Do we keep cats....

... or do cats keep us?

A recent article, linked here, suggests that it was not us who domesticated the cat so many years ago, but the cat who domesticated itself! I can't say I'm surprised-- I mean, ours did teach themselves the litter box, the scratching post (our couch), the water dish, the grooming, and the all-important know-when-to-wake-us-up-for-breakfast tasks. All we really do for them is feed them. Oh, and vacuum when they shed. And Mr. Food takes on the litter box once in a while. For that I am eternally grateful!

-- E of ismellfood.com

Now that the Bibliophile is gone...

... I finally get my say! She didn't leave me with many instructions except this: "blog about whatever you want (just keep it clean for the kiddies ;) )" So, here I am! Unfortunately I may have not been trained well enough as I can't seem to add a link RIGHT HERE. Sorry, I'm used to using Wordpress... I'll have to do some research on this Blogger thing.

Anyway, in keeping with the book theme, I'd like to say I just finished Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns (pretend that's in italics, apparently I wasn't trained in that either!). I was a late-reader of his first book but a convert right away and the second did not disappoint. Go read it.

In keeping with my food-centric blogging, I'd like to say I found these all-natural-organic-blah-blah-blah candy drops at Whole Foods the other day. They're really good. The brand is Yummy Earth. Look past the dopey name and try the variety pack with pomegranate, mango, lemon, and watermelon suckers inside.

Now I'm off to dinner! Mr. Food is cooking tonight.

-- E of ismellfood.com

T minus 15 hours

Ahhh.

That's the sound of me slowly starting to unwind. Up until about an hour ago I was not so relaxed. But I got home from work, looked over my set of lists (yes, that's right, I have about five), and realized that Book and I are actually closer to being ready to go than I realized. I guess he was right! B has taken to sending me adorable pictures of baby animals every time I send her an email where the subject and body are both "AHHHHHHH!" And I immediately relax and say, "ooh! A baby panda!" or, "ooh! A kitty!" Excellent job on Friend Management, B.

Am I always this strung out before a vacation? Well, not usually *this* strung out, but yes. The big problem in this case is that we'll be gone for TWO WEEKS. And we'll be driving all around and what if there's no food? You know, like, anywhere? I mean, it could happen, right? And what if I don't have enough warm clothing? Or enough cool clothing? What if I run out of books? Or have way too many? (ha ha ha ha ha) What if I forget something Really Important? AHHHH!!

Uploaded on October 16, 2005
by Riude

Ok, I feel better now. The good news is that clearly I'm in a Good Place Trip-Wise, or I certainly wouldn't be sitting here blogging. I'd be packing or cleaning or pulling my hair out.

Interesting note: I'm bringing about 8 GB worth of memory cards on this trip. Will it be enough? No, seriously?

In any case, I've lined up two friends of mine to keep y'all entertained while I'm gone: B and E. I think you'll find them as wildly entertaining as I do. Hopefully I'll have a chance to post at least once while I'm gone, but if not, expect a TON of pictures when I return.

UPDATE: I just realized I almost forgot to pack PJs. What else am I forgetting??

Four qui -- zzzzzzz

Shockingly enough, it was actually still a bit dark this morning when I woke up. At 445 AM. And it was already close to 80 degrees with 75% humidity by 630 AM. As you can imagine, testing was not a hoot.

However, there is some good:

1. If for some strange reason we had to leave for Maine tomorrow morning, I would be ready. Yes, I am massively over packed at the moment, but I'm packed nonetheless.

2. I've chosen the books I'm bringing on the trip!!

• Stardust, Neil Gaiman
• Shadow and Claw, Gene Wolfe
• Sword and Citadel, Gene Wolfe
• Einstein: His Life and Universe, Walter Isaacson
• The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst
• A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
• Charlotte Sometimes, Penelope Farmer

I'm a little worried it won't be enough for the two week trip, but if it isn't, I'll just buy more in Canada. Yay, Canada!! What do y'all think about my choices? I thought it was a good mix.

3. There were two articles I wanted to mention today. The first was a really interesting Salon.com article about the rash of Jane Austen-related books and movies that have come out and are coming out this summer, including one I reviewed over the weekend: Austenland by Shannon Hale. Another entertaining article today, this one from the NYT Op-Ed page, talks about one author's summer working as a volunteer at the Central Park Zoo. You've all come to "appreciate" my animal obsession, and despite my mixed feelings about zoos, I've sorta kinda always wanted to work in one, so this piece was interesting to me. Has anyone heard anything about the author's book, Zoology?

