Ooh, anything made with almond flour/paste is like crack to me (as long as it's not too sweet). Sue got me googling for a cookie I ate by the kilo in Sicily called Pasta di Mandorla and I found a recipe, AND learned that "cuisinart" in Italian is "robot da cucina." Love!

ita, does your diet exclude sugar? Or just wheat and dairy? I have a recipe for tasty chocolate cookies (from Ouise actually) that uses ground almonds instead of flour, but it's sugar-iffic.

Sugar's not verboten, but I don't like it too much. Are they terribly sweet to taste? I'd be interested in seeing it.

The flour replacement cornbread didn't turn out too well. The centre was more like porridge than cake. But apart from the core I guess it was okay tasty.

Seriously, shrift, that made me a little queasy. Why are people insane?

I'm glad that it isn't just me. Because I am high on Sudafed and so very cranky because nothing is working correctly and I don't know how to fix it. That just seemed like insult to injury.

Happiest of birthdays, loveliest of Toms! I am vibing get the hell out of his body and go pester someone else vibes at your cold right now.

I don't have an inferiority complex about NYC. I have a persecution complex. I've never really had a good visit there--long, short, staying at a hotel, staying with a friend, hitting all the theaters, drifting around various NYU graduate buildings and going to grad student parties, it just didn't matter. NYC seems to have it in for me, and I've mostly given up on it (except, damn, the live theater never disappoints, never--and even if some individual show does disappoint, there are eighty billion others from which to choose). (And, in my very limited experience, Brooklyn is just plain awesome.)

Or maybe it's just me. I may be putting out some... something, I don't even know what. A very, very common descriptor of NYC and Boston out here is, "Oh, New Yorkers are really much friendlier and nicer than people say; they come across differently at first, but they're really so amazing. But Boston, now, there's a cold, harsh city. Those people are mean." Which is the exact opposite of every visit to either city I've ever had.

Sugar's not verboten, but I don't like it too much. Are they terribly sweet to taste? I'd be interested in seeing it.

Well they're rolled in icing sugar, so that adds to the sweetness, but you could skip that step. Or maybe substitute some of the bittersweet chocolate for unsweetened. To me, they taste like a fudge brownie, in cookie form. I'll see if I can scare up the recipe in my email. If not, I'll have to wait until tonight to post it.

But Boston, now, there's a cold, harsh city. Those people are mean."

I did have an acquaintance who lived in Irvine, who liked to tell me scary stories about being greeted by strangers in the grocery store. I was like, "Ew, people from California all need to be tasered!!"

...So I can see where that stereotype would come from.

I don't have an inferiority complex about NYC. I have a persecution complex. I've never really had a good visit there

This is making me think of Homer going to New York.

Homer: New York is a hellhole. And you know how I feel about hellholes.

Marge: Of course you'll have a bad impression of New York if you only focus on the pimps and the C.H.U.D.'s.

I've never been, but I'd really like to.Despite the detector that crazy people babbling to themselves seem to have for me. Happy birthday, Scola!

...So I can see where that stereotype would come from.

Well yeah, if I went to Boston and got tasered if I said hello to somebody, I might get an impression that Bostonians aren't very friendly.

I'll see if I can scare up the recipe in my email. If not, I'll have to wait until tonight to post it.

I'd love that recipe too, Sue!

But Boston, now, there's a cold, harsh city. Those people are mean.

There were a number of times that cars in Boston went out of their way to act like they were going to hit me when I was a pedestrian there. I was shocked by how nice the people in SF seemed when I moved there after living in Boston for 4 years. And the California people have nothing on Baltimore.

...of course, here along with the friendly you have kids who will beat you with a metal pole in an attempt to steal your bike and snipers shooting at you as ride your bike along a busy street (both of which happened to people I know here in the last week)