moderately successful

last night's dinner was very tasty, but not all went as planned. i scorched the sweet potatoes, falied to achieve the desired consistency of the maple-chipotle sauce, almost forgot about the chard, and accidentally cooked my instant-read thermometer, thus forcing me to guess. but the pork was only a tiny bit overdone, and somehow everything actually came together for me at the same time as well! all was delicious, despite the assorted disasters.

oh, and Daddy-O also approved of the sauce -- which i made quite spicy, as is my wont.

to drink, i had Alder Brook's 1999 Zinfandel, which went spectacularly -- and i do mean spectacularly -- well with the pork, nicely enough with the chard, and not at all with the maple-chipotle sauce. still, very enjoyable. and did i mention, it went really well with the pork? i think that was the best match i've ever managed.

( cook's notes )

yet another crusading granny

88-Year-Old KY. Woman Fights Off Burglars With Cane. at the rate these stories are showing up, i'm starting to wonder if we should just start shipping senior citizens to Iraq instead of troops. they couldn't be any less effective, and instead of beating and humiliating Iraqi prisoners, they could serve milk and cookies.

as a bonus, the Iraqis wouldn't dare to fight back for fear of being fed castor oil and having their mouths washed out with soap.

only in the bay area

i have no words.