4. Had dinner with the Tater Tot tonight (it would have been many long weeks until I saw him again!), and learned that apparently he's thinking about naming his stuffed elephant after me. When I said "goodbye, sweetie!" to him as we were parting, he returned "bye sweetie!" Collective: AWWWWWW. Too adorable for words.

And that's all I have energy for now, folks -- I've been up for almost 18 hours!

I have to be up in 10 hours

This is the type of week that my brain can really only handle YA books. Case in point: I need to be at work tomorrow at 5:30 AM. I am not a morning person; most days I struggle to wake up before 8 AM. Suffice it to say, we are not pleased.

But I am reading a wonderful book right now, Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie, by Jordan Sonnenblick. Hopefully I'll have time to write more about it before I leave on Saturday, but for now: the voice is amazingly true and laugh-out-loud funny.

Stay tuned.

It's a "good" kind of stress

I've been stressing about our vacation. You see, next Saturday we're going away for two weeks! We're entirely unorganized about it at this point, though, and have to do some major shopping. Food shopping, supplies shopping...I haven't come even remotely close to completing the list of things we need, let along the list of things we need to bring! And did I mention that we were leaving on Saturday? For two weeks?

I'm actually really excited about this vacation (it's actually two, two, two vacations in one!). The first week we're going up to Bar Harbor with my family to celebrate two milestone birthdays. After realizing how long it had been since Book and I had been on a vacation by ourselves, we decided to just jaunt over to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia the second week, you know, because we were already up there.

I've *always* wanted to explore this region of Canada, and I'm so excited that I'll have the chance to do so this summer! This trip is going to be a whirlwind adventure through two provinces. It'll be just crazy enough to help us decide where we'll want to spend more time during future visits.

What am I looking forward to the most? One word: seafood. I LOVE seafood. And shellfish. Oh, and did I mention that 15 species of whale travel to the Bay of Fundy this time of year? And that I may get a glimpse of some of them? Hopefully by KAYAK?!

But first we need to go buy a compass (because it's THE LAW in NS that you hike with one, it's not just common sense, people!) and a lot of food and wind/waterproof matches and more memory cards (picture-happy Bibliophile on vacation for two weeks = need for a ton of memory) and a new backpack and I'll need about 10 books to last me that long and and and

*HEAD EXPLODES*


**Dolphin Stress Test

The picture posted here has 2 identical dolphins in it. It was used in a case study on stress levels at Loma Linda Medical Center.

Look at both dolphins jumping out of the water. The dolphins are identical. A closely monitored, scientific study of a group revealed that in spite of the fact that the dolphins are identical, a person under stress would find differences in the two dolphins. The number of differences observed matches closely to the amount of stress the observer is experiencing.

Look at the photograph and if you find more than one or two differences you may be experiencing stress.

Uploaded by Tidewater Muse on 24 Apr 06, 8.38AM PDT.

Weekend book reviews

I've finished three books since Friday night: The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde, Austenland by Shannon Hale and Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill You by Dorian Cirrone.

TWoLP was by far the most disappointing of the Thursday Next series thus far, and certainly realized my prediction that my patience for Fforde's books was nearing its end. The premise: Thursday next goes to the Well of Lost Plots to hide from her enemies while she's pregnant. The execution: whereas the earlier books in the series were funny and clever, this one seemed trapped by its new setting, as huge chunks of the narrative served only to explain the Well and its inhabitants. The story line itself seemed secondary to the necessary background information at best, and almost an after-thought at worst. From looking at the publication dates of all Fforde's books, it may be fair to say the role of this book was simply to set up his Nursery Crime series. In any case, it was a huge waste of time.

Ditto for Austenland. You may recall I was skeptical about this one from the offset. The premise: a thirty-something Pride and Prejudice fanatic is bequeathed an all-expense-paid vacation to Pemberly Park, a full-immersion Regency Era England experience, by her dead Great Aunt. Her hope is to once and for all rid herself of the Mr. Darcy Fantasy by living in his world for three weeks. The execution: awkward, contrite and formulaic. Shannon Hale's other books are written so beautifully that I'm not quite sure what happened here. Reading Austenland was difficult at times, the language awkward and stumbling. And the reader knows exactly what will happen in the book from the offset. There are no surprises, no twists.

