Jackson got a homemade educational CD for Christmas from Alastair:

Alastair made some good, not-obvious choices here, such as "Never In My Life" by Mountain. Because we've all heard "Mississippi Queen" enough by now, although as I recall Jackson is the capital of Mississippi, so maybe he should have gone with the radio hit, just to clue Jackson in on the skills that will one day be required for him to manage the subtleties involved in the proper construction of the secret-message mixed CD.

DUDE!!!

Here's something fromLarousse Gastronomique, which Jack got for Christmas, and which makes for good browsing while you're waiting for the swelling to go down:

BEAR A large quadruped, once common in Europe but now very rare, even in mountainous areas. In Canada and Russia the bear is still hunted as a game animal. The Gauls enjoyed it stewed, and in North America the fat was valued for cooking. At the beginning of the 19th century a few Parisian restauranteurs, encouraged by Alexandre Dumas, brought bear back into fashion. Chevet created the specialty of 'bear ham'. The best parts of this animal are its paws. Urbain Dubois suggested a recipe for bear paws marinated and braised with bacon, then grilled (broiled) and served with a highly seasoned sauce. In China bear's palm is listed among the 'eight treasures' of traditional cuisine.

Now every time I squish on Katie's paws I think, if worse comes to worst, I bet those are some good eatin' right there.