Different Car Shops - Sorry for the confusion --> "Awesome Car Guy" is at the Goodyear shop near my house. "Fabulous Car Guy" who got married before Election Day works at the "shop that can do electrical stuff" across town. And yes, I =TOTALLY= need to send the written letter of "Awesome Car Guy is Awesome" to his chain of command. But I did add 8-gallons of gasoline to his car when I returned it... I'd thought about filling the whole tank, but didn't know how large it might be. And since 8 gallons is all that I can add to my tank, I thought that was reasonable. His gas gauge went from "quarter tank" to "half tank" with 8-gallons, so I'm glad I didn't top it off. Wow, how do you guys survive with 20+ gallon tanks?!?

Cooking Things - I'm not sure where I bought the dried fish things, but it was likely an ethnic grocery store filled with labels I cannot read. I think it was the Indian shop in LA, probably on Pico between La Cienega and Fairfax. I know I like to buy lentils in bulk at Indian grocery stores. The dried fish was mentioned in my Indian cookbook, so I thought they might be worth having in the pantry. And it turned out DELICIOUS. I used only about 1/3 of the Red Curry paste in the lentils and beans, and 2/3 in the veggies and tofu. The difference was really nice, since the tofu had more of a kick and the lentils were flavorful but not bland. The coconut flavor in the lentils was really nice -- I can see repeating the technique occasionally, but not all the time. I think I would tire of nibbling on coconut every time I made a lentil dish.

And clearly the variety in food and the multi-vitamin is already having an effect --> at this moment, my tongue does not feel numb. And only small traces of unusual flavors come through when I'm eating. It's almost like there's a thin rivulet of "too sweet!" that surrounds foods, even the salty or sour ones. Think of a concentrated syrup like Donal's Lemon syrup or Pel's Rose lemonade (when it's too strong)... both of which I *adore* in full strength. I love to just sip them, in their concentrated form. Now, make all foods and drinks remind you of sipping syrup, and you have a good approximation of my experience right now.

Newsletter Posting Soon - I finished redesigning my baronial monthly newsletter from Adobe PageMaker to Microsoft Word, and finished including all the January content. I've successfully fixed the properities of my PDF creator, and posted a proofreading copy to my "staff" (of two wonderful volunteers). Hopefully they'll have a chance to peek at it some time tomorrow morning, and then I can post it publically to the subscribers. I really like the redesign, and am happy with how the tools are working, too.
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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Pierre and Grainne, my wonderful "staff" of proofreaders