I was pleasantly surprised by the book I read this morning, DiRSWKY. Though this book can only be rightfully described as Brain Candy (it took me less than two hours to read it), shockingly, it had a great message for young adult women. The premise: sixteen year old Kayla is at an art school studying ballet and is denied a plumb roll in the upcoming production of Cinderella because her body doesn't fit the ideal ballerina mold -- she has DD-sized breasts. The execution: Cirrone weaves analysis of the classic versions of fairy tales into the story to make the point that women are expected to change themselves to meet societal and cultural expectations. This is certainly not a new or revolutionary thesis, but definitely one that I think is important to expose adolescent girls to.

Next on the docket for me:

And don't forget, I'm always looking for book recommendations, so don't be shy! Send them along!

A Note on My Aversion...from B

This is B (aka Squirrel Hater). Rachel thought that since people seemed interested in this discussion, I should be a guest blogger. It is odd that people are intrigued by my aversion. It is odder to me that people don't immediately understand. How am I the only person here that detests these little spawns with their beady eyes and twitchy tail?

Truth be told, I am not an animal lover. That said, cats' tails do not bother me in the least (in response to Mr Book's question). Cats' tails do not twitch and have a life of their own. A cat's tail is clearly part of its body. A squirrel's tail seems to take on an other-worldly presence that just reeks of evil.

My problem has become that the more I discuss my deep hatred for these creatures, the more people determine that any time they hear about squirrels in the news, they notify me. When they see a (frankly horrifying) video about a squirrel, they send me the link. And worst yet, when they see squirrel toys, they immediately purchase them for me.

Why is it that the more I discuss my hatred, the more I have to hear about them?

More on squirrels

As there appears to be a fair amount of interest on the topic (at least by the standards of my blog -- comment more, people!), I'll discuss B's Squirrel Aversion in a little more depth. The aversion is, I believe, to rodents of all sorts, especially wet and bedraggled ones. So yes, the capybara is abhorred by B because of its unusual size (stay out of the fire swamp!) and also because it's semi-aquatic. Remember, wet rodents are icky rodents.

Interestingly enough, I learned last night that it is indeed the squirrel's cute, bushy tail that really sets B off. "What?!" I said, "Their tails? But they're so cute and poofy! And they twitch!" As a shudder ran through her body and she gagged slightly, she replied "yes, that's the problem." Sadly for her, this has only made her aversion that much more amusing to me.

I believe B also holds a special place in hell for flying squirrels, but she should really be commenting on these things herself. Perhaps, if there is interest, I can bring her in as a guest blogger to go into her sciuridaphobia in greater detail. I believe you will all find yourselves as amused as I have grown to be.

Fun with food

As expensive as Williams-Sonoma is, I have to say they sell the absolute coolest stuff. Where else could you buy a cake pan that does this:

This is way cooler than their train or snowman cake pans. Fun!!

Another cute item that they (apparently) sell is this cheese pantry.

What do we think, people, useful or useless? I'm leaning towards the latter due to its status in the 50% off bin alone, but it sure is a cute idea. How nice would it be to have a few cheeses stored out of the fridge where I can happily view them at any time? Where they're free from the prying mouths of insects and (hopefully) mice. Where I can gaze lovingly at them, nibble almost constantly. Slowly gaining weight until I can't fit through the doorway out of the kitchen...Ok, so maybe this wouldn't be such a good idea for me.

Good news?

Apparently I don't have Asperger's, at least not according to this online quiz. In fact, I'm decidedly un-autistic, which is probably not shocking to anyone who knows me. I'm wondering what the point of this quiz really is. I think the most interesting thing about it is that the psychologist who developed this "Autism-Spectrum Quotient" is the cousin of this guy. Behold, my results below:

Your Score: Unaffected

Result: 15. Your score isn't an achievement, it just is.

Psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen and his colleagues at Cambridge's Autism Research Centre have created the Autism-Spectrum Quotient, or AQ, as a measure of the extent of autistic traits in adults. In the first major trial using the test, the average score in the control group was 16.4. Eighty percent of those diagnosed with autism or a related disorder scored 32 or higher. The test is not a means for making a diagnosis, however, and many who score above 32 and even meet the diagnostic criteria for mild autism or Asperger's report no difficulty functioning in their everyday lives.

You scored less than 32. Make your own assessment of that

B says: "Preserving the Devil? Is this necessary?"

