Deliciousness.

There are few things in life as satisfying as going to a good restaurant and ordering something that is just as delicious as you had hoped. That happened to me tonight, as I ordered a special of perfectly-seasoned salmon on a bed of roasted potatoes and spinach and topped with a bit of crabmeat and sweet corn. I enjoyed this with a flight of red wines including a lovely pinot noir (my personal favorite) and a sassy zinfandel. Probably the best part of all this was sharing it with a joyful-if-tired little boy, who mostly ate the bread from the bread basket and flirted with the wait staff. 

My poetry mentor from my undergraduate institution, Muser, has submitted the first entry into this week's pantoum challenge. I am honored. Check it out here.

Haiku News

Charges will be filed

against balloon boy's daddy;

was it all a hoax?

All-male college bans

wearing dresses on campus;

saves on dry-cleaning.

Bad costume alert:

"Illegal alien" suit

raises a ruckus.

Tip-top Tuesday

I am posting this and my weekly Poetry Challenge early today, as we are going to a concert this evening. To give you a little taste, here is some tour footage from earlier in the series:

This morning, I enjoyed the Free Pastry Day at Starbucks with my mom. When I called my husband at work later on, however, I found out that his coupon was not accepted. Apparently he visited a franchise, and they claimed that his e-mail coupon he showed them on his BlackBerry could not be honored there because they needed the paper print-out to staple to the receipt. I call foul here. I didn't see anything in the small print (which I read yesterday to figure out that I would indeed need a separate coupon for my mom and for me, and that we'd have to pay separately) that said e-mail coupons would not be accepted at the participating stores. I feel bad that my husband was looking forward to a yummy treat this morning and was left with only his much-more-expensive coffee than his normal routine at Dunkin Donuts would have provided. It's things like this that drive business AWAY, Starbucks!! Either that franchisee had no clue, or you needed to say that ahead of time so we could've printed another copy. Grr.

By the by, we discovered an amazing wine last night: Gazela Vinho Verde. When I describe it

 you may recoil a bit, but trust me, it's good. It's a Portuguese "green wine." It doesn't really look green but it is a "young" wine that is a little bit sweet and a little bit tart, with a bit of a bubble when you first pour it. It was truly refreshing, and extremely cheap. I suggest you find it if you can! (incidentally, you can get it here.)

Haiku News

Cambridge drops the charge

against Harvard professor;

stories don't agree.

Scary statistic:

seven million addicted

to prescription drugs.

Jupiter's new scar

caused by some unknown impact;

too bad, not the Pratts.