The second of our end of year trips into the archive. You can read the first, Day of the Tunnel Boring Machine, here. One of the odder facts about the world I've come across recently is that there are two landlocked countries in South America – and both maintain navies.  A landlocked country, as you almost certainly know, is one which doesn’t have a coastline, thus requiring the locals to cross someone else’s sovereign territory to launch a naval flotilla and/or go to the beach.

The Southern Oracle would like to warn you, this post is about The NeverEnding Story, both the 1984 movie and the 1979 book. Spoilers abound if you are not familiar with either, but especially if you’ve seen the movie but never read the book. If you are confident, you may pass. It was the summer of 1984. I was 9-years-old, sitting in a dark movie theater in Traverse City, Michigan with my dad and a bag of Twizzlers, and before me on the screen was a story that would begin to speak to me.

I have launched a restaurant review site called How to Eat L.A. If you like anything about that, please go check it out! -Katherine If you haven’t become a paid Smart Mouth subscriber yet, please consider it. The money goes straight to paying freelancers a good rate - much better than most publications. And if not that, click on the heart icon above so I know you’re reading! Please enjoy the article below by Tasha Lowe-Newsome.

~ THE BANANA RUM OLD FASHIONED ~ 60ml banana-infused dark rum (see note 1) 10ml golden sugar syrup Dash Angostura bitters Stir the ingredients in an Old Fashioned glass filled with plenty of ice - ideally one glass-filling cube. I used a banana chip as garnish, but orange or lemon peel are good choices too! Some B.R.O.F. Notes: 1) See below a full explanation of how to make your own Premium Handmade Double-Filtered Artisanal Organic Fairtrade banana rum.

Hello friends, Yesterday I spent the afternoon culling through the digital pile of letters I’m considering for the November Dear Sugar Letter. Each is an email I dragged into the folder I labeled “Holiday Troubles” after I first read them. Each presents a problem that’s created or exacerbated or made more complicated by this time of the year. I usually have no trouble selecting a letter, but this month I found myself bouncing back and forth between two, reading each of them over and over again, ruminating on them as I walked the dogs or unpacked the suitcase I brought on my Thanksgiving week travels.