My friend B has a thing about squirrels. She HATES them. No, hate is not a strong enough word. She calls them Devil's Spawn. If I were a better friend I would have accepted this knowledge and let it go. But...I'm not that kind. I think it's hilarious, and so I do things like give her a squirrel card every year on her birthday. I'll randomly send her pictures of squirrels gleaned from The Internets. I send her this:

Yes, it's a "semi-aquatic rodent." She barfed a little in her mouth (and probably just did, seeing the picture again -- the only thing worse than a picture of a squirrel is a picture of a wet squirrel, or rodent, in this case). Her Aunt, who is now my hero, pasted little pictures of squirrels up all over her bedroom about a month ago, with text bubbles that read things like: "don't hate me because I'm furry!"; "we need to talk"; "I'm just as God made me"; "I'm just like a bunny." Etc etc. Apparently B has only found nine so far, and there are *at least* a couple more lurking somewhere!

E mentioned albino squirrels at our last book group meeting, and immediately I had a plan: I knew that somewhere, somehow I would send B pictures of albino squirrels! With those beady, red eyes and fur as white as a driven snow...How much more devilish could they be?!

Tonight, while searching for more pictures of albino squirrels to use I stumbled across this. Please, click on the link. Really, you want to. The best part: they have a screed!

My prize

I made my first-ever ebay purchase two weeks ago. Check it out:


Thrilling, is it not? An early history of Smith College written by the school's first president! It has old pictures of the campus, original floor plans of the oldest buildings, and I think possibly an essay by some of the first students about campus life. I can't wait to read through this!

Now I've become inspired to own other Smith-related books. The college has conveniently listed some here. In case anyone is interested in buying me an early birthday present, let's say. Or a late half-birthday present. October 16th, people.

Trip to the middle of the country

We got back Wednesday night from our trip to the Chain Restaurant and Shopping Capital of the World, aka Book's home town. We usually spend the time with his family eating, playing games and watching movies, but this time was different. His Mom had a Plan of Action, and we were out doing things every day. Despite the incapacitating heat (nb: I happen to know a lot of people who love 90+ degree weather. I am not one of these people. Give me a cool, humid, overcast day anytime. Sadly for me we left the latter for the former, and this Bibliophile turned into a lump that could barely propel itself from place to another).

I mentioned about a week ago that I had particular animals in mind I wanted to see and capture on film during our trip: the red pandas and sun bears. Last time I had been at this particular zoo the sun bears were not out yet, and the red pandas were sleeping. Well, last week I had partial success: the red pandas were still sleeping, but I got a whole slew of pictures of the sun bear! It's hard for me to choose which ones to show you guys. So I will show a couple:

Look at that cute tongue! This guy was really quite small, and seemed to be enjoying exploring his habitat. I also got a cute picture of two elephants fighting over a stream of water in their exhibit:

Our excitement didn't end there, though. The next day we went to this great conservatory with several interesting biomes filled with beautiful plants and flowers.

One was even filled with butterflies! There was also a beautiful garden outside the conservatory

with a large sculpture I really loved (here are two wee small parts of it):

There were also lots of exciting birds (red winged black birds, common grackles, great blue heron, green heron, cardinals, hummingbirds, just to name a few) and other animals in the backyard (squirrels, chipmunks and HUGE bullfrogs).

All in all, we had a great time!

Tater Tot

I just spent the absolute most enjoyable evening with my favorite two year old, shown here on the left (well, two and a half, but who's counting?). He has such a great, fun-loving personality! And never has anyone thought I was such a riot. We spent a good two hours jumping off couches, being thrown onto couches, being tossed onto a pile of pillows, and all sorts of other activities most kids would probably cry over. But not this Tot! He was laughing hysterically the whole time and asking for more. "Bibliophile, push!" "Bibliophile, jump!" (indicating that he would be jumping and that I should catch him) "Bibliophile, run!" We ended the night snuggling on the couch watching what he calls "Mouse!" (Flushed Away). A perfect end to a perfect night!

Among the fun things I've taught him to say to date:

• Peace out! (including hand gestures)
• Blue screen of death
• I'm a freak! (this after he was dunking his spaghetti into his water so that the "worms" could "swim") followed just after by, I'm a freak without warning!
• Cute slug! (ah, a kid after my own heart: he thinks slugs are cute too! Well, at least he'll say what I tell him to)
• I love Hugh Jackman! (can you tell I got him to say these last two during the movie?)
  
