Now starting Ritz & Escoffier: The Hotelier, the Chef & the Rise of the Leisure Class by Luke Barr.

Tonight’s kitchen victory: deviled chicken thighs. Followed by this afternoon’s partial victory: the blueberry/raspberry/tayberry pie didn’t hold together very well (but still super-tasty).

The Raven Tower was a fascinating little puzzle-box of betrayal, revenge, and metaphysics. Highly recommended.

Went to Zulu’s with the dude yesterday to play Magic.

Tonight’s kitchen victory: spaghetti alla puttanesca.

Watched fireworks with the family at Mom’s.

Tonight’s kitchen victory: stracciatella alla Romana (Roman egg drop soup).

Okay. Now starting The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie.

What to read next? Recent releases are (in rough order of how long I think they’ll take to read)

• Empress of Forever, Max Gladstone
• The Raven Tower, Ann Leckie
• Fall, Neal Stephenson

Or, something like Why Buddhism is True from the long list.

Finished reading The Collector by Jack Nisbet, a biography of David Douglas, the naturalist of Douglas-fir fame. Almost more interesting as a window on life as a European in the early-19th-century Pacific Northwest.

Beer with Steve and Fender at Hellbent Brewing Company.

Sat in on the dude’s D&D game yesterday.

Today’s kitchen victory: helped the kids make chocolate ice cream.

It’s apparently Negroni week (it’s a hundred years old this month?), so I’m having one: equal parts gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari, definitely not to everybody’s taste.

Fixed the RSS feed, and made the copyright dynamic.