bon bon, et al, the following just arrived in my in-box, courtesy Cook's Illustrated.

Recipe: Strawberries with Balsamic Vinegar
This Italian dessert is elegant but very simple. Serve the berries and vinegar as is or with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream. If you don't have light brown sugar on hand, sprinkle the berries with an equal amount of granulated sugar.

Serves 6

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
3 pints fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced (small berries can be halved or quartered)
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
Ground black pepper

1. Bring vinegar, granulated sugar, and lemon juice to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until syrup is reduced by half (to approximately 3 tablespoons), about 3 minutes. Transfer vinegar syrup to small bowl and cool completely.

2. With spoon, lightly toss berries and brown sugar in large bowl. Let stand until sugar dissolves and berries exude some juice, 10 to 15 minutes. Pour vinegar syrup over berries, add pepper to taste, and toss to combine. Divide berries among individual bowls or goblets and serve immediately.

Brenda, I was just reading that too! Now I need to go buy some strawberries.

Thanks for posting the recipe, Brenda. My market has strawberries at a crazy cheap price right now.

It appears that the good folks who predicted the detonation of the UN are off by a couple of days -- but at least they copped to it [link]

Heh.

We do apologise for our incompetence at getting the day right. But we do still have the month right in our understanding and we now have a new day for this disaster. So we again strongly advise anyone in New York City with any faith in God, whatever his religion, or whatever his distrust of organised religion, to be outside the city this time between Tuesday evening July 25th and Thursday evening July 27th.

If you miss work because the Bible says your city is gonna get nuked but then it doesn't happen, does your missing work count as a religious holiday?

Does Giles have to write a note?

So here I was, browsing the Web with vw's dog comfortably tucked up at my side, with his paws on my leg. Did you know he's afraid of thunder? He just got up, took a moment to figure out his best route, then climbed across my leg to plop himself down firmly in my lap. He doesn't quite fit, but that doesn't seem to bother him, so long as he's protected.

OMG, I am so there with the strawberries. Bookmarked!

It's always best to have a note from Giles.

That's how I usually do my strawberries, minus the pepper. But I'm not a big pepper fan, so I don't think I'm missing out.

Dana, I think yogurt is fine until it looks bad.

I have never heard of a print of butter.

One time at a friend's family's house, I was sitting in the dog's seat on the sofa, when thunder came and he jumped into my lap and attempted to burrow under my ass into the sofa. This was a german shorthair, so not a small dog. It was kind of charming.

I am totally fucked at work. And I'm not sure what to do about it. Hence the posting.

Dana, I think yogurt is fine until it looks bad.

It looked separated. I gave up and tossed it, since I figured being slightly hungry was better than being ill.