• I'm the best toy!

No, no, I don't have way too much fun playing with him.

I'm baaack

This is going to be a very short post as it is already late and close to my bed time. But I wanted to say that the trip was Great Fun and Action Packed, and that I have LOTS of pictures to post for you guys. In the mean time, check out this article that was in the paper today.

The animals await no picture-taking freak

I won't be posting until the end of next week, as tomorrow morning, bright and early (or as the case may be, not-so-bright because it'll be just *that* early), we're going out to the Midwest to visit Book's family. But never fear, I should be returning with loads of (read: several hundred) pictures like these to share with you all:

Well, hopefully some of the ones I bring back this time will be a tad more interesting. These are the new exhibits at the local zoo, and the animals I'm really hoping to get a good look at:

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

In general I'm quite conflicted about zoos. They can be truly depressing places to visit, and it's hard for me to imagine that it's better for an animal to be in a zoo than in the wild. It's hard for me to imagine because it really isn't better. But since we as a species are doing an awful job protecting the habitats of other species, I think zoos are the lesser of two evils as long as:

1. The animals are given plenty of space
2. Their space is a good representation of their natural habitat
3. The animals are kept as wild as possible (to enable #5)
   
4. The zoo does what it can to propagate endangered species
5. Once the animal's natural habitat has been protected and restored, the zoo actively participates in releases to the wild (see #3)
6. The zoo focuses on educating the next generation of policy makers so that they will enable #5

I'll see you all next week.

Waiting

Once I get into an author, it's all I can do to wait for another one of their books to come out. Once upon a time C recommended that I read Shannon Hale's, The Goose Girl, and I became hooked. I read all of Shannon's books and was ready for more! She has a new one out now, though, called Austenland, and I just can't get excited about it despite my love for all things Jane Austen. Sure, I put myself on the waiting list for it at my local library about as soon as I was able to, but I'm not exactly chomping at the bit. Last night I learned that she has ANOTHER book coming out this summer:



This one I'm ordering straight from Amazon! This is the Shannon Hale I've grown to know and love. No one does a fairy tale retelling like Shannon. Well, except for Gail Carson Levine. When's *her* next book coming out?!

There are loads of other authors I've been waiting on. I loved Justine Larbalestier's Magic or Madness Trilogy, and have been eagerly looking forward to her next book. Well, she *just* announced what it is on her blog: The Ultimate Fairy Book, due out Fall 2008. I'll have to wait and see what this one is about to get really excited as the title just isn't doing it for me. Her husband, Scott Westerfeld, wrote a couple series that I loved (Uglies and Midnighters), and *his* new book, Extras, is due out this October.

Markus Zusak wrote my absolute favorite book of 2006: The Book Thief. I am literally beside myself waiting for his next book, but I've heard no news so I assume it will be a while. Please, Markus! Give a girl a break!

Other authors I'm waiting on, and their upcoming books (if known):

• The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray (December 2007) -- I've been waiting for the third book in her trilogy since the second one came out in 2005!
• Edith Pattou wrote three amazing books, but I haven't heard a peep about her since. If you haven't read East yet, get thyself to the library!
• Clive Barker and his Abarat Trilogy. The books are worth reading for the illustrations alone! You can see some of them at his website here. I want some of his prints up in my apartment!
  
• Another installment of An Echo Falls Mystery by Peter Abrahams -- the first two were laugh-out-loud funny.
  
• Cornelia Funke's Inkdeath, sequel of Inkheart and Inkspell (I'm not sure when the English version will be published, though I believe you can buy it in German)
  
• Jhumpa Lahiri, Unaccustomed Earth (April 2008)
• Lisa See, Peony in Love (June 2007!!)
• Elizabeth Kostova (fine, I haven't spoken with anyone who's enjoyed her first book, The Historian, as much as I did, but I think she's fabulous)
• A non-graphic novel by Audrey Niffenegger -- how much did I love The Time Traveler's Wife? So much that I'm pretty nervous about this.
  

Well, there are certainly many more authors to add to that list, but you get the picture. I just can't wait! And it's heartening to know that I won't have a shortage of new books to read. Not that that should *ever* be a problem...

Which authors/books are you guys waiting on?

Kittens!!

My friend's cousin posted this video of her husband and their very hungry kitties:



I implode from the cute! For more adorable kitten pictures, including a very floofy kitty munching on a ruler, go here (scroll down for the ruler ones).

