We are going to go check the place out on Friday.....whatcha up to Friday, Ms. Perkins & Ms. juliana?

That is not a place I know. Always good to hear about a different place that does good work!

Old Faithful now has a live webcam, for your geyser viewing pleasure: [link]

gah I have to open tomorrow! But it's just for a couple hours, it's total overtime, and it's to cover for my boss who fell down the stairs so I really shouldn't complain.

Meara, we have to get you to TJs. Clearly.

Hah! Well, because the QFC is on my way home and all of 4 blocks away, I've basically only gone there. I think I went to Whole Foods once or twice. But yes, I do need to go to TJ's, they have things I like that I can't get elsewhere.

Tonight, I ended up getting a call from a friend and meeting her for dinner. I had some kind of ginger cashew veggies and tofu over rice pilaf. It felt healthy. Ish.

We went to the grocery store and discussed cupcakes. She, too, liked the salted caramel/chocolate idea. But we saw candied ginger chips, and thought those would be really nice in a chocolate cupcake also. But then what kind of frosting would you have??? t edit: googlefu tells me the suggested zinger is probably ginger CREAM CHEESE frosting. I could see that, maybe. Hmmmm. Though now I'm tempted by the chai cupcakes with ginger cardamom frosting. And the gingerbread cupcakes with lime frosting.....mmmmm

meara is in a dangerous mood.

Tonight for the first time I got brave enough to cook with anchovies. I'm not much of a fish eater, but I kept coming across recipes that called for them. And I figured I'd probably eaten them many times without knowing it in Italian restaurants. So I made a basic pasta sauce from a Mark Bittman cookbook: 2 T olive oil, a teaspoon of minced garlic, and four anchovies, sauteed together until the anchovies break up, after which you toss in a 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes and simmer till it boils down and thickens a bit.

It was good, though I did get a bite or two that was kinda fishy for my tastes. But it turned out much better than last night's ma po tofu experiment, which I found bland and DH found gross (he's not much of a tofu person).

I eventually calmed down enough from my towering rage over the research tiff with my CP to realize why it triggered me so strongly--it was an intellectual credibility issue, and one that's near and dear to my heart because I'm so dedicated to my research. I love it almost as much as my writing itself, so even the itty bittiest hint that I'm one of those writers who just relies on what I pick up from other novels, and I'm ready for pistols at twenty paces. Anyway, I apologized for my rant before I left for choir practice. Sort of. I said that I shouldn't have flown off the handle, but that you had to understand that suggesting I hadn't done my research is about like asking my mom the from-scratch baker what mix she uses for her chocolate cake.

chai cupcakes with ginger cardamom frosting

That sounds good. I will happily take care of any "mistakes" from that batch.

I have a (technical) niece! She is freaking ADORABLE. She doesn't even have that new-baby-Winston-Churchill-big-red-head look.

She does have the worst name I've ever heard though, the poor girl.