Festivus, an airing of grievances
December 19, 2024 by JennyFestivus is a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 as an alternative to the perceived pressures and commercialism of the Christmas season. Originally created by author Daniel O’Keefe, Festivus entered popular culture after it was made the focus of the 1997 Seinfeld episode “The Strike”, which O’Keefe’s son, Dan O’Keefe, co-wrote. On the Seinfeld episode there is “airing of grievances” led off by Jerry Stiller, who played George’s dad. “I got a lot of problems with you people, now, you’re gonna hear about it,” he began.
I do not practice Festivus most particularly the “feats of strength”. I do love that episode as it makes me laugh. I believe it is beneficial for all of us to air our grievances in a good natured way no matter what time of the year it happens to be and long as you don’t hurt anyone in the process. So let me begin.
As I was cleaning up books this week (adding complete titles, page numbers, dates of publication and covers) for a certain author, I became increasingly frustrated as I noted that many of the books had the same content but with different covers, ISBNs and titles. I always check several sources to compare the books before determining they are the same.
Some publishing companies repackage a book as many as a half-dozen times or more. This is a source of frustration for several reasons. Unless revisions are made (more recipes, updates), most people do not wish to buy the same collection of recipes because it has a different cover. And, if they do buy the book and determine the book has the same content, they must go to the trouble of returning it or gifting it to someone else. If only the publishers would identify the book as a reissue of a certain title on the title/copyright page, my life would be a tiny bit better. The major reason my dander gets up is I try to make sure that reprints of a book are linked to the original (if indexed) and/or I want to easily check the number of Bookshelves a book is on to determine eligibility for indexing.
Holiday baking magazines are notorious for reissuing magazines – with a small notice on the front cover that states “back by popular demand”. I have eagle eyes when it comes to that phrase!
While I am airing my grievances, the phrase “chef’s kiss” makes me wince. Chef’s kiss is a gesture of satisfaction or approval made by kissing the fingertips of one hand and then spreading the fingers with an outward motion. I dislike both the phrase and the gesture. The chef’s kiss comes from the Italian gesture al bacio, literally “kiss” but with the sense of “excellent.” The image of a male Italian chef – often with a mustache, white chef’s hat, and apron – performing this gesture spread in US advertisements after World War 2.
I have no idea why chef’s kiss irritates me but it does. Same when someone is chewing too loudly, I feel the urge to scream or lay hands on them – the same with chef’s kiss. Stop it now.
Please don’t take umbrage at this next pet peeve of mine: When a person buys a cookbook and asks a group “What recipe should I try first?” makes me a little itchy. I always reply “Pick a recipe that you might enjoy and go from there.” Better yet browse EYB for notes from other Members to see if anyone had any issues with a particular recipe or really loved one – that is the way to go!
Lastly, I want to call out those people who buy up certain products when they sense they will go viral. For instance, the McCormick Finishing Sugars were hoarded by resellers who were flipping them in their eBay stores for many times the store price. In this vein, I went on a mad hunt to find the Dubai chocolate pistachio bars at a price that wouldn’t require a second house mortgage. I decided it would be better to make them myself using Lindt’s recipe. I ordered some pistachios as well because I read that a few chopped pistachios added to the filling were great. In case you want to try the bars yourself with the recipe linked above, here is my shopping list from Amazon: dried Kataifi, pistachio cream, and candy bar molds. I bought the Lindt bars and pistachios from the regular grocery store. Note: Lindt is releasing a limited supply of their version of the bar at various locations this month.
This airing was therapeutic! Don’t be upset with me for any of my “airings” which were made in good humor. I don’t lose sleep over any of the myriad things that annoy me. My husband says my annoyances are part of my charm. Please feel free to share your own in the comments. I wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and all the best for the new year!
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