not drowning, but waving....

Ah, Monday. Now that I'm trying to keep schedule with an actual 'regular' work-week again, Mondays are all sorts of filled with ...Mondayness. But I still have a really short commute and a very cool job, so I shan't complain.

For those of you itching for a hint of what's to come, there's an excerpt from Blood From Stone over at the Cosa Nostradamus On-Line. And, to get your lazy fingers clicking, LJers who comment there will be entered for a random drawing of copies of Curse the Dark and Bring it On in mass market form, a month before they're available in stores!


Had dinner last night at B Cafe, on the Upper East Side. Mussels and confit pig belly, and Carbonnade Flamande, oh my. Also, salsifis for the first time. Mmmm. Nice little place, solid food, excellent waitstaff, and they seem to have a courtyard in back for warmer weather.

And since it's been a while since my last wine confession:

The bottle we opened to celebrate the final revisions to FLESH AND FIRE was a 2004 Philip Togni Cabernet Sauvignon, a gift from taikyoyo and the lj-less D. Really all I can say about this wine is that it was everything that is classic and good about a Napa Cabernet, and nothing bad.

I've also been drinking a 2005 Cote de Beaune-Villages from Camille Giroud. I picked this up for purely emotional reasons (Beaune was one of the towns I fell in love with while in Burgundy) and 2005 is an amazing year. My personal preference is for the darker fruit of Cote de Nuits, but this is soft, very classic-strawberry pinot noir, and worked very well as a chat-and-cook wine. I also put some of it into the risotto, to excellent effect. $25.

I was also given a bottle of Louis Jadot Beaujolais 2007 by a neighbor and while -- as close readers of the LJ will remember -- I'm not a fan of beaujolais as a rule, this was pleasant, and has excelled at every recipe it's been added to, including the short ribs mentioned last week. Around $10-15

Remember: don't put any wine you wouldn't drink into your food. Your taste buds will thank you.


and now, back to work, me. What's everyone else doing on this lovely Monday of Mondays?

A question for my Catholic friends (and anyone with a strong opinion, which is probably ALL of you)

The following is brought to you by the letters W, T, and F: Bishop Will Read Up On Auschwitz, But May Not Recant

He's been dismissed from his post at an Argentinian seminary because of the outcry, but I don't expect him to back down from any of his rather... inflammatory and offensive views, which cover far more than "merely" the Holocaust...

"In one letter from 2001, addressed to his “friends and benefactors” in Canada, Bishop Williamson came down firmly against college education for women, arguing that “women going to university is part of the whole massive onslaught on God’s Nature which characterizes our times,” and concluding: “True universities are for ideas, ideas are not for true girls, so true universities are not for true girls.” In the same letter the Bishop also asserted that for women, wearing trousers was another violation against nature and should be discouraged." (emphasis mine)

I'm sure y'all can imagine the spluttering going on at Ch. Felidae right now....

As some of you may or may not know, there is no single 'structure' for Jews the way there is for Catholics -- our synagogues are independent, and even among the more Orthodox or sect-like branches, we can best be defined as an "un-organized religion." Five Jews, seven opinions, at least two books of Commentary. So having someone "in authority" hand down statements about god's opinion about what I am/am, not capable of or worthy of or presentable for, and expect me to fall into line with that, is pretty much out of my comprehension. I mean, it's not like disagreeing with the president, or your mayor -- this is, supposedly, your Moral and Religious Authority, endorsed by Pope-and-God.

So I ask the practicing Catholics on my f-list -- how do you reconcile something like this, when the Pope has accepted him back into the Church proper? Are you able to compartmentalize "he says" vs "I do?" And if so, then what does that say about Papal authority? Where's the line? I'm not trying to start a flame-war, just get at some kind of understanding...



(and the icon is amazingly apt for this discussion, no?)

Passing along the chance to help...

from karenmiller's LJ:

"There are many appeals going right now, to help all the people affected by these fires. Over $12 million in public donations has been taken already. But the animals affected are in even worse straits than the people, so if you feel you can help, even if it's only a couple of dollars, please go here to make a donation to the Victorian RSPCA's bushfire appeal."

The Australian Red Cross is also accepting donations.

Times are tough here, and it's hard to think about sending money so far away when so many need help here, too. But watching footage of the fires on the news is purely heartbreaking, all the more so because they were, apparently, the result of arson. If we, by helping, can offset the inhumanity of the arsonists, then it's a few dollars well-spent...