The Complete Middle Eastern Cookbook looks like a great find, Acme. I already love Madhur Jaffrey (Indian) and Marcella Hazan (Italian) for less-meat-arian recipes, so I just might procure a copy for myself.

I picked over the kitchen cabinets yesterday for crockery that I think we should part with, and it's spread all over the sideboard and dining table in the hope that Himself will agree with me and let it go without argument. Well, not argument; let's call it discussion. The Wedgwood majolica (green, leaf patterns) survived the cut, but only because it's collectible (by somebody else) and the younger generation of Himself's kin group should get first refusal before I find a way to dispose of it profitably. We've had it since Mum-in-law died some ten years ago, and not used it once. More challenging are the clunky hand-thrown dinner plates Himself bought at a long-ago craft show; I hate them because they have the heft and finesse of roof tiles, but that's exactly what Himself likes about them.

Maybe I could drop them off the balcony, by accident?