All Over the Place

I'm getting backed up with posting again. I have my running list of things I want to post about, and I put them off and put them off. Then I run across an article about Seurat or DaVinci or whatever and I write about that...instead of hitting my list.

And then I write a post like this one - covering a couple of bases:

• You might notice some updates to the sidebar, and there are a few more on the way. I've joined an advertising network for food blogs. It's attached to a social networking site called Foodbuzz. It's really very cool - if you're at all into food, or looking for recipes or for restaurant reviews or just something new to read, you should check it out.
• This is kind of cool: in the same issue of Style magazine that profiled the Baltimore food blogs, our architect's kitchen was featured - hers is the fifth picture. In related news, our addition is flying along - the roof and siding are finished, deck is in the works, they'll be coming through the wall into the kitchen and dining room just after Thanksgiving and our cabinets will be delivered December 17th. There's a lot of excitement here. And soon to be a lot of dust.
• I think it's fun for my friends that I have a blog. Not so much so they can read it, but so when they come across something interesting, they don't have to write about it themselves, but they have somebody to share it with. My friend Sarah called me last week just to say: "I think pears are so underrated. I didn't think I liked them much, but I just ate one and it was so good. The texture was perfect." Personally, I agree, but I always knew I liked them. Sometime within the past year, I made a cool salad of pear, apple and Manchego cheese, all cut into evenly sized matchsticks. It was inspired by an apple and Manchego salad I had at Pazo almost two years ago. It's so unexpected because every piece looks pretty much the same - white, hard and stick-ish - but they all taste and feel different. You never know what you're going to get. I thought it was very cool. Almost too cutesy and clever, but Cooper liked how it tasted, too.
• Right now I am watching Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. Seriously, who are these idiot chefs? That's all I ever think when I watch this show.

And that is all.