to feel like a piece of meat with all the testing).

And a couple other things:

Got the new Vogue Knits and the new Piecework today. Vogue was, as it has been for me lately, a big yawn (I felt the same way about the new FCEK; the only pattern I remotely liked was the long-fringed shawl, but it's prohibitively expensive for me to make). I might let this subscription lapse - I'm really not in Vogue's demographic of Pretty Thin Young Things with Swanky Places to Go and Lots of Free Time.

I liked the Piecework, though. Once again, this being the holiday-month issue, they had a series of short pieces on beloved handmade toys. (I eat this kind of thing up - the single object I treasure more than anything in the world is a particular handmade toy I have saved from my childhood.). I hope this is something they do every year.

They also included a link to a charming handknitted Father Christmas doll. (I don't think I'm violating terms of my subscription posting that link here; it's apparently free to anyone visiting the Interweave site).

Finally, here's a simple recipe I modified (to make easier for time-pressed or lazy people) from the big Mark Bittman book:

cream of pumpkin soup

What you need:
3 T butter
small amount grated onion (I used only about 1 T, grated on a Microplane grater, and that made it PLENTY oniony for me)
15 oz can of pureed pumpkin (NOT pie filling - just the plain, unsweetened pumpkin)
2 c unsweetened applesauce
4 c chicken stock (I used the low-fat, low-sodium kind out of a can because my life is too hectic to boil up chicken feet and all that good stuff)
1/2 c white wine or white grape juice (I'm leery of keeping opened wine in the house with Just Me Here, so I used juice).
1 c cream (I suppose you COULD use milk, but that sort of defeats the purpose).
small amount thyme, tarragon, marjoram or whatever you think would be a good seasoning (I used thyme).
small amount salt and pepper.

Melt the butter over low heat. Add the onion, pumpkin, and applesauce. Cook together briefly. Add the stock and juice/wine. Cook to a slow boil, simmer together as long as you have time for, up to about 1/2 hour. (I think I simmered this batch about 15 minutes and it came out fine).

Take off the heat, stir in seasonings. Let cool briefly and add the cream. Serve it forth.

(This does make quite a bit of a very filling soup. I would estimate about 8 cups total. The soup is slightly sweet but not cloyingly so; it's a nice mix of sweet and savory. And it heats up well, as long as you don't heat it too fast and make it curdle.). The nice thing about this soup, as compared to the original recipe it came from, is the vast majority of the recipe comes out of cans that can sit happily on your kitchen shelves until you need them (you only need buy the cream fresh and make sure you have an onion). Also, you do not have to puree or food-mill or blenderize the soup before serving it, by virtue of using the pre-pureed pumpkin. Oh, I suppose it's not quite as subtle or fine as the original version, but it tastes pretty darned good when you've driven home 1/2 hour in driving chilly rain and have little energy for cooking.