This is really happening.

Radiohead, "Idioteque"
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I don't like it when people argue that a movie is terrible without actually seeing it. That's a very clear example of ignorance in my opinion. What if I said that Germany is a horrible country, what with their Nazi's and their full-flavored beers and their lederhosen and their sausages and their non-American cars and no I've never been why do you ask?

On Teresa Heinz Kerry, she knows five languages because has a BA in Romance Languages. That's fairly unimpressive. Once you know one, you essentially have learned the others. Why don't you show up knowing English, French, German, Chinese, and Hindi and then we can begin talking about an impressive repertoire. I think her life is fascinating in spite of that, but why is she giving a speech, especially when she's not even there to give us insight to John Kerry? This is the person that knows him the best, that is closest to him, and I guess I expected more personal insight into a presidential candidate coming from his wife.

So here's the sentence: 240 days, beginning August 25th. 8 months, talked down from 9 after an angry DA and a damning probation report. But Judge Clark was very fair, and I have a lot of respect for him and how he runs his courtroom. So 8 months of work furlough, beginning in 28 days. Twenty-eight. More details as I feel comfortable sharing them, but Jacob and I started thinking of things that I wouldn't be able to do while I'm in custody. I plan on appending to this blog a day-to-day summation of all the fantastic and mind-blowingly mundane things that you should stop taking for granted.

Day One
I cooked a hot, hearty meal.

I'd been playing around with pesto the past two days, and after consulting a resident Italian at Ixia, I reduced the amount of garlic and increased the amount of pignoli (pine nuts) and romano. The three core ingredients are, of course, basil + garlic + olive oil, but the pignoli give it a slight crunch to counteract all the soft incredients, while the pecorino romano give its saltiness. The garlic should just be there as a hint, as well as the olive oil which should merely act as an mixing agent.

Jacob suggested that we add in cranberries, which was great since it gave it another layer of texture, as well as acidity and to a lesser, but noticeable, extent, sweetness. I added creme fraische to make it more mixable as a sauce, and when the penne was drained out, I mixed our cranberry pesto along with some cooked chicken. We plated the dish, and we added coarsely shaved romano as a topping and a fresh spring of basil on top as decoration.