Hey -- does anyone play Grand Theft Auto? I read there was a crack that shows explicit sex.

There's a crack for Vice City that does, yeah. And we're playing San Andreas now, which is pretty damn explicit without the crack (well, there's crack, but the drug kind). In at least one cut scene so far, one of your homies is getting a blowjob while you chat. And there's a game where, after you seduce this woman, you get points for timing your thrusts to the music (via mouse click).

As usual, somehow the inclusion of sex is worse than the inclusion of major league killing. I mean, I have to kill about 20 gang-bangers just to go shopping for clothes in San Andreas.

what do you do with them? Do you attempt to find them a worthy home? Do you toss them in the trash, trying hard not to think of all the money you spent on them?

We sold the rare ones on eBay. I then had to decide whether to go through the trouble of listing the rest on eBay or just giving them to my friend's kids, who were just getting into them. So the kids lucked out.

Why, God, WHY?!? Emboldened by my viewing of Return of the King tonight, I went out and ate at a new Irish pub that opened near me. That's ate, not drank. Clearly my ancestors fled from Ireland back in the 19th century in search of the much tastier English cuisine.

Some of the best food I've ever had was in Ireland. Granted, it wasn't actually Irish per se, but still. I turned up there right after Egypt, and the steak meal with a fried brie entree was a heavenly reintroduction to Western cooking.

Hey BT!

I remember having some pretty good food with relatives in Northern Ireland years ago when I visited. I also remember potatoes served at least three different ways at every meal.

My mother learned everything she knew about cooking from her Irish father, with a little dose of the Iowan mother thrown in. I grew up thinking food was something to be avoided at all costs, unless made by my father. "Just like Mom used to make" is not a selling point with me.

OTOH, as much as people (including me) bag on English food, I am seriously craving fish and chips from Petergate Fisheries in York.

I remember having some pretty good food with relatives in Northern Ireland years ago when I visited. I also remember potatoes served at least three different ways at every meal.

Was one of them with a tennis racquet? Because it really should have been.

My mother was and is an awful cook. Her idea of stew is to cut up large chunks of potato and carrots, and then simmer them with stew meat until the meat was gray. If you were lucky, she'd remember to throw in a little salt -- she considered black pepper an exotic spice.

It's taken me years to become willing to try some of the simple dishes she used to make, in restaurants and at friend's houses. It's much simpler to eat foreign cuisine, really.

My mom is a wonderful cook - not just the traditional Tunisian dishes she learned from her mother, but also very imaginative and daring with new ingredients, combinations and problem-solving.

She loves to tell how she had no idea about cooking anything when she got married and how it means that everybody has a chance. She is also, I should note, the picture that can appear in the dictionary next to the definition of "optimist".

Also, the reason I poked my head in here was that according to the Buffista Calendar today is Abby's birthday. I don't remember seeing posts from her in a little forever, but I hope the well-wishes find their way, somehow.

We had a really good meal in a cafe at the Globe Theatre--bangers and mash with a huge pot of tea. I thought I'd died and gone to England. So I won't say all the food is bad.

I once got to a pub in Wales too late to order dinner and had to salivate over the other diners' meals because they looked and smelled so good.

YPubfoodMV.

We used to go down to the pub for lunch in sixth form, and the food was decent. Nothing to write home about, but it beat Chili's and Applebee's and most of my convenient-to-work-options.

I'd like to eat in England as an adult, instead of a teenager making do. I hear it's changed (for the better) since I was last there too.

My mother is an excellent cook. She doesn't get too fancy, but everything is of the yum. My mostly Irish-American mother-in-law is fantastic when it comes to cooking Italian food. She was taught by the Italian American landlord of the first apartment she and my f-i-l had, after they were married. Her "regular food"? Eh. It's certainly edible, but I like my own mother's much better.

I've gotten lazy in my cooking, because I'm the only person in the house that likes more than five foods.