Buffy-licious

Today is a wonderful day.

As I think I've made clear, Buffy is one of my obsessions. Was I crushed when the show was canceled? Yes. But Joss has proven once again that he's the best, and he's created a season 8 in comic book form. They've been publishing a new issue about every month, and #4 came out today (sadly, I have to wait until AUGUST 1ST for the 5th to come out)! I heard a wonderful rumor that he's thinking about doing an Angel season 6 the same way. Now if he'd only follow suit with Firefly...

As much as I'm enjoying these comic books, I can't help but imagine what this 8th season would have been like in TV-form (one hint: AMAZING, if not insanely expensive). It causes this intense Buffy Nostalgia and is followed by Good TV Nostalgia, which I happen to be quite susceptible to right now, what with Veronica Mars being canceled. And as much as I'm loving these additional seasons, I'd also love a him to start up a new TV series, or to start making movies. There's just not enough Joss to go around!

Job envy

I'm clearly in the wrong line of work. I've been reading my favorite authors' blogs over the past week, and they've all be gushing about this thing called Book Expo America. Apparently it's just about heaven for people like me: there are loads of great authors roaming around and all the publishers are giving away free books. Free books! As many free books as you can carry!

Why why why am I not in publishing? Why am I not a bookseller? Or a writer? Or a librarian? Why?

To all of my various librarian friends: TAKE ME WITH YOU NEXT YEAR! I'll be your valet! Just, please!! Incidentally, the next BEA is May 30 - June 1, 2008. See? Lots of time to decide you want to go and that I should come along! (Incidentally, I hear the American Library Association conferences are pretty similar...I'd go along to that as well!)

In related news, The Bibliophile just hit record highs on the grovel-o-meter. Forecast for tomorrow: grovel levels easing off as we approach the weekend.

Eeny, meeny, miny, mo

We've reached a new low with the upstairs neighbor situation: their music is so loud, I can now hear all of the vocals and not just the deep and rumbly bass. That's right, I can hear everything. I figure I have a few options on how to deal with his new development.

• Bang on the ceiling of my living room with a broom or mop handle. Pros: I certainly think I'd make my point, plus there's something classic about a downstairs neighbor conveying displeasure in this way. Cons: My landlords would kill me if the handle went through the ceiling, and there's something distinctly 90-year-old-lady-ish about this option. I am no old lady! Option one seems to be out.
• Write a sweet letter asking the neighbors to "keep their music down." Pros: I *hate* conflict, so this has the benefit of my not having to look my neighbors in the eye when I tell them they're bugging me. Cons: Talk about your cop-out! What am I, a mice or man? Or neither? No, option two doesn't seem to do it for me either.
• Suck it up because it isn't even 10 PM yet. Pros: This option is quite attractive to me as a fundamentally lazy person. Cons: Did I ever mention just how bad my neighbors' taste in music seems to be? I'm not quite sure I can do it justice here. It's a lot to ask for me to sit and listen to this stuff, and it's so loud it's hard to concentrate on much else. Plus, there's nothing quite so annoying as complaining endlessly about something you're not willing to do much about. Hmmm. This option's a toss-up.
• Move. Pros: Actually, this will ultimately be my solution. Once Mr. Book's home renovation is complete, I'll be moving in! Cons: It doesn't look like this will happen until at least the winter. But keep your fingers crossed!

What I've finished reading despite the hubub:

And I've found it to be just as entertaining as The Eyre Affair. What I'll be reading next? I haven't quite decided yet...

I have some good news and some bad news

First, the good news: the next David Attenborough documentary is called Life in Cold Blood, and will be coming out sometime in 2008.

The bad news: apparently Cold Blood will be his last major documentary. Say it ain't so! I guess I can find it in my heart to forgive him, though, as he will be 82 when the series is done filming. A guy should get a break from work *sometime*! Check out his impressive biography here.

And don't think for a second I've forgotten to write about the current documentary, Planet Earth. That will happen once I finish the series, and I just watched episode 10 of 14.

Stay tuned.

Mmm, mmmm, dinner

Mr. Book and I just cooked and inhaled one of our favorite dinners, a Thai shrimp stir-fry recipe I found on the Food Network website maybe a couple of years ago. Every time we make it we're shocked by how fast it can be put together. And it's so tasty! We substitute quinoa for the jasmine rice to make the dish even healthier. Yummm!

Do you guys have any other quick, tasty and healthy recipes to recommend?